Deck 15: Social Psychology

Question 1

In the Milgram studies, this percentage of participants obeyed the experimenter and administered shocks to the danger level.

A) 1%
B) 50%
C) 65%
D) 95%

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to social psychologists, each person's subjective awareness of, and ideas about, his or her own individual nature, characteristics, and very existence, is called

A) the ego
B) the self
C) consciousness
D) social awareness

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The human tendency to make judgment errors that are in favor of your own self is called the

A) fundamental attribution error
B) confidence bias
C) self-serving bias
D) social comparison error

Answer 3

C

Question 4

All of the following are aspects of the self-serving bias, EXCEPT:

A) overestimating your own contributions
B) seeing yourself as better than average
C) attributing your failures to your own efforts
D) attributing your bad deeds to circumstances or bad luck

Question 5

These psychological defense mechanisms lead people to experience more positive moods and feelings of well-being, to persist in their efforts to a greater extent, and to effectively achieve goals.

A) self-serving biases
B) fundamental attribution errors
C) self-serving attitudes
D) positive illusions

Question 6

All of the following are examples of positive illusions described by Taylor and Brown, EXCEPT:

A) People's ratings of their own personalities are more positive than the evaluations of unbiased raters who observe them interacting with others.
B) People will explain events in terms of their own skill that could not possibly be due to skill.
C) People tend to view the future with unrealistic optimism.
D) People tend to view the failures of others as caused by internal forces.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT a hypothesized motive for social comparison?

A) self-evaluation
B) self-defense
C) self-loathing
D) self-enhancement

Question 8

The anxiety we perceive when we become aware of the conflict between our behavior and our attitudes is called

A) cognitive dissonance
B) self-serving bias
C) attribution syndrome
D) fundamental attribution anxiety

Question 9

An evaluative response to some person, idea, object, or event, or a feeling about one of those things, is called a(n)

A) attitude
B) behavior
C) belief
D) attribution

Question 10

This type of cognitive experience indicates what we think is true or untrue in the world.

A) attitude
B) behavior
C) belief
D) attribution

Question 11

An attitude is more likely to predict your behavior if

A)the attitude is in contrast with your beliefs
B) the attitude emerges from personal experience
C) the attitude is learned from your peers
D) the attitude is learned from your parents

Question 12

If you are a fan of a particular baseball team, but find yourself involved in a conversation with people who turn out to be rival fans, which of the following is LEAST likely to occur?

A) you will consider these fans to be good people, but continue to not like other fans
B) you will politely excuse yourself from the conversation
C) you will attempt to physically fight the rival fans
D) you will be sympathetic to the rival team from now on

Question 13

People are more likely to seek employment with companies whose names begin with the same letter as their own. This is evidence for the

A)self-serving error
B) name-letter effect
C) cognitive dissonance effect
D) anagram effect

Question 14

Laying aside a powerful, immediate desire, response, or goal in the service of more important, overriding long-term goals is called

A) self-control
B) self-regulation
C) self-efficacy
D) self-esteem

Question 15

Saying "I'll pass, thanks" if you are trying to quit smoking and you are offered a cigarette is an example of_____________________; deciding to complete a smoking-cessation course is an example of __________________.

A) self-regulation; self-control
B) self-control; self-sabotage
C) self-control; self-regulation
D) self-regulation; self-change

Question 16

The fact that people who exhibit self-control in one situation often exhibit self-control in other situation is evidence that self-control is

A)learned through experience
B) present from birth
C) a human trait
D) a pattern of learning

Question 17

All of the following are results from longitudinal studies of studies of self-control, EXCEPT:

A) High self-control children scored higher on SATs.
B) High self-control children were less likely to become bullies.
C) High self-control children were less likely to become obese.
D) Low self-control children are generally healthier and happier.

Question 18

Baumeister and colleagues used this analogy to describe the ability for one to exert self-control.

A) telepathic ability
B) physical strength
C) mental model
D) physical attractiveness

Question 19

According to the strength model of self-control,

A) self-control exists in a limited quantity that differs among people
B) self-control is learned mainly through modeling
C) self-control exists in moderate qualities among all people
D) self-control is related to the development of the self-concept

Question 20

When researchers asked participants to refrain from eating sweet-smelling cookies presented to them in a room, the participants later exhibited

A)more effort in solving difficult logic problems
B) less time and effort attempting to solve difficult puzzles
C) more effort and time to solve simple arithmetic problems
D) increased self-control in a separate cookie task

Question 21

Janet Polivy and Peter Herman use this term to describe the result of repeated attempts at self-change that are based on unrealistically high expectations.

