Deck 9: Leadership and Group Decision Making

Question 1

We know Gandhi was an effective leader of his nation because he:

A) said he was in charge.
B) was rated by others as an extremely sociable person.
C) helped others to achieve national goals.
D) was very charismatic.

Answer 1

helped others to achieve national goals.

Question 2

According to Lippitt and White (1943), which leaders turn out to be the most popular with their groups?

A) Laissez-faire leaders
B) Democratic leaders
C) Leaders who score lowest on the 'least-preferred co-worker' scale
D) Leaders who can be considered 'great persons'

Answer 2

Democratic leaders

Question 3

According to Lippitt and White (1943), a leader who is friendly, group-centred and play-oriented, albeit at the expense of group productivity, can be attributed which kind of leadership style?

A) Authoritative
B) Laissez-faire
C) Democratic
D) Autocratic

Answer 3

Laissez-faire

Question 4

From a social psychological perspective, leadership is:

A) a product of coercion.
B) conformity to a group norm.
C) the exercise of power.
D) integral to the human condition.

Question 5

There are only weak correlates between individual differences and leadership. Nevertheless, significant leaders tend to:

A) be less talkative in larger groups but highly attractive.
B) have a sense of entitlement to their position and the need for attention.
C) have higher than average intelligence and the need to dominate.
D) be more talkative and have a higher than average intelligence.

Question 6

Winston Churchill was voted into government during the war, but voted out of government after the war. This can be generalised to show:

A) that leaders undergo personality changes when in power.
B) the speed of political change.
C) that leaders, once in power, do not always live up to their promises.
D) the situational nature of leadership.

Question 7

According to Judge, Bono, Ilies and Gerhardt's (2002) meta-analysis, which of the following attributes were found to be the best predictors of effective leadership?

A) Extraversion, openness to experience and conscientiousness
B) Extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness
C) Emotional stability, agreeableness and conscientiousness
D) Emotional stability, agreeableness and openness to experience

Question 8

Lippitt and White (1943) investigated several leadership styles. Which one was associated with the biggest difference in productivity, depending on whether the leader was present or not?

A) Democratic
B) Autocratic
C) Task-oriented
D) Laissez-faire

Question 9

According to Lippitt and White (1943), which of the following is NOT a leadership style?

A) Laissez-faire
B) Success-oriented
C) Democratic
D) Autocratic

Question 10

The model that explains leadership in terms of unique properties, or personality characteristics, is known as the:

A) personality approach to leadership.
B) great person theory.
C) unique person model.
D)Person/Leader match theory.

Question 11

Leaders are people who:

A) dominate group members.
B) help others achieve group goals.
C) control others through persuasion.
D) say they are the leader.

Question 12

Alison is a relationship-oriented leader. It is important to her that:

A) employees can approach her for a counselling session.
B) in her absence, her employees work reliably and productively.
C) set goals are achieved.
D) her employees get on well with each other and rate highly in job satisfaction.

Question 13

By adopting a moderately situational perspective on leadership, researchers subscribe to the assumption that:

A) different situations demand different leadership properties.
B) leaders will not change to accommodate changed circumstances.
C) an effective leader is one best equipped to speak for the group.
D) great leaders are highly attractive and physically fit.

Question 14

Lippitt and White (1943) found that autocratic leaders would:

A) focus on the task at hand, give orders, and be concerned about group members.
B) focus on the task at hand, be warm-hearted, and organise the team's activities.
C) focus on the task at hand, give orders, and call for suggestions.
D) focus on the task at hand, give orders, and organise the team's activities.

Question 15

The theory that the effectiveness of particular leadership styles depends on both situational and task factors was put forward by:

A) Lippitt and White
B) Fiedler
C) Bales
D) Strube and Garcia

Question 16

You divide a group of children into pairs and have them work on three tasks: simple computations, searching the Internet and painting. When studying the results, you find that children who took the lead in the first two tasks rarely led in the third. Linking this to what you have read, you could use this as evidence of:

A) lack of perseverance in children.
B) a tit-for-tat strategy.
C) poor reliability of leadership measures.
D) a contextual or situational aspect to leadership.

