Deck 1: What Is Social Psychology

Question 1

Which statement describes a central characteristic of social______________psychology?

A)Social psychology uses historical events as its primary source of data.
B)Social psychology assumes that thoughts and behaviors are influenced by other people.
C)Social psychology focuses more on the behavior of groups than on that of individuals.
D)Social psychology emphasizes the solitary nature of human behavior.

Answer 1

Social psychology assumes that thoughts and behaviors are influenced by other people.

Question 2

Social psychology is primarily concerned with the ways in which

A)group factors contribute to the functioning of social institutions.
B)unconscious forces influence conscious motivations and desires.
C)specific personality characteristics predict behavior across situations.
D)individuals think,feel,and behave in a social context.

Answer 2

individuals think,feel,and behave in a social context.

Question 3

Social psychology is all of the following______________except

A)a science addressing a diverse set of topics.
B)the study of how people think,feel,and behave.
C)a compilation of anecdotal observations and case studies.
D)an approach applying the scientific method.

Answer 3

a compilation of anecdotal observations and case studies.

Question 4

Sociologists tend to study behavior at the______________level,whereas social psychologists study behavior______________at the______________level.

A)group;individual
B)interpersonal;cultural
C)specific;general
D)social;cognitive

Question 5

Which statement about social psychology is false?

A)A goal of social psychology is to develop general principles that describe human behavior.
B)An assumption of social psychology is that only social factors influence human behavior.
C)Social psychology relies on the scientific method to learn about human behavior.
D)Social psychology considers the way in which the imagined presence of others influences individuals.

Question 6

The scientific study of how individuals think,feel,and behavior when in the real,implied or imagined presence of others is called______________psychology.

A)clinical
B)social
C)personality
D)interactive

Question 7

Sociologists studying the effects of media violence would be more likely than social psychologists to

A)conduct experiments manipulating the amount of media violence viewed by participants.
B)assess changes in television availability and in murder rates in populations of entire cities over the last 30 years.
C)concern themselves with situational variables that moderate the effects of media violence on its viewers.
D)focus on the types of individuals who choose to view media violence.

Question 8

Anita wants to spend her career studying the factors that predict whether the members of a couple are satisfied with their marriage.If she chooses to do so as a social psychologist,it is likely that her pursuit will

A)focus more on people's thoughts than on their actual behavior.
B)emphasize the importance of different personality types.
C)examine couples rather than individuals as the unit of analysis.
D)include systematic observation,description,and measurement of couples.

Question 9

Courses in social psychology are most often required for students majoring in which area?

A)biological sciences
B)journalism
C)performing arts
D)philosophy

Question 10

Social psychology differs from history and philosophy in its

A)attention to the scientific method.
B)concern with human behavior.
C)greater focus on cultural influences.
D)more narrowly defined areas of interest.

Question 11

Social psychologists typically

A)focus their studies on behavior only.
B)use the scientific method in their research.
C)avoid studying individuals in favor of groups.
D)view behavior in the same ways as sociologists.

Question 12

Walton and colleagues (2015)studied students in an engineering program,focusing on specific factors related to first year grade point averages (GPAs).They found that women's GPAs were very similar to men's when

A)the students received the brief information designed to counter concerns about belonging.
B)academic advisors were trained in avoiding gender stereotypes in class assignments.
C)professors were recorded giving class lectures to help them identify unequal behaviors.
D)residence hall advisors were instructed to "urge" females to take more difficult classes.

Question 13

To examine the relationship between temperature and violence,Priti manipulates the thermostat in her laboratory while participants are engaged in a military simulation game.She then looks at the effect of this manipulation on aggressive behavior during the game,comparing participants in the "warm" condition to those in the "comfortable" condition.Priti's research best characterizes the field of

A)sociology.
B)social psychology.
C)clinical psychology.
D)personality psychology.

Question 14

Brad is a social psychologist.Marion is a sociologist.Which research question is most likely of interest to both of them?

A)How do societal factors influence racial differences in academic achievement?
B)How does positive and negative feedback impact conceptions of the self?
C)Do different socioeconomic groups express different political attitudes?
D)Can an authority figure influence people to act in ways that they normally would not?

Question 15

Which question would a social psychologist be most likely to study?

A)What developmental factors contribute to adult cognitive abilities?
B)What risk factors contribute to the onset of schizophrenia?
C)Is there a link between playing violent video games and engaging in aggressive behavior?
D)Do citizens in countries with democratic governments report greater life satisfaction than citizens in countries with autocratic governments?

Question 16

The question,"When is a bystander more or less likely to help you in in an emergency?" examines which major domain of social psychology?

A)social perception
B)social cognition
C)social influence
D)social interaction

Question 17

Which statement concerning social psychology and sociology is false?

A)Sociologists tend to study societal level variables,whereas social psychologists focus on more specific and immediate variables.
B)Social psychology studies human behavior at the level of the individual,whereas sociology studies human behavior at the group level.
C)Social psychologists and sociologists often study the same issues and publish in the same journals.
D)Sociologists are more likely than social psychologists to rely on experimental studies to study human behavior.

Question 18

To examine the relationship between economic conditions and violence,Gunther compares the murder rates for counties with different median incomes.Gunther's research best characterizes the field of

A)social psychology.
B)clinical psychology.
C)personality psychology.
D)sociology.

Question 19

A social psychologist would be least likely to conduct a study examining the effect of

A)sleep on the ability to concentrate.
B)temperature on highway shootings.
C)political attitudes on friendship formation.
D)academic performance on self-esteem.

