Skip Beck's General Psychology: Lecture Study Questions

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A Taste of Social Psychology

Genocide: The Nightmare at Your Doorstep

1. What is genocide? Define obedience. 2. What was the Holocaust? Why did the Nazis want to kill so many innocent civilians? How did the Nazis carry out genocide? How did the world respond to reports of the Holocaust? 3. Who were Eichmann and Calley and what was Hannah Arendt's hypothesis? 4. What happened to Eichmann? What happened to Calley? 5. Describe Milgram's baseline procedure and give the results of that investigation.
6. What were the results of our classroom simulation of Milgram's study?		American Soldiers Walk Past Rows of Corpses in a Liberated German Concentration Camp

   7. Why do you think that the outcome of our simulation and the outcome of Milgram's study were so different? Why do fools fall in Love?
   8. Give the procedure and results of the Hofling et al.'s Astroten study. Who do the nurses in the Astroten study remind you of?
   9. Who was Pol Pot? What were the "killing fields" and where were they located?
10. What is "ethnic cleansing" and where has the term be applied most frequently?
11. Do basically moral humans willing participate in genocide or is genocide only practiced by evil persons? Defend your answer.
12. Was the Milgram study ethical? Should investigations like those of Milgram be performed today?

Social Proof: Together We Fabricate theTruth

1. What is social proof? Describe Sauton and Porcher's work at the opera. Also, relate social proof to canned laughter.
2. To quote Thoreau, "the greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior." How is Thoreau's statement a repudiation of the principle of social proof?
3. Provide six examples of social proof. You must make up at least two of these examples on your own.
4. Give the procedure and results of Festinger et al.'s study about Mrs. Thoreau

Keech and the Guardians. Relate this study to social proof. What is a participant observation study? Henry David Thoreau

5. Define conformity. Describe Sherif's conformity study. Describe Asch's conformity study.What are some factors that researchers have found influence the extent of conformity?

Prosocial Behavior
1. Describe the story of Kitty Genovese.
2. What is prosocial behavior? Give the procedure and results of a study demonstrating the influence of each of these factors on prosocial behavior:
     a) diffusion of responsibility
     b) pluralistic ignorance
     c) helping models
     d) good moods
     e) personal responsibility for misfortune
     f) lectures on bystander intervention
     g) rewards and costs
     h) who we help in emergencies

Reactance

1. What is reactance ? Give the procedure and results of the following reactance investigations:
     a) Brehm and Weintraub's study with 24   month-old children
     b) Zellinger et al.'s experiment with an "adults only" novel
     c) Worchel et al.'s study of UNC students Romeo and Juliet

     d) Driscoll et al.'s investigation of the "Romeo and Juliet" effect Reactance ?

Competition and Cooperation: War and Peace Across Domains
1. Describe Sherif's Robber Cave study. What is a superordinate goal? Give the procedure and results of the Jigsaw Classroom investigation.
2. What does the Tragedy of the Commons simulate? Describe Hardin's research using this simulation.

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URL: http://www1.appstate.edu/~beckhp/

Revised--January 1, 2001