Deck 3: Social Cognition

Question 1

What area of the brain has been identified as critical to emotional processing and memory?

A) The cortex
B) The prefrontal cortex
C) The limbic system
D) The occipital lobe

Answer 1

The limbic system

Question 2

Justin is convinced that his girlfriend's parents do not like him. When Justin arrives at their house for a party, he feels so uncomfortable that he does not act in a friendly manner. His girlfriend's parents, in turn, see Justin as rude and antisocial. This example best illustrates ____________.

A) a self-fulfilling prophecy
B) automatic processing
C) the perseverance effect
D) controlled processing

Answer 2

a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 3

Your textbook indicates that patients who have damage to the prefrontal cortex show difficulty with ___________.

A) automatic processing
B) controlled processing
C) walking
D) writing

Answer 3

controlled processing

Question 4

You have recently heard of two cases on the news of a person being struck by lightening. Although the odds of getting struck by lightening are low, you easily recall these examples and falsely estimate that your risk is high. This best illustrates the use of the ____________ heuristic.

A) anchoring and adjustment
B) representativeness
C) availability
D) framing

Question 5

When you arrive at your first university class you find a seat, take out your notebook, and begin to record information the professor writes on the board. Previous experience of being a high school student helped you determine what to do in this situation. In social psychological terms, the cognitive structure that guided your behaviour is commonly known as ______________.

A) a plan
B) a schema
C) a self-fulfilling prophecy
D) the perseverance effect

Question 6

_____________ is a type of schema in which we apply generalized information to an individual based on the group to which he or she belongs.

A) A stereotype
B) A self-fulfilling prophecy
C) A prime
D) Controlled processing

Question 7

What could be considered a potential shortcoming of a schema once it is activated?

A) Schemas can mislead you because they are not created based on real experiences.
B) Schemas do not help us organize information efficiently.
C) The use of schemas often takes a lot of controlled processing.
D) Schemas can result in errors in thinking and remembering of information.

Question 8

______________ are simple rules that reduce mental effort and allow us to make decisions or judgments quickly.

A) Facts
B) Heuristics
C) Thoughts
D) Regulations

Question 9

Automatically created cognitive frameworks that organize and guide how people think about and understand the world are known as:

A) affects.
B) schemas.
C) emotions.
D) premonitions.

Question 10

If a schema is strong and well-developed then you will likely:

A) pay more attention to information consistent with that schema.
B) pay less attention to information consistent with that schema.
C) pay more attention to information inconsistent with that schema.
D) pay the same amount of attention to information consistent and inconsistent with that schema.

Question 11

People with damage to what part of the brain show problems with automatic responses in fear conditioning but not problems with controlled processing?

A) The amygdala
B) The prefrontal cortex
C) The frontal cortex
D) The hippocampus

Question 12

Paying more attention to sensory information that fits a given schema while at the same time filtering information that is inconsistent is defined as ____________.

A) a self-fulfilling prophecy
B) selective filtering
C) counterfactual thinking
D) controlled thinking

Question 13

Information processing that requires careful thought and effort is referred to as____________.

A) controlled processing
B) simple processing
C) automatic processing
D) routine processing

Question 14

In a study by Bargh and colleagues (1996) participants were exposed to stereotypes about the elderly through a scrambled sentence task. What was their main finding?

A) Participants primed with the elderly stereotype walked more slowly down the hallway than those who were not primed.
B) It took the experimenter longer to debrief participants primed with the elderly stereotype than those who were not primed.
C) Participants primed with the elderly stereotype actually walked faster down the hallway than those who were not primed.
D) There were no differences found between those participants primed with the elderly stereotype and those who were not primed.

Question 15

Which of the following statements about schemas is NOT true?

A) Schemas help us organize information efficiently.
B) Schemas help guide processing of future information.
C) Schemas eliminate all errors in thinking and remembering.
D) Schemas affect what we notice and remember.

Question 16

Heather, who has sustained brain damage from a car accident, appears to have trouble making decisions and solving problems that require careful thought. Based on information presented in your textbook, Heather most likely has damage to what part of the brain?

A) The occipital lobe
B) The limbic system
C) The amygdala
D) The prefrontal cortex

Question 17

The ____________ is a small structure found in the medial temporal lobe of the brain and is believed to be involved in automatic processing.

