Deck 1: What Is Social Psychology

Question 1

Which of the following statements best reflects a dispositional view of human behavior?

A) "That test was so difficult no one could do well."
B) "Look at all of the people who are falling on that icy patch of sidewalk!"
C) "When I don't eat breakfast, I feel rotten all day."
D) "Bob is so self-centered that he has trouble getting along with other people."

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Kia believes that U.S. President Barack Obama was able to get his medical reform legislation passed in Congress because of his dynamic interpersonal skills. This is an example of:

A) Aronson's first law.
B) the hindsight effect.
C) the situational view.
D) the dispositional view.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Aronson uses the example of Seymour's advice to his younger brother, Buddy, from a short story by Salinger, to suggest that:

A) a researcher should attempt to answer questions that have always interested him.
B) a researcher should always try to study the questions that others have identified as the most important.
C) researchers should always strive to be "provocative rather than right."
D) writing novels is more valuable than conducting scientific research because literature is easier for more people to understand than science, so literature can have a much larger social impact.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Aronson's first law reminds us that:

A) situations can cause most normal people to behave in abnormal ways.
B) psychosis, at least from a social psychological point of view, does not exist.
C) people generally think of others in very much the same way they think of themselves.
D) human behavior can be explained by using the scientific method.

Question 5

After the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Joe tells Mary that he knew all along Barack Obama would be elected. This is an example of:

A) Aronson's first law.
B) the hindsight effect.
C) the situational view.
D) the dispositional view.

Question 6

What does Aronson mean when he says that science is a "self-corrective enterprise"?

A) Even if a certain study is not perfect, other researchers will improve on it.
B) Researchers conduct experiments as a way of improving-"correcting"-the human condition.
C) The inherent tendency of all human action is to gradually improve over time, and science, as a human endeavor, exhibits this same quality.
D) A panel of experts reviews each and every research article before it is accepted for publication, and this ensures that no errors in scientific research go undetected before the results are made public.

Question 7

Aronson defines social psychology as:

A) how people learn to behave in accordance with society's rules.
B) the influences that people have upon the beliefs, feelings, and behaviors of others.
C) how societies and social groups work.
D) the study of roles and social norms.

Question 8

Aronson maintains that "one of the by-products of excessive caution is excessive self-consciousness." In the context of conducting research, this statement means that:

A) scientists should not always be concerned with following proper methodological procedures.
B) engaging in scientific inquiry, which is by nature a slow, careful enterprise, leads one to develop a cautious and conservative personality.
C) being too careful and cautious can stifle scientific inquiry by making researchers reluctant to pursue interesting and unusual questions.
D) if a researcher is not careful, science can degenerate into an undisciplined, "circus-like" enterprise.

Question 9

In his or her attempts to understand human social behavior, the professional social psychologist has the advantage of being able to:

A) study at the same time all of the factors that influence people in a situation.
B) know how to control every individual's behavior.
C) create and study exact duplicates of actual situations and events.
D) control the influence of irrelevant factors when studying a problem.

Question 10

In his first chapter, Aronson defines social psychology as the study of:

A) human behavior and mental processes.
B) people and events.
C) social influence.
D) actions that appear to be crazy but are not.

Question 11

According to Aronson's text, the statement that we are all "amateur" social psychologists means that:

A) we all give advice to our close friends and relatives.
B) we all develop hypotheses about social behavior because we spend a lot of time interacting with other people.
C) we don't have as much training as professional social psychologists.
D) our theories about human behavior are too complex.

Question 12

Our tendency to overestimate our powers of prediction once we know the outcome of a given event is known as:

A) the hindsight bias.
B) common-sense social psychology.
C) the self-fulfilling prophecy.
D) the "déjà vu" effect.

Question 13

According to the hindsight bias you would predict which of the following results?

A) People would be more likely to blame a prisoner than a guard for a prison uprising.
B) If after a race were over, people were asked how confident they were that a particular horse would win, they would remember being more confident if he did win than if he did not.
C) We tend to behave the way that people expect us to.
D) We are more likely to make situational judgments when explaining our future behavior and make dispositional explanations when explaining our past behavior.

Question 14

According to Darwyn Linder, which of the following is NOT a function of journals in science?

A) archival-a permanent store of knowledge about the field
B) an information exchange between researchers in the field
C) pragmatic-convinces Deans that young scholars are worthy of tenure because they have published
D) evaluative-a way to root out scientists who have not kept up with new and emerging ideas

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT an advantage that professional social psychologists have over amateur social psychologists?

A) Professionals use observation of social phenomena in their thinking about social phenomena, whereas amateurs cannot.
B) Professionals can make things happen.
C) Professionals can hold everything constant except what they are interested in studying.
D) Professionals' conclusions are based on more precise data.

