Question 1

Neo has been attending a religious study with friends from his residence.After several months of attending and debating issues with the others in this group, Neo is persuaded that their understanding of the sacred text is the correct one.Neo has most likely experienced ____.

Accepted Answer

Neo has most likely experienced private acceptance, as he has genuinely changed his beliefs to align with the group's understanding of the sacred text.

Question 2

Neo has been attending a religious study with friends from his residence.He really likes these people, although he thinks that their interpretation of the sacred text is dead wrong.Yet in the meetings, he tends to agree with them to avoid conflict because he enjoys their friendship so much.Neo is most likely experiencing ____.

Accepted Answer

Neo is publicly complying with his friends' interpretation of the sacred text in order to avoid conflict and maintain their friendship, even though he privately disagrees with it.

Question 3

Which scenario best illustrates someone soliciting information, and as a result, being affected by informational influence?

Accepted Answer

The man is actively seeking information to guide his decision-making, which is a key aspect of informational influence.

Question 4

Which factor would make you relatively MORE likely to conform in a group situation?

Accepted Answer

Research shows that people are more likely to conform in larger groups rather than smaller ones. This is because there is a greater perceived pressure for conformity in larger groups. Therefore, being in a medium-sized group (5-7 people) would make you relatively more likely to conform.

Question 5

Two types of situations tend to produce informational influence: ____.

Accepted Answer

Informational influence occurs primarily in ambiguous situations, where individuals are unsure of how to act or what to believe, and in crisis situations, where quick decisions are necessary and there's little time to think and reflect. In both cases, people look to others for cues on how to behave or what to believe.

Question 6

In one study, research participants were asked to discuss the case of supposed juvenile delinquent named Johnny Rocco.Each discussion group consisted of five real participants and three confederates - a 'mode' confederate (who adopted the majority viewpoint), a 'deviant' confederate (who held extreme views that were different from the majority viewpoint), and a 'slider' (who started out extreme, but eventually adopted the majority viewpoint).When participants were asked, at the end of the discussion, to 'vote one group member out of the group', who was MOST often voted out?

Accepted Answer

The 'deviant' confederate, who held extreme views that were different from the majority viewpoint, was most often voted out. This suggests that individuals tend to conform to the majority viewpoint and reject those with extreme or deviant views.

Question 7

Simphiwe never pays attention in class or studies, and tends to fail most of the tests she takes in school.However, she constantly looks for opportunities to cheat during tests; she looks at her neighbours' answers and then writes down what she sees, assuming that her neighbours know the test material better than she does.In these cases, Simphiwe's test answers are based on ____.

Accepted Answer

Simphiwe's test answers are based on informational influence, as she is looking to her neighbours for information about the test material rather than simply conforming to social norms or relying on her existing beliefs.

Question 8

Suppose that you are on a committee that is deciding how to allocate the yearly budget.And suppose that many people on the committee seem to just be 'going along with the crowd' rather than expressing their opinions or concerns.Based on Asch's line-judging research on conformity, you can encourage more dissent and debate in the group by ____.

Accepted Answer

By playing 'devil's advocate' and disagreeing with the majority view, you can encourage others to express their opinions and concerns. Asch's research showed that when even one dissenting voice was present, it significantly reduced conformity. This can lead to more debate and discussion within the group, ultimately resulting in a better decision-making process.

Question 9

A number of social psychological studies have made use of the autokinetic effect in order to understand ____.

Accepted Answer

The autokinetic effect is a phenomenon in which a stationary point of light in a dark room appears to move due to small movements of the eyes. Social psychologists have used this effect to study informational influence and the formation of group norms, as people tend to conform to the group norm when making judgments about the movement of the light.

Question 10

If you look at a pinpoint of light in a dark room, the light appears to move even though it is in fact stationary.This illusion of movement is called the ____ effect.

Accepted Answer

The autokinetic effect is a phenomenon where a stationary point of light appears to move in the absence of visual reference points. This illusion of movement is caused by small involuntary movements of the eye, which lead to the perception that the light is moving. The other options (B-D) are not related to this phenomenon.

Question 11

Social psychologists distinguish between two forms of social influence: ____.

Accepted Answer

Normative social influence involves conforming to the expectations of others in order to be accepted or avoid rejection, while informational social influence involves conforming because we believe others have correct information and following their actions will lead to the correct response. These are the two main forms of social influence distinguished by social psychologists.

