Deck 7: Group Influence

Question 1

In which of the following situations would the social facilitation effect most likely occur?

A) A weak batter hitting a home run in front of a large crowd of fans
B) An inexperienced babysitter getting a young child to behave in a busy shopping mall
C) A new graduate being interviewed for a job by eight high-level executives
D) A top student excelling in a public spelling bee

Answer 1

A top student excelling in a public spelling bee

Question 2

In one of social psychology's earliest experiments, Norman Triplett found that children told to wind string on a fishing reel as quickly as possible did their task much faster when

A) competing with other children.
B) each worked alone.
C) they worked in the presence of coactors.
D) they had first practised with their teammates.

Answer 2

they worked in the presence of coactors.

Question 3

You are working on a project with three of your classmates at a large table in the cafeteria and are distracted by five other students sitting at the table, who are laughing and joking together. According to your text, which of the following statements is most accurate?

A) You and your classmates are a group; the other students are coactors.
B) You and your classmates are a group; the other students are a group.
C) You and your classmates are coactors; the other students are a group.
D) You and your classmates and the other students are all coactors.

Answer 3

You and your classmates are a group; the other students are a group.

Question 4

Which of the following situations is more likely to result in better performance?

A) Circling all the vowels on a page filled with text
B) Memorizing nonsense syllables
C) Performing complex multiplication problems
D) Completing a complex maze

Question 5

Which of the following is a defining characteristic of a group?

A) Two or more people belong to it
B) Its members influence one another
C) Its members perceive one another as "us"
D) All of these choices

Question 6

Who among the following would be considered coactors?

A) Twenty people doing sit-ups in an exercise class
B) Two people playing chess against each other
C) Twelve competitors running in a cross-country race
D) Three friends chatting pleasantly before class starts

Question 7

The presence of others is likely to lead to better performance in _____________ and to worse performance in ______________.

A) solving a crossword puzzle; sweeping a sidewalk
B) raking leaves; solving complex mathematical problems
C) playing golf; raking leaves
D) solving complex mathematical problems; solving a crossword puzzle

Question 8

A coactor is someone who

A) does the same task as you at the same time.
B) helps and cooperates with you.
C) competes with you on a single task.
D) imitates you.

Question 9

Nearly 300 studies confirm that social arousal ___________ performance on easy tasks and __________ performance on difficult tasks.

A) hurts; boosts
B) facilitates; boosts
C) boosts; hurts
D) hurts; facilitates

Question 10

The presence of others would be least likely to improve performance in

A) playing chess.
B) weight lifting.
C) running.
D) the broad jump.

Question 11

Zajonc resolved the conflicting findings on how the presence of others influences performance with the help of the well-established principle in experimental psychology that arousal

A) enhances whatever response tendency is dominant.
B) interferes with the performance of simple tasks.
C) inhibits coordination of efforts.
D) weakens competing motives.

Question 12

According to group dynamics expert Marvin Shaw, one thing that all groups have in common is that their members

A) share a common goal.
B) have well-defined roles.
C) enjoy free and open communication.
D) interact.

Question 13

Two or more people who interact and influence one another are known as _____________.

A) a team.
B) co-conspirators.
C) a group.
D) colleagues.

Question 14

Coactors are, for example,

A) four people doing push-ups in an exercise class.
B) two people playing bridge.
C) eight competitors running a 5-kilometre race.
D) all of these choices.

Question 15

When the mere presence of others strengthens the dominant response, ________________ has occurred.

A) coaction
B) competition
C) social facilitation
D) group polarization

Question 16

Which of the following can occur in a minimal group situation?

A) social facilitation
B) minority influence
C) group polarization
D) group think

Question 17

On exam day, a student you don't know sits near you. This person is best described as

A) a confederate.
B) a coactor.
C) an ingroup member.
D) a comrade.

Question 18

The presence of others would be most likely to improve performance on

A) counting money.
B) solving crossword puzzles.
C) learning foreign language words.
D) solving complex mathematical puzzles.