A) cerebellum
B) corpus callosum
C) pons
D) amygdala

Question 18

Which part of the brain plays a role in higher-order thinking, including judgment, decision making, and evaluation?

A) The prefrontal cortex
B) The brain stem
C) The occipital lobe
D) The amygdala

Question 19

Compared with controlled processing, automatic processing is believed to:

A) involve no activation of the amygdala.
B) be less emotion-driven.
C) occur mostly in the limbic system.
D) require careful thought and effort.

Question 20

Automatic processing is considered ____________, while controlled processing is considered ____________.

A) tiring; easy
B) hard; easy
C) effortless; effortful
D) effortful; effortless

Question 21

Eighty percent of people who live in your community are politically conservative. At a town event you are introduced to Jim who tells you he is pro-choice on the issue of abortion. Based on this information, you incorrectly conclude that Jim is politically liberal. Your failure to take into account the number of people who are coservatives when making your judgment about Jim illustrates an example of:

A) the framing heuristic.
B) anchoring an adjustment.
C) the base rate fallacy.
D) the negativity bias.

Question 22

Your friend Jane is trying to decide if she wants to go on a camping trip for the weekend. You know that Jane thinks camping is fun but you also remember that the last two times Jane went camping she got sick. Based on your knowledge of how the availability heuristic impacts judgments and decisions, what could you say to Jane that would be most likely to convince her to stay home?

A) "Camping is fun but there are so many other fun things to do this weekend."
B) "Camping is not fun."
C) "Do you remember that the last two times you went camping you ended up getting sick?"
D) "You should make a list of pros and cons before you decide."

Question 23

John likes to read books and spends a great deal of time in the library. The tendency to conclude that John is more likely to be a university professor than a mechanic is an example of using the _____________ heuristic.

A) representativeness
B) availability
C) anchoring and adjustment
D) framing

Question 24

Which heuristic involves deciding the probability that object A belongs to category B or that event A is a result of process B?

A) The anchoring and adjustment heuristic
B) The representativeness heuristic
C) The availability heuristic
D) Both the availability heuristic and the representative heuristic

Question 25

The _____________ heuristic refers to the notion that we use a number as a starting point on which to anchor our judgment.

A) availability
B) anchoring and adjustment
C) framing
D) representativeness

Question 26

Tversky and Kahneman (1974) provided participants with personality descriptions of engineers or lawyers and asked them to choose whether the individual was a lawyer or engineer. Out of a supposed sample of 100 engineers and lawyers, half of the participants were told that there were 70 engineers and 30 lawyers, while the other half were told that there were 30 engineers and 70 lawyers. Tversky and Kahneman (1974) found that participants did not consider information about the ratio of engineers to lawyers when making their judgments. In other words, participants failed to take into account which of the following?

A) The base rate
B) Descriptions of the engineers and lawyers
C) The degree to which the descriptions of the engineers and lawyers matched the participants' stereotypes of engineers and lawyers
D) The need to make an adjustment from the initial starting point

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of the availability heuristic?

A) People assume that John is not masculine because he is a nurse.
B) Sam avoids going into the ocean because he can easily remember two recent shark attacks reported in the media.
C) People assume that Andrea is not feminine because she likes to box.
D) None of the examples provided illustrate the availability heuristic.

Question 28

Tversky and Kahneman (1974) provided participants with personality descriptions of engineers or lawyers and asked them to choose whether the individual was a lawyer or engineer. Out of a supposed sample of 100 engineers and lawyers, half of the participants were told that there were 70 engineers and 30 lawyers, while the other half were told that there were 30 engineers and 70 lawyers. What was the main finding of this study?

A) The availability heuristic is very common.
B) The negativity bias is very common.
C) People are pretty good at using the base rate when provided with descriptive information.
D) People often do not use the base rate when provided with descriptive information about people.

Question 29

You have developed a new medical device that can diagnose a deadly disease with 80% accuracy. According to information on the framing heuristic, which of the following is the LEAST effective way to present this new device to doctors?

A) "This is a great device!"
B) "This device is 80% accurate in diagnosing this disease."
C) "This device is 20% inaccurate in diagnosing this disease."
D) "This is the most accurate device for diagnosing this disease!"

Question 30

_____________ refers to how common a behaviour or characteristic is in the population.

A) The base rate
B) Anchoring and adjustment
C) Framing
D) The basic rate

Question 31

Which of the following is the most reasonable explanation for why people rely on mental shortcuts and schemas even though they can lead to biases?

