Question 1

Mass psychogenic illness shows the power of

Accepted Answer

Mass psychogenic illness is a phenomenon in which a group of people collectively experience physical symptoms with no identifiable physical or environmental cause. This is believed to be caused by informational social influence, where individuals in the group start to mirror each other's behavior and symptoms due to the power of suggestion and a shared belief system.

Question 2

Le Bon (1895) documented that emotions and behaviors can spread rapidly through a crowd, an effect known as

Accepted Answer

Le Bon's concept of the contagion effect suggests that emotions and behaviors can spread rapidly through a crowd without individuals necessarily being influenced by others in a deliberate way. This can lead to group behavior that is beyond the control of individual members and may not reflect their personal values or beliefs. This concept is distinct from persuasion, which involves the deliberate use of communication and argumentation to influence attitudes and behaviors, and from normative social influence, which involves conforming to group norms in order to fit in or gain approval. Mass psychogenic illness, while related to the spread of behavior and emotion through a group, specifically refers to the appearance of physical symptoms in individuals that have no discernible organic cause, often as a result of stress or strong emotions.

Question 3

The members of a local police precinct just had to be evacuated because a number of people reported nausea, blurry vision, and numb hands. It was determined that it was a case of mass psychogenic illness. These types of illnesses tend to begin with people who are

Accepted Answer

Mass psychogenic illness, also known as mass hysteria, often occurs in groups that are under stress or experiencing high levels of anxiety. This can lead to physical symptoms that are not actually caused by a physical illness but rather are a manifestation of the group's collective anxiety.

Question 4

What do the following situations share in common: a million listeners of Orson Welles's broadcast of War of the Worlds become panic-stricken, believing it is a real event; a case of mass psychogenic illness occurs in Tennessee; people in the Middle Ages became "infected" with dancing manias. All are examples of

Accepted Answer

All of these situations involve people being influenced by the beliefs and behaviors of those around them, without necessarily having accurate or rational information themselves. This is the result of informational social influence, where people conform to the opinions and behaviors of others in order to be correct or accepted.

Question 5

In a situation such as the War of the Worlds broadcast, where the situation is highly ambiguous, once people begin to believe they know what is happening, they tend to

Accepted Answer

When people believe they know what is happening, they tend to interpret potentially disconfirming evidence in line with their existing beliefs or definitions of the situation, rather than adjusting their beliefs to match the evidence. This is known as confirmation bias. This can also lead to panic and other irrational behavior, as people may act on false beliefs or assumptions about the situation.

Question 6

________ conformity is to the desire to be right as ________ conformity is to the desire to be liked.

Accepted Answer

Informational conformity is driven by the desire to be correct in situations where the right course of action is uncertain, relying on the behavior of others as a guide. Normative conformity, on the other hand, is motivated by the desire to fit in or be liked by others, leading individuals to conform to the expectations of a social group even if they might personally disagree.

Question 7

During the Middle Ages, victims of the imaginary illness "dancing manias" lost all inhibitions and whirled wildly through the streets. During the twentieth century, modern Americans fell prey to the misdeeds of a "phantom anesthetist" who entered homes and gassed the inhabitants. According to your text, how is mass psychogenic illness most different today from how it was in the Middle Ages?

Accepted Answer

The modern mass media can rapidly spread information and influence public perception, accelerating the spread of mass psychogenic illness compared to the slower communication methods of the Middle Ages.

Question 8

When it comes to informational social influence processes, we are more likely to conform with experts' ideas and behaviors than with nonexperts' because

Accepted Answer

Experts are viewed as more credible sources of information, which increases our likelihood to conform with their ideas and behaviors.

Question 9

When Orson Welles broadcast War of the Worlds, a fictitious program about a hostile Martian takeover of Earth, many people who heard the program eventually believed the takeover was a real threat and panicked. The power of ________ was a major cause of this widespread panic.

Accepted Answer

The answer of When Orson Welles broadcast War of the...

Question 10

According to the authors of your text, mass psychogenic illness is more easily spread now because of

Accepted Answer

The authors of the text state that mass psychogenic illness is more easily spread now because of access to mass media, which can quickly disseminate stories about supposed symptoms or outbreaks, leading to fear and imitation among susceptible individuals. The other answer choices (chronic use of antibiotics, urban living, and use of ineffective coping strategies) are not mentioned as contributing factors in the text.