Question 17

The LPC scale is used to measure leadership style:

A) in factory settings.
B) in sports groups.
C) in democratic countries.
D) as part of contingency theory.

Question 18

When an approach integrates leadership styles with situational requirements we have an example of a:

A) situational balance theory.
B) great person theory.
C) neo-associationist approach.
D) contingency theory.

Question 19

Cross-cultural research on leadership style has shown that:

A) what counts as socioemotional leadership is universally valued.
B) what counts as task-oriented leadership is universally valued.
C) speaking directly with individual co-workers is universally valued.
D) both performance and maintenance behaviours are universally valued.

Question 20

Like Bales before him, Fiedler (1965) believed that the leadership characteristics of being relationship-oriented and task-oriented are usually:

A) not quantitatively measurable.
B) complementary.
C) inversely related.
D) too broad as categories to be useful.

Question 21

A limitation of path-goal theory of leadership is that:

A) empirical support for the theory does not exist.
B) the theory is restricted to a political focus.
C) empirical tests for the theory were too simplistic.
D) the theory is restricted to motivational forces.

Question 22

Transformational leadership refers to leaders who:

A) deflate the needs, abilities and aspirations of group members.
B) motivate the abilities and aspirations of group members.
C) challenge the needs, abilities and aspirations of group members.
D) attend to the needs, abilities and aspirations of group members.

Question 23

High quality leader-member exchange relationships are likely to develop when the leader and the subordinate:

A) have similar attitudes on effective leadership behaviour.
B) clearly understand goals set by followers and approved by leaders.
C) belong to the same socio-economic demographic group.
D) benefits are a one-way exchange from leader to follower.

Question 24

Karen has just been appointed president of the tennis club. Her plans for the club's future involve some structural innovations, and also some changes in the way club members behave. Before she starts, her guiding strategy should be to:

A) start straightening out ill-discipline.
B) look at the club's finances.
C) get a good tennis coach.
D) build up some idiosyncrasy credits.

Question 25

An assumption of path-goal theory (House, 1996) is that a leader's main function is to:

A) motivate group members and plan for competition from rival groups.
B) dictate to group members and define competing paths to achieve the group's goal.
C) check followers' personal profiles with diligence.
D) address the emotional needs of group members and define paths that will allow them to achieve their goals.

Question 26

Some leaders emphasise the importance of developing positive exchanges with their followers. Of which theory is this a major characteristic?

A) LMX
B) NDT
C) PGT
D) LPC

Question 27

Leaders' effectiveness is determined by the control they have over a situation (Fiedler, 1965). This control depends on:

A) task structure, leadership style and socio-emotionality.
B) group cohesiveness, leader-member relations and task structure.
C) leader-member relations, task structure and position power.
D) task structure, position power and socio-emotionality.

Question 28

Fiedler's measure of leadership style in terms of attitudes towards a person's least-preferred co-worker is the:

A) contingency scale.
B) LPC scale.
C) workmanship scale.
D) self-monitoring scale.

Question 29

Jeremy is a shift manager at KFC. He is popular with higher management because he can achieve goals on time and to their satisfaction. He likes to see his photo on the notice board as the most successful shift manager of the month and doesn't mind when he is not invited to his workers' parties-after all, they are his subordinates. Which of the following leadership styles does he exemplify?

A) Task-oriented
B) Relationship-oriented
C) Laissez-faire
D) Democratic

Question 30

According to Fiedler (1965), leaders who derive their self-esteem from achieving group goals irrespective of their co-workers' preferences are typically:

A) egocentric leaders.
B) task-oriented leaders.
C) emotional leaders.
D) selfish leaders.

Question 31

Which one is NOT a factor that affects a leader's situational control?

A) Task structure
B) Leader-member relations
C) Relations between members
D) Position power

Question 32

Terry makes a big effort to be consultative, looking for input from subordinates in making decisions. This characteristic is a feature of:

A) fear of social blunders.
B) normative decision theory.
C) effort justification.
D) diffuse status characteristics.