Question 19

Which of the following is probably not a group as that term is defined in your text?

A) A doctor with her patient
B) Three people who share the same taxi and decide who gets dropped off first
C) Four people working together on a class project
D) Five people riding the city bus

Question 20

The social facilitation effect has been found to apply to

A) people performing simple motor tasks.
B) chickens eating grain.
C) ants excavating sand.
D) all of these choices.

Question 21

According to the "distraction hypothesis," the mere presence of others can cause arousal because one experiences a conflict between

A) paying attention to the task and paying attention to the other people.
B) wanting to perform well and wanting to complete the task.
C) one's social role and one's personal self-image.
D) following instructions and making one's own decisions.

Question 22

Studies of athletes have found an advantage for home teams in that they win about 6 in 10 games. According to the research in your text, which statement is the best explanation as to why this might this be so?

A) Athletes feel more comfortable on their "home turf" and are more relaxed.
B) Athletes perform well-practiced skills, which explains why they perform best when energized by a supportive crowd.
C) Athletes are not performing their dominant response when they are playing another team who has the home advantage.
D) Athletes are overly stressed by performing in front of their own fans, and this pressure causes their performance to only be slightly above chance.

Question 23

Barbara is a professor and gives lectures to groups of students ranging from 40 to 100. She is never anxious, enjoys giving these lectures, and doesn't have many problems speaking in front of the students. However, at a conference, Barbara has been asked to speak in front of a group of approximately 1000 of her academic peers. Based on the principles in your text, Barbara is most likely to

A) experience enhanced performance because she is engaging in a well-learned behaviour.
B) present her speech without much difference between the way she lectures to her students.
C) experience some difficulty during her speech due to anxiety that interferes with her speaking abilities.
D) experience excessive anxiety and be unable to perform her speech.

Question 24

Evans tested 10-person groups in either a small, crowded room or a larger, more spacious room. Those in the crowded room were found to

A) make more errors on both simple and complex tasks.
B) make more errors on complex tasks but not on simple tasks.
C) complete both simple and complex tasks more quickly.
D) complete simple tasks more quickly and complex tasks more slowly.

Question 25

Freedman and his colleagues had an accomplice listen to a humorous tape or watch a movie with other participants. When all sat close together, the accomplice

A) was liked less by males and liked more by females.
B) could more readily induce the group to express hostility toward the experimenter.
C) could more readily induce the group to laugh and clap.
D) could more readily distract the group from attending to the tape or movie.

Question 26

The primary effect of a crowd is that it

A) enhances performance.
B) enhances arousal.
C) hurts performance.
D) enhances social responsibility.

Question 27

How might having your mother and father at your first piano recital affect your performance?

A) Their presence will likely not impair it.
B) Their presence will improve it a lot.
C) Their presence does not affect it.
D) Their presence will improve it a little.

Question 28

What is it about others that causes arousal?

A) They facilitate concentration
B) They are attractive
C) They create evaluation apprehension
D) All of these choices

Question 29

Sharmila hasn't done well on her earlier social psychology exams, and she doesn't feel confident about this one, either. Is she likely to perform better if given the opportunity to answer the questions orally in front of her professor or in a written exam in a room by herself?

A) A written exam completed in a room by herself
B) An oral exam in front of her professor
C) Neither situation will improve her performance
D) Either situation would improve her performance

Question 30

Sanders and his colleagues have suggested that we are aroused in the presence of others, not only because of evaluation apprehension, but because we

A) engage in social comparison.
B) become deindividuated.
C) get distracted.
D) need to belong.

Question 31

In one experiment, joggers on a jogging path sped up as they came upon a woman seated on the grass, but only if she was

A) facing them.
B) facing away from them.
C) someone they knew.
D) a stranger.

Question 32

Being in a large crowd intensifies _____________.

A) negative reactions.
B) positive reactions.
C) positive or negative reactions.
D) None of these choices.

