Exam 13: C: Social Psychology

Correct Answer:

Verified

EXPLICIT PREJUDICE is a prejudicial feeling that a person is willing to state outright.
IMPLICIT PREJUDICE are feelings that we may not be willing to admit we have but that nonetheless affect our behaviour.
The implicit associations test (IAT)is an attempt to view implicit prejudice.In this test,individuals are asked to make speedy responses in different conditions.In one condition they may press the button on the right if they see a Caucasian face or a positive word (like "happy")and press the left key when they see an African-American face or a negative word (such as "danger").In other trials this is reversed.Researchers compare response times for the different types of trials and generally find that response times when a positive word and African-American face use the same key are SLOWER than when a negative word and an African-American face use the same key.This supposedly shows that people have trouble pairing African-American and positive views and demonstrates implicit prejudice.Although the data gathered with this instrument show reliable results,some psychologists have questioned the test's validity: Is the IAT really a measure of prejudice? Or is it possible that the IAT is merely measuring the extent to which people have been exposed to negative stereotypes,but have not necessarily developed prejudices? After all,simply knowing about a stereotype does not mean an individual believes it.

Correct Answer:

Verified

Participants are told the study is about the effects of punishment on memory.They,and the other participant (who is actually a confederate,although the real participants don't know that),a friendly middle-aged man,draw slips of paper in order to determine who will play the role of 'teacher' and who will be the 'learner.' The draw is rigged so that the real subjects are always the teacher (but again,they don't know that).
The teacher's job is to read a series of word pairs to the learner,and then to test him on his memory of the word pairs.The learner will be in a separate room hooked up to an electric shock machine.Each time the learner gets an answer wrong,the teacher is to administer a shock,by flipping a switch on a panel in front of him,and increasing the voltage after each wrong answer.The switches go up by 15 volts until reaching a maximum of 450 volts,which is labeled "xxx".This process is watched by an "experimenter" wearing a lab coat
As the experiment progresses,the learner starts to make sounds of discomfort in the other room,grunting audibly as he is shocked.By 150 volts he is protesting loudly and saying that he no longer wants to continue in the study.If the subjects continue reading the word pairs and increasing the shock level,the learner gets to the point of screaming in pain,demanding and pleading,over and over again,to be let out,pleading that he can't take it anymore,even that his heart condition is bothering him and his heart is acting up.And then,at 330 volts,the learner falls silent and gives no further responses.If subjects still continue at this point,they are informed by the experimenter that a non-response is to be considered "wrong," and the punishing shock administered.
If,at any point,subjects express concern for the learner,or say that they don't want to continue,the experimenter simply says a few stock responses,such as "Please continue" or,"The experiment requires that you continue."
Milgram's results were astounding… every single participant continued to administer 'shocks' after this point in the experiment.The command of the authority figure was so compelling they could not say no.Although Milgram was able to reduce the obedience rates by having the experimenter wear street clothes,doing the experiment in a warehouse,and having the orders delivered over the telephone,people still obeyed the experimenter even when they believed they were harming other people.