A) Because most people are too lazy to use careful thought when making decisions
B) Because people are taught to use mental shortcuts in place of careful thought when making decisions
C) Because the metal energy required for every single decision would be so great that it would be exhausting and inefficient
D) Because most people are not intelligent enough to use careful thought when making decisions

Question 32

What can we conclude from research looking at the 'hot hand' in basketball?

A) There is support for the notion that a basketball player is more likely to make a basket following a hit rather than a miss.
B) People often tend to see patterns in truly random sequences.
C) People make judgments based on the ease with which they can recall relevant examples.
D) People often fail to consider personality information when estimating the likelihood of an event.

Question 33

You are asked to estimate the work productivity of an employee. If you under- or overestimated their productivity as a result of using your own level of productivity as a starting point, this would illustrate _____________.

A) the use of the availability heuristic
B) a self-fulfilling prophecy
C) the use of the representativeness heuristic
D) the use of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic

Question 34

Tversky and Kahneman (1973) asked participants to estimate whether the letter 'R' more often held the first position of words or the third position of words. Most participants incorrectly estimated that the letter 'R' held the first position of words rather than the third position. What is the most plausible explanation for this finding?

A) Participants did not think hard enough.
B) Participants were able to recall words that started with 'R' more easily.
C) Participants utilized the framing heuristic.
D) Participants utilized selective filtering which biased their answers.

Question 35

When you base a conclusion about a situation on the framework in which it is presented, you are using the _____________ heuristic.

A) framing
B) availability
C) representativeness
D) context

Question 36

According to information presented in your textbook, which of the following best describes why the anchoring and adjustment heuristic leads to problems when making decisions or judgments?

A) When people use anchors they stop adjusting once a seemingly reasonable value is reached.
B) You fail to consider the base rate.
C) The use of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic takes a lot mental effort and time.
D) The use of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic is an efficient strategy and does not lead to problems when making decisions or judgments.

Question 37

You have developed a new medical device that can diagnose a deadly disease with 80% accuracy. According to information on the framing heuristic, which of the following would be the best way to present this new device to doctors?

A) "This is a great device!"
B) "This device is 80% accurate in diagnosing this disease."
C) "This device is 20% inaccurate in diagnosing this disease."
D) "This is the most accurate device for diagnosing this disease!"

Question 38

Even though Christopher has lost a great deal of money gambling, he continues to place bets at the roulette table because he believes that he can predict the winning number. Christopher's perception that he can control events that are uncontrollable is known as:

A) a self-fulfilling prophecy.
B) the negativity bias.
C) the illusion of control.
D) the framing heuristic.

Question 39

Heuristics are useful mental shortcuts but they also have drawbacks. What could be considered one disadvantage of using the representativeness heuristic?

A) When using the representativeness heuristic people do not consider information about an individual's personality.
B) The representativeness heuristic takes a great deal of controlled processing.
C) Using the representativeness heuristic may lead to neglecting other important information such as the base rate.
D) Using the representativeness heuristic leads to greater use of the base rate.

Question 40

Heuristics are useful mental shortcuts but they also have drawbacks. What could be considered one disadvantage of using the availability heuristic?

A) People may give less weight to higher probability events compared with more vivid or scarier lower probability events.
B) Using the availability heuristic results in greater use of the base rate.
C) When using the availability heuristic people do not consider information about an individual's personality.
D) The availability heuristic takes a great deal of controlled processing.

Question 41

Langer (1975) assigned participants a lottery number, or invited participants to choose a number themselves. Participants were then asked if they would sell their tickets back, and for what price. The results showed that:

A) those who chose their own numbers gave their ticket back at no cost.
B) those who had been assigned random numbers refused to sell their ticket back.
C) those who chose their own numbers demanded four times more money to resell as those who had been assigned random numbers.
D) those who chose their own numbers were significantly more likely to win the lottery than those who did not.

Question 42

A state of having more confidence in one's judgment or control over a situation than is really justified refers to what concept?

A) The optimistic bias
B) The illusion of control
C) Counterfactual thinking
D) Overconfidence barrier

Question 43

An imagined outcome in which things turn out better than the real event is called a(n) ______________; whereas, an imagined outcome in which things turn out worse than the real event is called a ______________.

