Social Psychology After World War II: Key Concepts and Figures Quiz

🧠 Quick Study Guide: Social Psychology After WWII

• 🌍 Context of WWII: The atrocities of World War II, particularly the Holocaust, spurred intense interest in understanding obedience to authority, conformity, prejudice, and group dynamics. Researchers sought to explain how ordinary people could commit or allow such acts.
• 🧪 Rise of Experimental Social Psychology: The post-war era saw a significant shift towards rigorous experimental methods to study social phenomena in controlled settings, aiming for scientific explanations of complex human behaviors.
• 🧑‍🎓 Key Figures & Concepts:
  • 🤝 Solomon Asch (1950s): Pioneered studies on conformity, demonstrating how individuals often yield to group pressure, even when the group's judgment is clearly wrong.
  • ⚡ Stanley Milgram (1960s): Conducted controversial experiments on obedience to authority, revealing how far individuals would go in inflicting harm when instructed by an authority figure, echoing questions from WWII.
  • 🤯 Leon Festinger (1950s): Developed the theory of cognitive dissonance, explaining the psychological discomfort experienced when holding conflicting beliefs or when one's actions contradict their beliefs, leading to attitude change.
  • 💡 Kurt Lewin (pre-war, but influential post-war): Often considered the "father of modern social psychology," his work on group dynamics and action research laid foundational theories for understanding social change and group behavior.
  • 🏞️ Muzafer Sherif (1930s-1960s): Known for his Robbers Cave experiment and work on social norms and intergroup conflict, demonstrating how groups form and how prejudice can arise and be reduced through superordinate goals.
• ⚖️ Ethical Considerations: The impactful, yet sometimes ethically questionable, nature of studies like Milgram's led to the development of stricter ethical guidelines for psychological research, emphasizing informed consent and protection from harm.

📝 Practice Quiz

1. Which social psychologist is best known for his experiments on conformity, using line judgments to demonstrate the power of group pressure?
   A) Stanley Milgram
   B) Leon Festinger
   C) Solomon Asch
   D) Philip Zimbardo
2. The theory of cognitive dissonance was developed by which influential post-WWII social psychologist?
   A) Kurt Lewin
   B) Leon Festinger
   C) Muzafer Sherif
   D) Stanley Milgram
3. Stanley Milgram's controversial experiments primarily investigated which social psychological phenomenon?
   A) Bystander effect
   B) Groupthink
   C) Obedience to authority
   D) Social loafing
4. The historical event that most profoundly influenced the emergence and focus of social psychology after WWII was:
   A) The Great Depression
   B) The Cold War
   C) The Holocaust and atrocities of WWII
   D) The Civil Rights Movement
5. Which concept explains the psychological discomfort experienced when an individual holds two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes, or performs an action that contradicts their beliefs?
   A) Social facilitation
   B) Cognitive dissonance
   C) Group polarization
   D) Deindividuation
6. Often considered the "father of modern social psychology," his work on group dynamics and action research laid foundational theories for understanding social change and group behavior.
   A) Solomon Asch
   B) Stanley Milgram
   C) Kurt Lewin
   D) Leon Festinger
7. Muzafer Sherif's Robbers Cave experiment famously demonstrated principles of:
   A) Obedience and punishment
   B) Conformity and social norms
   C) Intergroup conflict and superordinate goals
   D) Cognitive dissonance and attitude change