Question 12

In one well-known social psychological experiment, research participants were brought into a dark room where an experimenter projected dots of light.These dots of light appeared to move slightly as they were projected - though exactly how far they moved the participants couldn't say.When asked to estimate the distance that the light traveled, participants tended to look to others in the room, and ask them what they thought (not because they wanted to gain others' approval, but because they assumed that others knew more than they did).It would therefore be MOST accurate to say that participants' final estimates were based on ____.

Accepted Answer

Participants' final estimates were based on informational influence, as they looked to others in the room and assumed that they knew more than they did. Normative influence would have involved participants conforming to the group's expectations in order to gain approval. Implicit social norms refer to unwritten rules of behavior that are understood by members of a group, but there is no evidence that these were at play in this experiment. Elaboration likelihood theory pertains to how persuasion is processed and would not be relevant to this experiment.

Question 13

Social psychologists use the term ____ to refer to beliefs and behaviours that a group of people accept as normal.

Accepted Answer

Group norms refer to the beliefs and behaviors that a group of people accept as normal, and social psychologists use this term to describe such shared expectations within a group. Central and peripheral beliefs are not specific terms used in this context, and yielding information is not directly related to group norms.

Question 14

Asch's line-judging studies on conformity found that conformity declined when ____.

Accepted Answer

Asch's line-judging studies found that conformity declined when a 'dissenter' in the group always gave the correct response. This suggests that the presence of someone who deviated from the group norm, but still provided an accurate answer, was sufficient to reduce conformity pressures.

Question 15

In one study, groups of subjects discuss the punishment appropriate for 'Johnny Rocco', a juvenile delinquent.In this experiment, subjects LEAST liked a confederate when he played the role of a person who ____.

Accepted Answer

In this experiment, the confederate who played the role of a person who disagreed with the group (i.e. the deviant) was least liked by the subjects. This is because the deviant challenged the group's norm and made the subjects uncomfortable. The other options (mode, lost soul, slider) either agreed with the group at some point or did not challenge the group's norm as strongly as the deviant did.

Question 16

Koletso is at the park with her kids.Another child falls off the monkey bars and is unconscious.Koletso doesn't immediately react because she assumes the injured child's mother is nearby and knows what to do.In fact, the child's mother doesn't know any more than Koletso does.Koletso's assumption that the mother will know more than she does is an example of ____.

Accepted Answer

Koletso's assumption that the mother will know more than she does is an example of pluralistic ignorance, which occurs when individuals in a group assume that others have more knowledge or information than they do, leading to inaction or a lack of intervention in emergency situations.

Question 17

In one well-known social psychological experiment, research participants were brought into a dark room where an experimenter projected dots of light.These dots of light appeared to move slightly as they were projected - though exactly how far they moved the participants couldn't say.When asked to estimate the distance that the light traveled, participants tended to look to others in the room, and ask them what they thought.All of the participants thus ended up giving somewhat similar answers - thereby establishing ____.

Accepted Answer

The participants in this experiment established group norms by looking to others to determine their own estimates of the distance the light moved.

Question 18

The tendency to assume that others know more than you do in a crisis or ambiguous situation, when in reality, no one knows anything, is called ____.

Accepted Answer

Pluralistic ignorance is the tendency to assume that others know more than you do in a crisis or ambiguous situation, when in reality, no one knows anything. The autokinetic effect refers to the phenomenon of a stationary light appearing to move in the absence of external motion. The sleeper effect refers to the delayed impact of a persuasive message from a low-credibility source. Yielding refers to giving in to social pressure despite knowing that it is wrong.

Question 19

Informational social influence helps to produce ____, while normative social influence may merely elicit ____.

Accepted Answer

Informational social influence leads to private acceptance, which is a genuine change in one's attitudes or beliefs. Normative social influence, on the other hand, may simply elicit public compliance, which is a superficial change in behavior to conform to social norms without necessarily changing one's attitudes or beliefs.

Question 20

Asch's line-judging studies on conformity suggests that people engage in normative conformity ____ when in the presence of larger groups (groups of three to seven people) as opposed to smaller groups (groups of two to three people).

Accepted Answer

Asch's studies found that participants were more likely to engage in normative conformity when in the presence of larger groups (groups of three to seven people) as opposed to smaller groups (groups of two to three people). Therefore, choice A (more often) is the best answer.

Quiz 8: Social Influence and Persuasion