A)learned helplessness
B) hopelessness theory
C) false-hope syndrome
D) self-defeating bias

Question 22

Monitoring and attempting to control how we appear to other people is known as

A) self-improvement
B) impression management
C) self-help management
D) ego building

Question 23

According to Leary and Kowalski, once we are motivated to obtain a desired goal, increase self-esteem, or alter our public identity we have to

A)manage our impression
B) construct the impression we wish to make
C) deconstruct the self-concept
D) imitate the person we want to impress

Question 24

In the age of the Internet, much of our self-presentation activities involve

A) human-computer interaction
B) human-factors psychology
C) computer-mediated communication
D) computer assisted design.

Question 25

The percentage of heterosexual couples that met over the Internet in a 2009 survey was

A) 22%
B) 58%
C) 70%
D) 15%

Question 26

When couples were asked to report how they met each other in a 2009 survey, online dating and social networking sites were second only to this reason for meeting.

A)meeting at school
B) being introduced by friends
C) meeting at a bar
D) going on a blind date

Question 27

Early studies of the effects of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on social relationships were limited mainly because of

A)the age of the participants
B) the low number of people using CMC
C) the type of CMC available
D) the average life span of participants

Question 28

Studies of computer-mediated communication (CMC) conducted in the 2000s revealed that CMC has a positive effect on personal relationships if

A)CMC is used to meet new people
B) CMC is used exclusively for dating
C) CMC is used to maintain existing relationships
D) CMC is used for professional networking

Question 29

Computer-mediated communication is most beneficial to adolescent boys because it provides a safe place to experiment with

A) alternate identities
B) self-disclosure
C) passive aggression
D) casual sex

Question 30

The tendency to feel as if more people are observing and judging your behavior than actually are is called

A) the spotlight effect
B) the own-race bias
C) the self-serving bias
D) the framing effect

Question 31

The spotlight effect was tested with experiments in which people were asked to predict

A)the number of people in the room that noticed the T-shirt they were asked to wear as a part of the experiment
B) the average number of embarrassing experiences they would have in the next week
C) the likelihood that someone would notice if they left to use the restroom during the experiment
D) the number of people in the room wearing Barry Manilow T-shirts.

Question 32

The process of explaining the cause of your own or another's behavior is known as

A)attitude formation
B) attribution
C) dispositional cause
D) situational cause

Question 33

Members of this part of the world tend not to exhibit the fundamental attribution error when explaining the causes of others' behavior.

A)Northern Europe
B) North America
C) South America
D) East Asia

Question 34

Studies that illustrate that members of East Asian cultures tend not to commit the fundamental attribution error (FAE) is most troublesome for

A)an evolutionary explanation for the FAE
B) a cognitive explanation for the FAE
C) a developmental explanation for the FAE
D) a cultural explanation for the FAE

Question 35

The main problem with research on the fundamental attribution error is that

A)most behavior is the result of situational causes
B) it is very difficult to define where a situation ends and a person begins
C) people often are not honest in attributing causes to their own behavior
D) situational causes are merely illusions

Question 36

This social psychological phenomenon is in effect when you judge your own poor driving as justified, but view the poor driving of others on the road as evidence of their incompetence.

A) fundamental attribution error
B) actor-observer bias
C) self-serving bias
D) cognitive dissonance

Question 37

People often make different judgments of the same behavior depending on whether they performed the behavior or observed the behavior in others. This is referred to as the

A)fundamental attribution error
B) actor-observer bias
C) self-serving bias
D) cognitive dissonance

Question 38

People often find themselves drawn to others-for friendship, romance, or sex-for reasons that may not be immediately apparent to either person. This is called

A) attraction
B) attribution
C) attitude formation
D) libido

Question 39

Social psychologists refer to the tendency to seek mates who are similar to ourselves as

A) positive attraction
B) opposite attraction
C) positive assortment
D) negative assortment

Question 40

Researchers have found that people come to appreciate almost anything the more times they are exposed to it, be it letters, shapes, syllables, melodies, or faces. This phenomenon is called the

A) attraction formation effect
B) mere exposure effect
C) foot-in-the-door effect
D) pursuant effect

Question 41

According to Robert Zajonc, it is adaptive to be cautious around unfamiliar objects and people, and to be more open to familiar stimuli and individuals. This is the hypothesized basis for the