Question 33

What is a limitation of the leader-member exchange theory?

A) It only focuses on dyadic leader-member relations
B) There is little evidence of leader-member exchange relationships in real-world organisations
C) The types of leader-member relationships are difficult to differentiate and define in a real-world context
D) Interaction between leaders and members is not something that can be measured

Question 34

The leader-member exchange theory of leadership emphasises the importance of relationships between leaders and group members. The theory:

A) can include material benefits, such as trust.
B) does not include benefits as a factor of effective leaders.
C) can include psychological benefits, such as wages.
D) includes both material and psychological benefits.

Question 35

Which of the following is NOT a decision-making strategy within normative distribution theory?

A) Autocratic
B) Consultative
C) Group decision making
D) Democratic

Question 36

Charismatic leadership as a concept has a problem because it:

A) implies that charisma is a personality trait.
B) argues that people have to be like Gandhi.
C) works only with whole cultures.
D) requires too many costs to implement.

Question 37

In leader categorisation theory, when we categorise someone as a leader:

A) our leader schema generates further information about that person.
B) they categorise us as a mirror image.
C) it is because they already had the qualities we wanted in a leader.
D) we think that person is now part of the outgroup.

Question 38

Arthur is the new president of the returned servicemen's association. He plans to honour its old customs, but also wants to modernise it and make it attractive for new members. What can Arthur do? One solution to this paradox has been offered by:

A) Lippitt and White's definition of the democratic leader.
B) Bales' distinction between task-oriented and socio-emotional leadership.
C) Hollander's notion of idiosyncrasy credit.
D) Fiedler's contingency theory.

Question 39

According to Hollander (1958), leaders have to accumulate a credit rating before being able to legitimately exert influence over the group and deviate from existing norms. The underlying concept is:

A) idiosyncrasy credit.
B) leadership influence.
C) leader-member exchange.
D) legitimate power.

Question 40

According to Fiedler, the term 'situational control' refers to:

A) how much power a leader is assigned by higher management to solve a problem.
B) the extent to which a leader uses a situation to his/her advantage.
C) how much control a leadership situation allows the leader to exert over a group.
D) an interaction between leadership style and the context.

Question 41

You own a screen-printing business. On Monday, a well-known outdoor adventure company commissions you to design their new logo. Having left things a bit late, they want several options by Tuesday. Being the wise person that you are, you:

A) quickly get your staff to come back into the office to discuss the options for the logo design.
B) ask your staff to produce as many designs as possible by themselves which you will look at in the morning.
C) phone your competitor for advice on what they would do to develop a brand new logo for a company.
D) base your idea on a design you saw last year while on vacation at a cultural festival downtown.

Question 42

In the context of intergroup relations, a leader's effectiveness can often be thwarted or compromised due to:

A) having too many people to manage.
B) being perceived as an outgroup leader to some subgroups.
C) engaging in decision making that is vulnerable to group polarisation.
D) giving inadequate attention to the aspirations and emotional needs of group members.

Question 43

Prototypical leaders:

A) are the most direct source of prototype conformity for the group.
B) are more likely to behave in self-serving ways.
C) closely embody group norms.
D) are less liked by group members.

Question 44

In many real-world areas (such as politics), men tend to occupy more top leadership positions compared to women. Eagly's (2003) real congruity theory would attribute this gender gap in leadership positions to:

A) social stereotypes of women being inconsistent with people's schemas of effective leadership and more likely to be evaluated as poor leaders.
B) men being more cunning and logical in their leadership strategies compared to women.
C) the physiological make-up of males enabling them to yell louder than women and therefore command the attention of more people when speaking.
D) women being too preoccupied with their physical appearance when in leadership positions.

Question 45

When group prototypicality is considered in the context of leadership, we find that:

A) prototypical leaders are trusted more by followers to be acting in the group's best interests.
B) leaders' membership credentials are less important than their actual prototypicality.
C) in salient groups, ingroup leaders are less effective than outgroup leaders.
D) prototypical leaders identify with management and behave in self-serving ways.