Question 11

How did researchers know that the 1998 case of mass psychogenic illness at a Tennessee high school (described in the text) was due to social influence?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How did researchers know that the 1998...

Question 12

Not all members of the radio audience of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast panicked immediately. Indeed, some didn't panic until they looked out of the window and saw empty streets; others didn't panic until they saw streets full of traffic. It was after checking out the situation that these citizens decided that the Martians had indeed invaded Earth. This example illustrates that contagion

Accepted Answer

This example shows that some individuals only panicked after seeing others react to the War of the Worlds broadcast. This suggests that contagion can occur when people look to others for interpretation in ambiguous situations.

Question 13

People are motivated to impose clear definitions on ambiguous situations. All of the following processes except ________ are used to resolve ambiguity of information.

Accepted Answer

Dissonance reduction is a process used to reduce the discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or attitudes, not specifically to resolve ambiguity of information.

Question 14

Consider the following (edited) excerpt from a James Thurber New Yorker piece: "Suddenly someone began to run. It may be that he had simply remembered... an engagement to meet his wife, for which he was now frightfully late. Whatever it was, he ran east on Broad Street. Somebody else began to run, perhaps a newsboy in high spirits.... Another man broke into a trot.... A loud mumble gradually crystallized into the dread word 'dam.' 'The dam has broke!' The fear was put into words by a little old lady in an electric car, or by a traffic cop, or by a small boy: Nobody knows who.... Two thousand people were abruptly in full flight.…" This literary excerpt illustrates the phenomenon known as

Accepted Answer

Mass psychogenic panic is a phenomenon in which a large group of people experience a sudden onset of anxiety or fear, often in response to a perceived threat or danger. In this excerpt, the sudden onset of running and the spread of fear and panic among the crowd is an example of mass psychogenic panic.

Question 15

Many U.S. troops present at My Lai later reported that they were frightened and confused about whether people in the villages were really enemy soldiers. Others reported that they didn't know whether the rifle-fire they heard was from enemy guns or from the guns of fellow troops. Still, frightened and bewildered, many of them began setting fire to huts and shooting old men, women, and children. This tragic example illustrates that informational influence is most likely to occur when

Accepted Answer

The situation at My Lai was interpreted as a crisis, with troops feeling frightened and confused about whether people in the villages were really enemy soldiers. This created a strong situational influence that contributed to the tragic events that occurred.

Question 16

When Steven goes to his fraternity meeting, all of the following factors will increase the impact of informational social influence on him except the

Accepted Answer

The importance of the group is more related to normative social influence, where individuals conform to be liked or accepted by the group, rather than informational social influence, which is about looking to others for guidance in ambiguous or crisis situations.

Question 17

The major downside risk of informational social influence is that the more ________ the situation is, the more we rely on others who are no more likely to be knowledgeable or accurate than we ourselves are, leading us each to adopt others' mistakes and misinterpretations.

Accepted Answer

Informational social influence is when we look to others as a source of information to guide our behavior. However, this can be problematic in situations where there is ambiguity or uncertainty, as we may adopt the incorrect beliefs or behaviors of others. Therefore, the best choice is D, as ambiguous situations are the most likely to lead to reliance on potentially inaccurate information from others.

Question 18

First-year college students may be more susceptible than seniors to informational social influence because

Accepted Answer

First-year college students may be exposed to new and unfamiliar situations which can be ambiguous, leading them to look to others for guidance on how to behave or think. This is known as informational social influence. Seniors may already have a better understanding of the college environment, making them less susceptible to informational social influence. The desire to be liked (A), the presence of a charismatic leader (B), and having no allies (C) may all contribute to normative social influence, which is another type of social influence that is not specific to first-year students.

Question 19

Priscilla is on her way to a concert and has gotten lost. Which of the following people, based on information from your text about informational social influence, would she be most likely to ask for directions?

Accepted Answer

Priscilla is likely to ask a police officer for directions because they are seen as a credible source of information and have expertise in navigating the area.

Question 20

In which of the following does the role of informational rather than normative social influence most predominate?

Accepted Answer

Informational social influence predominates in mass psychogenic illnesses as individuals rely on others for information in ambiguous situations, leading to shared symptoms.

Quiz 8: Conformity: Influencing Behavior