A) higher counterfactual; lower counterfactual
B) upward counterfactual; downward counterfactual
C) elevated counterfactual; subordinate counterfactual
D) increased counterfactual; decreased counterfactual

Question 44

Which of the following best represents an evolutionary explanation for the negativity bias?

A) We are imitating our parent's behaviour.
B) Our culture values negative information
C) We have an unconscious drive for negative information.
D) We are predisposed to avoid danger and negative information would be more important for avoiding danger than positive information.

Question 45

Which concept refers to the tendency to notice and remember negative information, which then influences the evaluation of people and situations?

A) The recall bias
B) Selective filtering
C) The framing heuristic
D) The negativity bias

Question 46

Which of the following is true regarding counterfactual thinking?

A) The erroneous belief that one is at a higher risk of homicide than heart disease is due to counterfactual thinking.
B) Counterfactual thinking explains reactions to "wrong place at the wrong time" stories.
C) Counterfactual thinking explains the "hot in hand" phenomena.
D) The erroneous belief that one is more likely to succeed than others is due to counterfactual thinking.

Question 47

According to your textbook, which of the following statements represents a potential benefit of counterfactual thinking?

A) Counterfactual thinking is often used to assign blame in a situation.
B) Counterfactual thinking leads to the overconfidence barrier.
C) Counterfactual thinking increases use of the base rate.
D) Counterfactual thinking about an event may lead to better preparation for a future event.

Question 48

We are more likely to respond to negative stimuli and filter out positive stimuli when:

A) the information is arousing, personally relevant, or uncertain.
B) the information is context-dependent, dispositionally irrelevant, or precise.
C) the information is temporal, spatially-relevant, or costly.
D) the information is transient, frequency-encoded, or enduring.

Question 49

Jane is in a very good mood. According to the mood congruence effect, what information from her day will Jane be more likely to remember?

A) Her teacher asking her to re-do an assignment because it was poorly done
B) Her roommate snapping at her
C) Finding a ten dollar bill on the ground
D) What time she got up in the morning

Question 50

Last year Joseph was in a serious car accident. He often thinks to himself, "If only I hadn't been driving so fast, maybe the accident would never have happened." This example best illustrates the concept known as _____________.

A) biased thinking
B) counterfactual thinking
C) maladaptive thinking
D) overconfidence barrier

Question 51

Medvec and Savitsky (1997) found that individuals on the borderline of a grade (e.g., 89 percent) reported:

A) being more upset because it is easier to imagine getting an A+ (i.e., 90 percent) than a lower grade.
B) being satisfied because it is harder to imagine getting an A+ (i.e., 90 percent) than a lower grade.
C) being satisfied because it is easier to imagine getting a borderline grade (i.e., 89) than an A+ (i.e., 90 percent).
D) being more upset because it is easier to imagine getting a borderline grade (i.e., 89) than an A+ (i.e., 90 percent).

Question 52

In a study done on counterfactual thinking, what did researchers find with respect to the satisfaction level of Olympic medalists?

A) Silver medalists were more satisfied than bronze medalists.
B) Silver and bronze medalists were equally satisfied.
C) Gold medalists were just as satisfied as bronze and silver medalists.
D) Bronze medalists were more satisfied than silver medalists.

Question 53

Katherine believes she will earn a higher salary than her classmates once she's out of university and that she is less likely to incur any financial problems. Katherine is exhibiting:

A) the optimistic bias.
B) the illusion of control.
C) counterfactual thinking.
D) optimal thinking.

Question 54

You had your annual job performance review and are disappointed to learn that your boss has given you a poor review. In order to feel better you think to yourself, "at least I did not get fired." This is an example of _____________.

A) downward counterfactual thinking
B) upward counterfactual thinking
C) biased thinking
D) the availability heuristic

Question 55

Which of the following statements is most accurate regarding the relationship between counterfactual thinking and mood?

A) You always feel worse as a result of engaging in counterfactual thinking.
B) You always feel better as a result of engaging in counterfactual thinking.
C) If you compare a real life outcome with a less desirable imagined outcome, you will likely feel better.
D) If you compare a real life outcome with a less desirable imagined outcome, you will likely feel worse.

Question 56

The optimistic bias is often more evident in people who:

A) are low in self-esteem, confidence, or defensiveness.
B) are low in attractiveness, social status, or egocentrism.
C) are high in attractiveness, social status, or egocentrism.
D) are high in self-esteem, confidence, or defensiveness.