Question 46

In the context of intergroup relations, leaders:

A) behave autocratically rather than democratically.
B) typically undermine the member who is second-in-command.
C) use rhetoric to define their ingroup in a way that contrasts with an outgroup.
D) get by on the basis of their personality.

Question 47

The Young Traditionalists are trying to drum up promotional ideas for their political party's advertising campaign next month. They brainstorm, but come up with some very conservative ideas. This is a likely outcome of:

A) a short time frame.
B) social loafing.
C) evaluation apprehension.
D) free riding.

Question 48

Through our various experiences, we know that we produce more and better ideas in groups than when we are alone. This belief is:

A) only true of cohesive groups.
B) more commonly known as brainstorming.
C) an illusion of group effectivity.
D) due to production matching.

Question 49

Transactive memory:

A) is a shared memory recalled by a whole group.
B) is a set of rules solving recall tasks.
C) was proposed by Jung's collective unconscious.
D) refers to memories that are exchanged as in a deal.

Question 50

Why are justice and fairness important qualities in a leader?

A) Followers need to perceive that they can trust their leader
B) These attributes may need to be used in due course to mete out punishments
C) Without these, a leader may not be able to exploit followers when it really matters
D) They hide coercive behaviour so members will comply with the leader's goals

Question 51

Within the context of leadership, social dilemmas are conceptualised as:

A) crises of trust among group members in which short-term personal gain is at odds with the long-term good of the group.
B) situations where a leader experiences ambivalence when trying to make decisions on behalf of the group.
C) situations where leaders use coercion against group members.
D) temporary sacrifices of self-interest over group membership.

Question 52

'Unanimity', 'first shift', 'truth wins' and 'majority wins' are examples of:

A) group contexts.
B) social decisions schemes.
C) ways of accumulating idiosyncrasy credit.
D) leadership styles.

Question 53

Common rules for group decision making differ in their degree of:

A) fairness.
B) effectiveness.
C) strictness.
D) applicability.

Question 54

Tina and Thomas work for different advertising agencies. In developing new projects, Tina's firm favours brainstorming in a group, whereas Thomas works for a firm that favours individual work. Tina is more likely to:

A) believe that she will probably have the least ideas.
B) believe that Tom will produce more ideas.
C) feel that Tom will be more creative on his own.
D) feel that she is more creative this way.

Question 55

Research on group remembering shows that groups are better at remembering simple tasks than complex tasks. A likely explanation of this is in terms of:

A) social loafing.
B) interference.
C) process loss.
D) the transactive memory.

Question 56

Val is doing a 'house makeover' and right now is brainstorming with a group of friends about how to change her lounge and kitchen. At first the ideas are flying, but soon they dry up and sound more and more boring. Val and her friends are victims of:

A) evaluation apprehension.
B) social loafing.
C) production blocking.
D) production matching.

Question 57

A brainstorming group can show inferior performance when compared to individual effort. Which of the following is NOT a factor that can explain this?

A) Production blocking
B) Social loafing
C) Production matching
D) Distraction

Question 58

When social identity theory is applied to leadership:

A) the individual differences of a leader are not thought to affect their ability to lead.
B) leader schemas are found to have very little to do with leader effectiveness.
C) non-stereotypical leaders are the most effective.
D) the extent of group prototypicality of the leader becomes important.

Question 59

Within the psychology department at a university, there is a large volume of information that needs to be remembered, relating to a whole manner of different things (e.g., research, post-graduate supervision, undergraduate teaching, equipment and administrative matters). This is too much information for one individual to remember. Instead, certain individuals are formally responsible for particular domains (e.g., research) but everyone in the department is able to remember who is responsible for each domain. This is an example of:

A) group polarisation.
B) groupthink.
C) transactive memory.
D) group mind.

Question 60

Clark and Stephenson (1989) investigated the accuracy of their participants' recall of police testimony collected through questioning a rape victim. Compared to individuals, groups of four people at a time:

A) made more confusional errors.
B) recalled less correct information.
C) made fewer motivational inferences.
D) went beyond the actual information more often.