A) attraction formation effect
B) mere exposure effect
C) foot-in-the-door effect
D) pursuant effect

Question 42

In a study of the mere exposure effect using online chatting, participants who were randomly assigned to chat with the same partner for a greater number of consecutive days

A) grew to dislike their chatting partners
B) grew to like their chatting partners
C) could not remember the names of previous chatting partners
D) were unable to recall specific examples of conversations

Question 43

Cross-cultural studies of physical attractiveness illustrate that all of the following aspects of attractiveness vary according to culture, EXCEPT:

A)facial symmetry
B) bodily adornment and clothing
C) body decoration
D) body weight

Question 44

According to research, age affects physical attractiveness such that,

A)older women are judged to be more attractive than older men
B)facial attractiveness declines with age in both sexes
C) facial attractiveness declines in age only in men
D) younger women are judged to be less attractive than older men

Question 45

Which of the following is true regarding the variation in peak facial attractiveness between men and women?

A) Women's peak facial attractiveness occurs before puberty.
B) Men's peak facial attractiveness occurs well after age 50.
C) Women's peak facial attractiveness occurs between adolescence and young adulthood.
D) Men's facial attractiveness peaks much earlier than women's.

Question 46

According to evolutionary psychologists, a large degree of facial symmetry may be evidence that

A) one has a weak immune system
B) one has attractive genitals
C) one has a strong immune system
D) one has mutated genes

Question 47

When attractiveness researchers speak of the averageness of a face, they are actually talking about

A) how masculine or feminine the face is
B) the diversity of genetic contributions to the face
C) how long or short the face is
D) the symmetry of all of the features on the face

Question 48

The sex differences in facial features and other aspects of the body are collectively referred to as

A) primary sex characteristics
B) sexual dimorphism
C) sexual bimodality
D) secondary sex characteristics

Question 49

All of the following are tendencies of masculine faces, EXCEPT:

A) narrow eyes
B) longer chins
C) fuller lips
D) more developed brows

Question 50

All of the following are tendencies of feminine faces, EXCEPT:

A) narrow eyes
B) shorter chins
C) fuller lips
D) high cheekbones

Question 51

Which of the following is true about ratings of highly feminized faces by men and women?

A) Women rate less feminized faces as more attractive.
B) Men and women rate highly feminized faces as more attractive.
C) Men rate highly feminized faces as more attractive, but women do not.
D) Men and women rate composite females faces as less attractive than a single face.

Question 52

Women tend to rate highly masculinized faces as more attractive in all of the following contexts, EXCEPT:

A) when evaluating a male as a potential short-term partner
B) when evaluating a male during peak fertility in the menstrual cycle
C) when evaluating a male during the onset of menopause
D) when evaluating a male as a potential long-term partner

Question 53

The tendency of people to bring their behavior and/or attitudes in line with group norms and pressures is called

A) obedience
B) conformity
C) social loafing
D) the bystander effect

Question 54

In his classic experiment on conformity, Solomon Asch asked naïve participants to perform this task in the presence of other individuals that were actually confederates of the experimenter.

A) guess the height of the experimenter
B) judge the length of a card presented in front of them
C) match the length of a line to one of three comparison lines
D) discuss the relevance of visual perception for studies of conformity

Question 55

This kind of influence on conformity is based on a rational desire to seek realistic information about some situation from the group and adjust behavior accordingly.

A) normative influence
B) motivational influence
C) informational influence
D) cognitive influence

Question 56

As in the case of the Asch experiments, people are sometimes motivated to conform to avoid embarrassment or obtain approval from the group. This is called

A)normative influence
B) motivational influence
C) informational influence
D) cognitive influence

Question 57

In a study of the normative influence on energy conservation among a group of Californians, this was the best predictor of a person's self-reported conservation efforts.

A)"it benefits society"
B) "it protects the environment"
C) "it is the right thing to do"
D) "other Californians are doing it"

Question 58

This special kind of conformity results from group members not wanting to adversely affect group morale, make waves, or appear disloyal to the group leader.

A)group dynamics
B) groupthink
C) obedience
D) self-observer bias

Question 59

Groupthink is often influenced by this social psychological phenomenon, related to positive illusions.

A) unanimity
B) overconfidence
C) lack of information
D) repression

Question 60

All of the following are examples of symptoms of groupthink, EXCEPT:

A) The possibility that a plan may fail is not considered.
B) Individual group members voice their doubts and disagreements.
C) There is spoken or unspoken pressure among members to agree to a particular plan.
D) Everyone in the group shares the same faulty explanations for why a particular strategy or tactic is necessary.

