4.3 Psychology of Social Situations

• Social situations involve interactions between people
• Social norms are unwritten rules that guide appropriate behavior
• What are informal social situations characterized by?

  Casual interactions
• What is the primary goal in cooperative situations?

  Common goal
• Milgram's obedience experiments demonstrated the power of authority.


  True
• What is the main mechanism in compliance?

  Persuasion or negotiation
• What is an example of conformity in social influence?

  Dressing like peers
• What is conformity in social psychology?

  Matching group beliefs
• What motivates obedience in social psychology?

  Fear of punishment
• What effect does task complexity have on social facilitation?

  Simple tasks benefit
• The presence of others is a characteristic of social situations.

  True
• Match the social situation category with its description:

  Informal Situations ↔️ Casual, unstructured interactions

  Formal Situations ↔️ Structured, rule-governed interactions

  Competitive Situations ↔️ People in direct competition

  Cooperative Situations ↔️ People work towards a common goal
• Social influence shapes behavior through conformity, obedience, and compliance.
• The presence of others always enhances performance on all tasks.

  False
• Zajonc's theory suggests that arousal enhances performance on complex tasks.

  False
• Higher skill levels improve dominant response in social facilitation.


  True
• Match the characteristic of groupthink with its description:

  Collective Rationalization ↔️ Rationalizing contradictory information

  Pressure for Conformity ↔️ Forcing agreement to group norms

  Self-Censorship ↔️ Withholding dissenting opinions

  Illusion of Unanimity ↔️ Believing unanimous agreement exists
• In Milgram's experiments, all participants refused to administer electric shocks.

  False
• Match the type of social influence with its definition:

  Obedience ↔️ Following orders from authority

  Conformity ↔️ Adjusting behavior to group

  Compliance ↔️ Yielding to requests or suggestions
• What are social situations in psychology?

  Interactions in social environments
• What is mutual influence in social situations?

  Behaviors affecting others
• Match the social situation category with its description:

  Informal Situations ↔️ Casual, unstructured interactions

  Formal Situations ↔️ Structured, rule-governed interactions

  Competitive Situations ↔️ Direct competition between people

  Cooperative Situations ↔️ Working together towards a goal
• Competitive situations involve direct competition between people.


  True
• What motivates conformity in social influence?

  Acceptance or fear of exclusion
• Obedience often stems from fear of punishment or respect for authority
• Conformity is motivated by acceptance or fear of exclusion.


  True
• Compliance involves yielding to requests through negotiation or the desire to please
• Compliance involves following direct orders from authority figures.

  False
• Zajonc's theory states that physiological arousal decreases with others' presence.

  False
• What is a social situation in psychology?

  Interactions between people
• What are social norms in social situations?

  Unwritten behavioral rules
• Social situations differ in their level of structure and the nature of interactions.

  True
• What is an example of obedience in social influence?

  Following work instructions
• What is social facilitation?

  Performance change in presence
• What type of tasks benefit from social facilitation?

  Simple tasks
• What is the illusion of invulnerability in groupthink?

  Belief in group's infallibility
• What is obedience to authority?

  Following orders from authority
• Conformity is driven by a desire for acceptance
• Social situations require the presence of others and their awareness.

  True
• Social roles define expectations about behavior based on status.


  True