Question 57

You believe that bad things are more likely to happen to other people but good things are more likely to happen to yourself. This is termed ______________.

A) overconfidence barrier
B) counterfactual thinking
C) optimistic bias
D) illusion of control

Question 58

Research on the negativity bias suggests what about how we process negative information compared with positive information?

A) Positive information sticks out in our minds more than negative information.
B) We are more sensitive to negative information than positive information.
C) We are more likely to remember positive information than negative information.
D) We give equal weight to positive and negative information.

Question 59

You are in a car accident. You and your passengers are unharmed, but the car is badly damaged and cannot be repaired. You are upset about the incident. Which of the following is likely to improve your mood?

A) Consider that you will now have to spend hard-earned money on a replacement car
B) Dwell on aspects of the accident that were your fault, and how you can take future precautions
C) Talk to others about how embarrassed you are to have caused a car accident
D) Think about how you and your passengers are safe, when you could have been injured

Question 60

When Madndel and Dhami (2005) asked prisoners to focus on counterfactuals to being caught for their current offense, the prisoners reported:

A) lower future probability of committing different types of crime.
B) higher future probability of committing different types of crime.
C) higher feelings of shame over being caught, but not more blame or guilt.
D) higher feelings of blame and guilt over being caught, but not more shame.

Question 61

When you estimate your risk of dying of cancer based on the number of people you know who have been diagnosed, you are using the availability heuristic.

Question 62

Work by Tversky and Kahneman suggests that providing descriptive information about people results in a greater use of base rate information.

Question 63

Triplet (1992) found that participants involved in a hypothetical medical decision task were more likely to label heterosexual patients as having AIDS (independent of their symptoms) relative to homosexual patients.

Question 64

Schemas are universal across cultures and are very much the same in every person.

Question 65

Alex is often nervous during exams, and seems to forget everything during the test only to remember it hours later when he is relaxed. What would you recommend Alex do to improve his performance on exams?

A) Study for an exam when he is relaxed
B) Study for an exam when he is nervous
C) Study only the material he finds interesting
D) Study only the material he finds boring

Question 66

Andrew is in a very bad mood. According to the mood congruence effect, what information from his day will Andrew be more likely to remember?

A) His roommate snapping at him
B) What he ate for lunch
C) What time he got up in the morning
D) Receiving an A on an assignment

Question 67

Under which of the following circumstances are you more likely to rely on heuristics?

A) When you're in a bad mood
B) When you're in a sad mood
C) When you're in a happy mood
D) You're equally likely to rely on heuristics when either in a bad or happy mood.

Question 68

A prediction that causes itself to become true is known as selective filtering.

Question 69

What we remember when in a given mood is influenced in part by what we learned when previously in that mood. This is known as _____________.

A) mood congruence effects
B) mood dependent memory
C) counterfactual thinking
D) mood reliant memory

Question 70

Mood dependent memory refers to the fact that we are more likely to remember positive information when in a positive mood and more likely to remember negative information when in a negative mood.

Question 71

Schemas can influence decisions only if you are aware that you have been primed.

Question 72

The belief that picking your own lottery numbers will result in a much better chance of winning the lottery reflects the illusion of control.

Question 73

You don't think men are very emotional and you classify your emotional friend John as an exception to this general belief. This serves as an example of the perseverance effect.

Question 74

The representativeness heuristic is a rule used to estimate the likelihood of an event based on how well it fits with your expectations of a model for that event.

Question 75

Automatic and controlled processing are thought to be housed in the same areas of the brain.

Question 76

The optimistic bias would explain why Sarah, a graduating student, believes she will be less likely than her peers to experience hardship from a difficult job market.

Question 77

Mood congruence effect refers to which of the following?

A) Remembering both positive and negative information regardless of mood
B) Being more likely to remember positive information when in a negative mood
C) Being more likely to remember negative information when in a positive mood
D) Being more likely to remember positive information when in a positive mood and more likely to remember negative information when in a negative mood

Question 78

In which of the following situations would George be most likely to rely on heuristics?

A) After hearing that he received a job promotion
B) After his boss tells him he has to work over the holidays
C) After sitting through a long, boring work meeting
D) After he has eaten lunch

Question 79

Once they are formed, schemas are easy to change.

Question 80

Which of the following would NOT be considered a consequence of being in a good mood?

A) Relying more on heuristics
B) Using stereotypes more
C) Being more easily persuaded
D) Evaluating information carefully