Question 61

Janis's (1972) term 'groupthink' refers to conditions in which:

A) transactive memory takes over.
B) responsibility is diffused hither and thither.
C) an outgroup is dehumanised.
D) a group's goal of unanimity overrides the need to be rational.

Question 62

Which of these is an antecedent of groupthink?

A) Excessive cohesiveness
B) Effective leadership
C) Having a fairly straightforward task
D) Norms that encourage proper procedures

Question 63

When a group becomes polarised, members make a decision that:

A) conforms to an establishment point of view.
B) is more extreme than the mean of the members' initial positions.
C) is the most extreme position possible.
D) favours the leader's viewpoint.

Question 64

Self-categorisation theory can account for group polarisation by way of:

A) moving towards a group norm that maximises difference from an outgroup.
B) group members striving for individuality while achieving a group norm.
C) moving towards a group norm that maximises variability within the group.
D) group members striving for conformity with similar outgroups.

Question 65

Peter, Paul and Mary have just one weekend to climb a famous mountain. Early on the first morning the weather does not look too good, and individually they know they can't climb that day. So they sit in their cabin to talk about what comes next. Five minutes later, they know. They will tackle the climb the next day, whatever the weather. This looks suspiciously like an instance of:

A) diffusion of responsibility.
B) conformity.
C) follow-the-leader.
D) groupthink.

Question 66

Lorraine and Malcolm have been married for years. In preparation for their annual skiing holiday, Lorraine goes on talking at length about things of no importance while she packs the clothes and food. Malcolm quietly concentrates while he checks the skiing equipment and the car. They always drive off well-prepared because:

A) Malcolm is evidently logical.
B) Lorraine and Malcolm use category-based transactive memory.
C) Lorraine has learned not to say anything important.
D) Malcolm avoid metastatements.

Question 67

When members of Citizens Against Speeding Drivers first met they showed signs of the effects of the 'persuasive arguments theory' because they:

A) heard some new ideas that made them even more committed to the cause.
B) calmed after venting their initial anger.
C) turned a campaign about speeding into an angry attack on the government.
D) voted to depose the chairperson.

Question 68

Which of the following does research support concerning jury verdicts?

A) Authoritative jury members favour conviction when the victim is an authority figure
B) Authoritative jury members favour conviction when the defendant is an authority figure
C) Authoritative jury members favour conviction when the foreman is an authority figure
D) Authoritative jury members favour conviction when the majority of jurors are authority figures

Question 69

Which of the following has been investigated LEAST often in relation to jury decision making?

A) Decision schemes
B) Realistic conflict theory
C) Characteristics of the defendant
D) Characteristics of the jurors

Question 70

When a group shows evidence of ________, there is some risk that groupthink will follow.

A) impartial leadership
B) maintaining contact with external influences
C) ideological heterogeneity of its members
D) group cohesiveness

Question 71

The theory that explains group polarisation as the outcome of members constructing a norm that is believed to diverge from the outgroup norm is:

A) self-categorisation theory.
B) persuasive norm theory.
C) pluralistic norm theory.
D) cultural values theory.

Question 72

The decisions taken by juries are:

A) capable of weeding out any errors of individual jury members.
B) based on the best possible method for getting at the truth in a situation.
C) prone to decision-making deficiencies like group polarisation and groupthink.
D) more accurate than those of the average individual would make on their own.

Question 73

The tendency for group discussion to produce group decisions that are more risky than the mean of member's pre-discussion opinions (when the pre-discussion mean already favoured risk) is referred to as:

A) persuasive risk theory.
B) risky shift.
C) choice dilemma.
D) risky choice theory.

Question 74

Which of the following is NOT a symptom of groupthink leading to defective decision making?

A) Disregard of information that is not in support of the group's ideas
B) Critical analysis of different opinions
C) Unquestioning belief that the group is right
D) Stereotyping of outgroup members

Question 75

Janis (1972) used archives to compare several American foreign policy decisions that had unfavourable outcomes. He uncovered a mode of committee thinking in which the desire to reach unanimous agreement was at the expense of rational decision. He called this:

A) the illusion of group effectivity.
B) groupthink.
C) deindividuation.
D) the group mind.