Question 33

Being in a crowd intensifies

A) positive emotions.
B) negative emotions.
C) both A and B.
D) none of these choices.

Question 34

According to Butler and Baumeister, how does a supportive audience affect a person's performance?

A) It may elicit poorer performance on challenging tasks.
B) It may elicit better performance on challenging tasks.
C) It may elicit poorer performance on easy tasks.
D) It does not have any effect on the performance of the people.

Question 35

Social psychologists refer to our concern for how others are evaluating us as

A) social fear.
B) evaluation apprehension.
C) evaluation phobia.
D) coactor anxiety.

Question 36

According to research,

A) the presence of others can be arousing even when we are not evaluated.
B) the presence of others can be arousing even if we are not distracted.
C) both A and B.
D) none of these choices.

Question 37

Gabriel is planning an experiment on the effects of evaluation apprehension on children's ability to solve puzzles. He arranges for two children to solve puzzles in two different rooms equipped with one-way mirrors. What should he tell the children?

A) Tell both children that they will be watched as they solve the puzzle.
B) Don't tell either of the children that they will be watched as they solve the puzzle.
C) Tell only one child that s/he will be watched as s/he solves the puzzle.
D) None of these choices

Question 38

Evidence that contradicts Zajonc's mere presence theory of social facilitation is that when observers are blindfolded, their presence

A) does not boost performance on a simple task.
B) hinders performance on a complex task.
C) boosts performance on a simple task.
D) is a distraction that leads to poorer performance on both simple and complex tasks.

Question 39

Lee scored in the 99^th percentile on the verbal portion of the SAT. She loves to put her verbal skills to use in solving anagrams. Lee would most likely perform at her best

A) alone.
B) in the mere presence of others also solving anagrams.
C) after receiving positive feedback.
D) after receiving negative feedback.

Question 40

According to the text, the idea that the mere presence of others produces some arousal even without evaluation apprehension or distraction is supported by the finding that

A) some people publicly violate social norms.
B) social facilitation effects occur among strangers.
C) social facilitation effects occur among children.
D) joggers feel energized jogging with someone else, even if they aren't competing or being evaluated.

Question 41

When individual efforts are pooled and not evaluated, evaluation apprehension is __________ and the probability of social loafing is __________.

A) high; low
B) low; high
C) high; high
D) low; low

Question 42

Giving one-hundred-and-ten percent" is to "they'll pick up the slack" as ____________ is to _____________.

A) "be all that you can be"; "I knew it all along"
B) arousal; distraction
C) inhibition; distraction
D) social facilitation; social loafing

Question 43

People who benefit from the group but give little in return are referred to as

A) social facilitators.
B) free-riders.
C) groupthinkers.
D) social leaders.

Question 44

Social loafing refers to the tendency for people to

A) perform an unfamiliar task more poorly when others are present.
B) violate social norms when no one is watching.
C) be insensitive to the needs of others.
D) exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal.

Question 45

Making group members' performance individually identifiable seems to be one effective strategy for reducing

A) social facilitation.
B) social loafing.
C) minority influence.
D) group polarization.

Question 46

People in groups will loaf less when

A) the task is challenging.
B) the task is important and involving.
C) the group is cohesive.
D) all of these choices.

Question 47

Social loafing would be most likely to occur in

A) students working on a group project for which they will all receive the same grade.
B) factory workers who are each paid according to how many lamps they assemble.
C) a group of golfers competing for first place in a tournament.
D) political candidates who hope to win a seat on the city council.

Question 48

Buck works in a meat packing plant. Normally, the output of each individual on the assembly line is collectively evaluated. However, the plant managers are looking at effectiveness and productivity and decide to identify each individual worker's output. When being evaluated on an individual basis, Buck's productivity is likely to

A) increase.
B) decrease.
C) stay the same.
D) be the same as that of the other assembly-line workers.