Question 16

Tomoko explains that her teacher is a kind, gentle person and that is why Tomoko does well in school. Tomoko's appraisal of her teacher is best thought of as an example of:

A) Aronson's first law.
B) the hindsight effect.
C) the situational view.
D) the dispositional view.

Question 17

"The influences that people have upon the beliefs, feelings, and behaviors of others" is the text's definition of:

A) dispositions.
B) the self-fulfilling prophecy.
C) the hindsight effect.
D) social psychology.

Question 18

Aronson invokes James' notion of a "leap of faith" to argue that:

A) religious faith is an important topic of social psychological research because our beliefs affect our attitudes, which, in turn, affect our behavior.
B) researchers should do the best work they can, with the understanding that when other researchers analyze their studies, they will probably improve on it, thus benefiting science as a whole.
C) if you have faith that you can do a particular study, then you will succeed.
D) science alone cannot solve our social problems; we must trust in higher powers that are not open to scientific investigation.

Question 19

According to "Aronson's first law," people who do crazy things:

A) are, by definition, crazy.
B) may not be crazy, but are different from normal people.
C) are not necessarily crazy, but may be normal people trying to adjust to extraordinary social influences.
D) are perceived as crazy by people with rigid standards for behavior.

Question 20

Explaining unpleasant behavior by labeling people "crazy" or "sadistic":

A) is useful because it allows us to develop tests to help classify people.
B) is dangerous because it makes these people angry and violent.
C) is useful because it warns the general public to watch out for certain people.
D) is dangerous if it causes us to forget about situational factors that could cause us to engage in unpleasant behaviors.

Question 21

The subjects in Zimbardo's prison study were:

A) prison guards.
B) prisoners.
C) both prison guards and prisoners.
D) normal, mature, stable young men.

Question 22

People tend to explain the causes of other people's behavior as being the result of their personalities. Thus, if Luke gets a bad grade on a test, it must be because he is stupid. This tendency is called:

A) the dispositional view.
B) the self-fulfilling prophecy.
C) Aronson's first law.
D) the hindsight effect.

Question 23

Kia believes that U.S. President Barack Obama was able to get his medical reform legislation passed in Congress because Democrats had an overwhelming majority of seats, and that it would have happened whether or not Obama was president. This is an example of:

A) Aronson's first law.
B) the hindsight effect.
C) the situational view.
D) the dispositional view.

Question 24

Is social psychology simply common sense? Why or why not? Why is it important to conduct scientific investigations of hypotheses about social behavior?

Question 25

In Zimbardo's prison study, young, psychologically normal men were randomly assigned to the role of playing a guard or a prisoner. After six days, the "prisoners" became servile, dehumanized robots, while "guards" became despicable and cruel. In general, the results of this study probably indicate that:

A) the veneer of civilization is very thin, and the true nature of humans is to be callous and unfeeling.
B) the situation is often primarily responsible for behavior, not the personalities of subjects.
C) prisoners are basically antisocial and, thus, are unable to cope with the prison environment.
D) guards probably choose their profession because they enjoy power and being brutal.

Question 26

Define and give an example of a "dispositional" view of the world.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Question 27

In your own words, what is Aronson's definition of social psychology? Give an example of behavior that social psychologists would be interested in studying.

Question 28

The circumstances surrounding the Abu Ghraib prison in which American soldiers abused Iraqi detainees resembles the situation in Zimbardo's prison study. Generalizing from this study, the guards' behaviors could be explained as a result of:

A) sick and sadist people joining the military.
B) untrained guards being placed in an unusual situation.
C) the Iraqi detainees disrespectful behavior toward the guards.
D) the guards simply following local normative behavior.

Question 29

Describe three advantages that professional social psychologists have over amateurs.

Question 30

You and a friend are watching the news and hear a report about a murder in New York City, witnessed by dozens of bystanders-none of whom attempted to help the victim or even telephone the police. Your friend expresses utter disgust at this incident, remarking "People who live in big cities have no compassion for others. They lack fundamental decency-all they care about is themselves." Your friend's remark best reflects:

A) astute insight into the effects of living in large cities.
B) the primacy effect.
C) a situational view of the world.
D) a dispositional view of the world.

Question 31

In Zimbardo's prison study, how were subjects assigned the role of prisoner or guard?

A) Younger men were made prisoners so as to better replicate the actual prison situation.
B) More intelligent subjects were assigned to be guards.
C) Those with more stable personalities were assigned to be guards.
D) Roles were assigned by flipping a coin.

Question 32

Why did Zimbardo discontinue his prison experiment?

A) The public judged it to be unethical.
B) All of his subjects quit.
C) The subjects lost sight of the difference between their own "self " and the "role" that they were playing.
D) The procedure was completed and the data were so clear and impressive that it did not need to be continued.

Question 33

"People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy." Explain the meaning of this statement and how it is relevant to a social-psychological perspective on understanding social behavior. What are some of the drawbacks of explaining unpleasant behavior by labeling it as sadistic or crazy?