Question 61

The tendency of people to be less likely to help strangers in need if there are other people present at the scene is called the

A) bystander effect
B) self-serving bias
C) fundamental attribution error
D) sadism effect

Question 62

The details of the Kitty Genovese murder in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York, gave rise to interest in this social psychological phenomenon.

A)learned helplessness
B) inclusive fitness
C) reciprocal altruism
D) bystander non-intervention

Question 63

In laboratory studies of the bystander effect, the general rule is that the presence of groups

A) reduces the likelihood that a crime will be committed
B)reduces the likelihood of any one individual offering aid
C) increases the likelihood that an emergency will occur
D) increases the likelihood of any one individual offering aid

Question 64

In contrast to early research on the bystander effect, the more dangerous the circumstance and the more clear-cut the physical danger,

A) the less likely an individual is to offer aid
B) the more likely an individual is to contribute to the assault
C) the less likely an additional crime will occur
D) the more likely an individual is to offer aid

Question 65

The presence of others may reduce the effort a person gives to a cooperative task, such as a group assignment in a college course. This is called

A)reciprocal altruism
B) the bystander effect
C) social loafing
D) social contracting

Question 66

The implicit or explicit agreements people make with one another that call for honesty and fairness are given this name by social psychologists.

A)social loafing
B) social contracts
C) altruistic detectors
D) social roles

Question 67

Cosmides and Tooby (e.g., 2005) used the Wasson selection task to gather evidence of these psychological mechanisms.

A) social contracts
B) cheater detection mechanisms
C) reciprocal altruistic mechanisms
D) in-group biases

Question 68

In studies of cheater detection using the Wasson selection task, which variant of the task was easiest for undergraduates to perform?

A) generic letters and numbers
B) borrowing a car without filling up the gas tank
C) correctly coding students by letter and number
D) guessing the age of a person at a bar

Question 69

The lessening of self-awareness or identity when in a group that may lead to reduced concern about how your behavior will be evaluated by others is referred to as

A)social loafing
B) the bystander effect
C) deindividuation
D) reciprocal altruism

Question 70

The effects of deindividuation on behavior were revealed in this classic psychological study.

A) the Milgram obedience experiment
B) the Asch conformity experiment
C) the Stanford Prison experiment
D) the Robber's Cave experiment

Question 71

The Stanford Prison study was constructed to examine the influence of these implicit rules for behaving in certain situations.

A) social roles
B) normative influences
C) individual traits
D) social traits

Question 72

All of the following are considered prosocial behaviors or emotions, EXCEPT:

A) altruism
B) aggression
C) empathy
D) compassion

Question 73

Usually, when laypersons or scientists ask themselves why or how a person behaved the way he or she did, they are asking about

A) ultimate causes
B) proximate causes
C) social causes
D) evolutionary causes

Question 74

Proximate causes for an altruistic behavior, such as helping an elderly person cross the street, are usually described in terms of

A) evolutionary adaptiveness
B) social role theory
C) immediate motivation
D) ultimate causes

Question 75

These explanations describe how the effects of some behavior would have benefited the survival and reproduction of human beings over evolutionary time and therefore evolved through natural selection.

A) ultimate causes
B) proximate causes
C) social causes
D) evolutionary causes

Question 76

Mirror neuron research has revealed that areas of the brain normally activated when one experiences pain were also activated when

A) hearing a loud sound
B) viewing another person delivering bad news
C) delivering a mild shock to another person
D) viewing another person about to experience pain

Question 77

According to this theory, an organism is reproductively fit not only to the extent that it can survive and reproduce, but also to the extent that it passes on its genetic line to new generations.

A) theory of natural selection
B) theory of inclusive fitness
C) theory of genetic variation
D) theory of adaptive selection

Question 78

According to this theory, psychological attributes that motivate altruism will evolve under conditions where altruism is expected to be reciprocated at some point in the future.

A) theory of inclusive fitness
B) theory of adaptive altruism
C) theory of reciprocal altruism
D) theory of selective fitness

Question 79

The social psychological term to describe unharmonious relations among groups is

A)intergroup conflict
B) race-relations bias
C) social conflict
D) normative influence

Question 80

The deliberate attempt to exterminate an entire people, which is often present in intergroup conflicts, is called

A) genocide
B) patricide
C) warmongering
D) ethnic cleansing