Question 49

If a teacher does not want social loafing to influence his students' group projects, how might he choose to evaluate the projects?

A) By grading the group component as well as each student's individual component
B) By allowing the students to give each other individual grades
C) Neither A nor B
D) Either A or B

Question 50

Which of the following group process theories should be considered by a corporate planning committee looking into developing the layout for their new office space?

A) groupthink
B) social facilitation
C) social loafing
D) deindividuation

Question 51

When a group believes that if it works hard, its efforts will potentially be rewarded,

A) its members will work hard.
B) its members will be more relaxed and easy going.
C) it does not affect the members' efforts.
D) the members will ask for more time to accomplish the task successfully.

Question 52

When being observed __________ evaluation concerns, social facilitation occurs; when being lost in a crowd __________ evaluation concerns, social loafing occurs.

A) increases; decreases
B) decreases; increases
C) increases; increases
D) decreases; decreases

Question 53

You have been assigned two group projects in different classes. For your Sociology project, you are in a group with three other classmates that you don't know very well. For your Psychology project, the professor let you choose your own group so you are going to be working with your friends. Which group project will be associated with less social loafing?

A) Sociology project
B) Psychology project
C) Both projects will involve people slacking off.
D) Both projects will have lower levels of loafing due to the accountability of the group.

Question 54

For simple tasks, ______________ occurs when observation increases evaluation apprehension, whereas ______________ occurs when the pooling of effort lowers evaluation apprehension.

A) social facilitation; social loafing
B) social loafing; group polarization
C) deindividuation; social loafing
D) social loafing; deindividuation

Question 55

Research on social facilitation suggests that the design of new office buildings in which private offices are replaced with large, open areas may

A) invade privacy and disrupt worker morale.
B) improve communication and build employee morale.
C) disrupt creative thinking on complex tasks.
D) disrupt performance of routine clerical tasks.

Question 56

Social loafing would be least likely to occur

A) in a boys' club trying to raise money by holding a Saturday car wash.
B) in a relay race in which each team member's performance is timed.
C) in a community garden where each family is expected to contribute whatever free time they have.
D) in a work crew building a new highway.

Question 57

Social loafing occurs in situations in which people

A) pool their efforts toward a common goal.
B) are not accountable as individuals.
C) feel little evaluation apprehension.
D) all of these choices.

Question 58

In a study by Latané and his colleagues, participants were asked to shout and clap as loud as possible. Participants produced the most noise when they

A) thought they were shouting alone.
B) thought there was one other person shouting with them.
C) thought there were five other people shouting with them.
D) were not feeling any evaluation apprehension.

Question 59

Juanita has been assigned an easy group project with three classmates, where the group will get one grade for the presentation they make at the end. According to the principles of social loafing, Juanita will most likely

A) slack off and not work as hard as she would have if she did the project herself.
B) work harder than other group members to compensate for them slacking off.
C) contribute equally to the group to produce the best group output possible.
D) work just as hard as others but her quality will suffer due to evaluation apprehension.

Question 60

In a study by Sweeney (1973), students pumped exercise bicycles more energetically when they

A) were part of a five-person team.
B) were part of a three-person team.
C) were part of a two-person team.
D) knew they were pulling alone.

Question 61

Riots and violence that have been known to accompany championship sports games (both wins and losses) provide an example of how being in a crowd can lead to _____________________.

A) deindividuation.
B) social loafing.
C) groupthink.
D) group polarization.

Question 62

A loss of both self-awareness and evaluation apprehension can lead to

A) social facilitation.
B) powerful minority influence effects.
C) coactor effects.
D) deindividuation.

Question 63

Research suggests that social loafing does not occur in

A) Israel's kibbutz farms.
B) China's collective factories.
C) Cuba's collective farms.
D) Japan.

Question 64

According to the text, what group process may have contributed to Airborne officers' participation in the 1993 beating death of a Somali boy?

