Question 1

You are low on gas and you see a sign saying "FUEL AHEAD." However, as you draw closer to the sign, you realize it actually says "FOOD AHEAD." This is an example of a

Accepted Answer

This is an example of perceptual expectancy, where your expectations influence your perception. In this case, being low on gas led you to initially perceive the sign as indicating fuel was available ahead, rather than food.

Question 2

If you are hungry, food and even food-related words are more likely to gain your attention than nonfood-related words. This illustrates the influence of

Accepted Answer

This phenomenon illustrates the influence of motives. When you are hungry, your motive or drive to seek food heightens your attention to food-related stimuli, making them more salient than non-food-related stimuli.

Question 3

Deodorant, soaps, toothpaste, and countless other products are pushed in ads that play on our desires to be attractive, to have "sex appeal," or to avoid embarrassment, which illustrates how

Accepted Answer

Motives, such as the desire to be attractive or to avoid embarrassment, shape our perceptions and influence our behavior, including the products we choose to buy. These ads leverage these motives to appeal to consumers.

Question 4

According to psychologist Barbara Frederickson, negative emotions generally narrow our perceptual focus, increasing the likelihood of

Accepted Answer

Negative emotions tend to narrow our focus, making us more likely to overlook things in our environment, a phenomenon known as inattentional blindness. This means we might not notice things that are not the central focus of our attention.

Question 5

According to psychologist Barbara Frederickson, which of the following generally narrows our perceptual focus and increases the likelihood of inattentional blindness?

Accepted Answer

Negative emotions generally narrow our perceptual focus and increase the likelihood of inattentional blindness, according to psychologist Barbara Frederickson. This is because negative emotions tend to focus our attention more narrowly on the source of the threat or problem, potentially causing us to overlook other stimuli.

Question 6

An individual's ability to recognize people from other races improves when the individual is

Accepted Answer

The answer of An individual's ability to recognize people from...

Question 7

According to psychologist Barbara Frederickson, the scope of one's attention is actually broadened by

Accepted Answer

Barbara Frederickson is known for her broaden-and-build theory, which posits that positive emotions broaden an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire, thereby enhancing their attention and ability to build resources.

Question 8

In one study, participants said that a $90 wine tasted better than a $10 wine, although the participants had really tasted the same wine. Interestingly, the participants' functional MRI images showed that the pleasure areas of their brains were more active when they were told they were drinking the "$90 wine." The results of this experiment illustrate that

Accepted Answer

The experiment demonstrates how expectations (in this case, created by suggesting the wine was expensive) can influence perception, leading participants to believe the wine tasted better, which is reflected in the activation of pleasure areas in their brains.

Question 9

If you are riding in a car and are running low on gas, your attention will shift to gas stations. This is an example of the influence of

Accepted Answer

This is an example of how motives (in this case, the need to refuel the car) can influence what we pay attention to. When we have a specific need or goal, our attention is more likely to be drawn to stimuli related to that need or goal, such as noticing gas stations when low on fuel.

Question 10

One explanation for the greatly differing accounts of the same athletic contest by fans of opposing teams involves the

Accepted Answer

The differing accounts can be attributed to the effect of motives on perception, where fans' biases towards their own team influence how they perceive and recall the events of the game.

Question 11

When American and Japanese participants were shown drawings of everyday scenes, such as a farm, and were later shown slightly changed versions of the same scene, the Japanese participants tended to

Accepted Answer

Japanese participants tend to be more attentive to contextual details and changes in the background of scenes, reflecting a cultural difference in perceptual processing. This is attributed to a holistic cognitive style more prevalent in East Asian cultures, which emphasizes context and relationships over individual elements.

Question 12

Regarding cultural differences in perception, which of the following statements is TRUE?

Accepted Answer

Japanese participants, representing East Asian cultures, tend to have a holistic perception style, focusing more on context and relationships in a scene, including the background, rather than just the central figure. This contrasts with the more analytical style of Western cultures, which often focus on individual elements.

Question 13

Because Janie has more experience with people from her own race, she is better able to recognize people from her own race and tends to show a bias in perceiving persons from other racial and ethnic groups. This illustrates

Accepted Answer

The other-race effect (also known as cross-race effect or own-race bias) refers to the tendency to more easily recognize faces of the race that one is most familiar with (which is often one's own race). This phenomenon explains why Janie is better at recognizing people from her own race compared to those from other races.

Question 14

In tests of facial recognition, people

Accepted Answer

People show a consistent other-race effect, meaning they are generally better at recognizing faces of their own race compared to faces of other races. This phenomenon is attributed to various factors, including exposure and socialization patterns.

Question 15

In one study, participants said that a $90 wine tasted better than a $10 wine, although the participants had really tasted the same wine. The participants' functional MRI images showed that the pleasure areas of their brains were

Accepted Answer

The participants' brains showed more activity in the pleasure areas when they believed they were tasting a more expensive wine, indicating that their perception of quality and enjoyment was influenced by the price.

Question 16

Perceptual expectancies are frequently created by

Accepted Answer

Perceptual expectancies, or the anticipation of a sensory experience, are often shaped by suggestion. This means that what we are told or expect to perceive can influence our actual perceptions. Suggestions can prime us to notice certain stimuli or interpret sensory information in a specific way, thus shaping our perceptual expectancies.

Question 17

In the young woman\old woman illustration in your textbook, the effect of seeing either the picture of the "old woman" or the picture of the "young woman" first will lead a person to respond in a particular way to the third picture in which both an "old" and a "young" woman can be seen. Seeing the first picture of either the "old" or the "young" woman created which of the following?

Accepted Answer

The young woman/old woman illustration demonstrates the concept of perceptual expectancy, where prior exposure to one interpretation influences the perception of subsequent ambiguous images.

Question 18

Research on perceptual sensitivity has shown that people

Accepted Answer

Research in perceptual sensitivity, specifically in the context of the "cross-race effect" or "own-race bias," has consistently shown that individuals are better at recognizing faces of their own racial group compared to faces from different racial groups. This phenomenon is attributed to a combination of factors including exposure, social categorization processes, and cognitive mechanisms dedicated to processing familiar versus unfamiliar face features.

Question 19

When American and Japanese participants were shown drawings of everyday scenes, such as a farm, and were later shown slightly changed versions of the same scene, the Americans participants tended to

Accepted Answer

American participants tend to focus more on central objects (the figure) rather than the background, making them better at detecting changes in the figure of the scene compared to the background. This reflects a cultural difference in perceptual focus, where Western cultures often emphasize individual objects, while East Asian cultures may pay more attention to context or relationships among objects.

Question 20

Advertisers often gain attention when selling a product by

Accepted Answer

Advertisers frequently use motives such as anxiety and sex to grab attention and make their products more appealing or memorable to consumers. This strategy plays on basic human emotions and instincts to create a stronger impact.

Quiz 4: Sensation and Perception