A) social facilitation
B) the free-rider effect
C) deindividuation
D) social loafing

Question 65

Compared to self-aware people, deindividuated people are

A) less responsive to the situation.
B) less likely to act without thinking about their own values.
C) less self-regulated.
D) more restrained.

Question 66

Research on deindividuation suggests that if concert organizers want to limit "mob behaviour" by fans, they should

A) choose smaller halls rather than large stadiums for the concert.
B) arrange for the concert venue to be well-lit.
C) give fans nametags to wear.
D) all of these choices.

Question 67

Based on research cited in the text, who is most likely to honk aggressively at someone stopped at a green light?

A) The male driver of a sport utility vehicle
B) The male driver of a convertible
C) The female drive of a convertible
D) Any driver of a car with the top up

Question 68

On Halloween night, Diener and colleagues conducted a study of trick-or-treat theft. Given a chance to steal candy, the children who were __________ were most likely to commit transgressions.

A) anonymous and alone
B) anonymous and in a group
C) frustrated and alone
D) frustrated and in a group

Question 69

People are more likely to bait a person to jump off a bridge when it is dark and

A) the crowd is small.
B) the crowd is large.
C) the crowd is made up of people with authoritarian personalities.
D) the crowd is frustrated.

Question 70

According to the text, one contributing factor to the Canadian Airborne officers' participation in the beating death of a Somali boy may have been that

A) The officers were distracted by their separation from their families
B) The officers' wearing similar uniforms allowed them to feel anonymous
C) The officers felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility
D) The offence took place in the dark

Question 71

People in groups loaf less when

A) all group members have comparable levels of self-esteem.
B) the group is made up of a small number of friends.
C) they work on a simple task with strangers.
D) the task is aversive.

Question 72

In one study, women who donned white nurses' uniforms and were made anonymous became __________ than when their names and personal identities were emphasized.

A) less sympathetic to patients' needs
B) more sympathetic to patients' needs
C) less aggressive in administering shock
D) more aggressive in administering shock

Question 73

Which of the following is likely to occur under conditions of deindividuation?

A) police brutality
B) screaming at a referee during a Stanley Cup game
C) stealing
D) all of these choices

Question 74

According to research by Mann (1981), when the crowd was _____________ and exposed by daylight, people _____________ try to bait a suicidal individual.

A) large; did
B) large; did not
C) small; did
D) small; did not

Question 75

It is likely that people will feel their group contributions are indispensable when

A) working with a small group of people that are equally competent.
B) all members are working collectively and without individual accountability.
C) the rest of the group is not as smart and needs help in getting an acceptable grade.
D) other group members are slacking off and someone has to get the work done.

Question 76

The example in your text of the "choo-choo" chant given by a cult observer demonstrates how

A) chanting is relaxing and lulls individuals into a state of enlightened self-control.
B) group activities enhance individual's sense of self-awareness.
C) engaging in a unifying group activity enhances group cohesion.
D) arousing and distracting activities can help in deindividuation.

Question 77

Zimbardo reported that women who were masked and hooded in KKK-style hoods and robes tended to ___________________ than women who were visible and wore name tags.

A) administer longer shocks to a victim
B) engage in greater social loafing
C) make riskier decisions
D) make more contact and reveal more personal information

Question 78

When arousal and diffused responsibility combine and normal inhibitions diminish, this may result in which of the following behaviours?

A) mild lessening of restraint
B) impulsive self-gratification
C) destructive social explosions
D) all of these choices

Question 79

Which of the following circumstances contributes to people becoming deindividuated?

A) They are immersed in a large group
B) They are physically anonymous
C) They are involved in arousing, distracting activities
D) All of these choices

Question 80

It was such an exciting game," your friend insists. "We were all shouting and clapping together, everyone was in sync. When our team won, I realized I was jumping up and down, screaming, right along with everyone else. I don't know what got into me!" Your friend's reactions best illustrate the process of

A) social facilitation.
B) risky shift.
C) deindividuation.
D) groupthink.