Question 20

Sarunas is a social psychologist.He is probably most interested in reading about a study demonstrating the effects of

A)similarity of attitudes on interpersonal attraction.
B)immigration patterns on stock market activity.
C)distraction of attention to a visual display.
D)narcotic substances on neurotransmitter activity in the brain.

Question 21

Hyunwoo believes that image-oriented ads will be more persuasive for individuals concerned with the way they appear to others,whereas ads that stress product quality will be more effective for individuals who are less concerned with their public image.This belief represents the intersection of social psychology and

A)clinical psychology.
B)cognitive psychology.
C)personality psychology.
D)sociology.

Question 22

Diane is interested in whether women with nurturing personalities are more reliable friends,both inside and outside______________ the workplace.Rebecca is interested in the hypothesis that women tend to be more nurturing outside the workplace because others expect them to be nurturing.It is likely that Diane is a______________psychologist and Rebecca is a____________________________psychologist.

A)social;personality
B)clinical;personality
C)personality;clinical
D)personality;social

Question 23

The phenomenon that makes people question how social psychology is different from common sense is called the phenomenon.

A)"I knew it all along"
B)"science is stupid"
C)"self-superiority"
D)"hale and hearty"

Question 24

The field of social psychology emerged as a distinct discipline around the end of the

A)17th century.
B)18th century.
C)19th century.
D)20th century.

Question 25

Social psychology differs from common sense in that

A)common sense tends to produce more accurate knowledge about human behavior than social psychology.
B)common sense captures the full complexity of human behavior.
C)social psychology is far more intuitive than common sense.
D)social psychology relies on the scientific method to test its theories.

Question 26

Which research question does not involve the interaction of social and cognitive psychology?

A)What situational factors influence whether someone learns more effectively in a classroom setting?
B)How does injury to a particular part of the brain influence the ability to form new memories?
C)How does a threat to self-esteem influence people's ability to pay attention to complex stimuli?
D)How do stereotypes influence our memory of social interactions?

Question 27

Which statement about commonsense explanations and social psychology is the most accurate?

A)Social psychology typically avoids studying phenomena for which there are widely-accepted commonsense explanations.
B)Commonsense explanations form the basis of nearly all modern social psychological theories.
C)At least at present,commonsense explanations can more accurately predict behavior than can social psychology.
D)The scientific approach of social psychology does not always yield results that support commonsense explanations.

Question 28

Social psychological research is a necessary endeavor because our commonsense intuitions

A)tend to be very unstable.
B)often are at opposite ends of each other.
C)are not as shared by other people as we think.
D)are generally accurate but are held with little confidence.

Question 29

Ryland wants to study the subfield of psychology that is most closely related to social psychology.According to the text,she should focus on______________psychology because its theories complement social psychology very well.

A)clinical
B)cognitive
C)personality
D)evolutionary

Question 30

American psychologist Normal Triplett is credited with which accomplishment?

A)emphasizing the use of empiricism in research
B)focusing his writings on larger cultural surroundings
C)noting that people often perform worse when watched
D)publishing the first research article in social psychology

Question 31

Which researcher is regarded as one of the original founders of social psychology?

A)Norman Triplett
B)Stanley Milgram
C)Michael Norton
D)Philip Zimbardo

Question 32

Although related to other fields,social psychology is distinct in its emphasis on

A)understanding the immediate situational factors that influence human behavior.
B)classifying and treating psychological disorders.
C)identifying individual characteristics that are relatively stable across time.
D)describing the relationship between human behavior and societal variables.

Question 33

What distinguishes social psychology from other specialties in psychology is its

A)use of the scientific method in research design.
B)emphasis on correlational research design.
C)attention to the influence of situational context on behavior.
D)willingness to consider cross-cultural differences in human behavior and cognition.

Question 34

Which branch of psychology is most interested in "the power of the social context"?

A)clinical psychology
B)cognitive psychology
C)personality psychology
D)social psychology

Question 35

Astrid has developed a 12-item questionnaire to help her identify individuals who tend to be skeptical of authority figures across all sorts of different situations.Astrid is most likely a______________psychologist.

A)cognitive
B)social
C)clinical
D)personality

Question 36

Ringelmann and Triplett are best labeled as

A)the first researchers to explore conformity.
B)sociologists who established social psychology as a distinct discipline.
C)pioneers in the field of social cognition.
D)the founders of social psychology.

Question 37

Antoine investigates the extent to which depressed individuals have difficulty forming accurate memories of social interactions,particularly when those interactions are stressful.His research is best described as being at the intersection of

A)personality,cognitive,and clinical psychology.
B)cognitive,social,and personality psychology.
C)social,clinical,and cognitive psychology.
D)clinical,personality,and social psychology.

Question 38

Marilyn is interested in whether individuals with schizophrenia tend to interpret verbal feedback from others as negative even if it is positive.It might be said that Marilyn is doing research at the intersection of social psychology and

A)evolutionary psychology.
B)sociology.
C)personality psychology.
D)clinical psychology.

Question 39

The interaction between stable individual characteristics and situational constraints on the way people behave best reflects the intersection of

A)cognitive and personality psychology.
B)personality and social psychology.
C)social and clinical psychology.
D)clinical and developmental psychology.

Question 40

A major difference between social psychology and sociology is

A)whether the scientific method is applied.
B)the number of variables explored.
C)whether the focus is on the individual or the group.
D)an emphasis on how social context and behavior.

Question 41

Which perspective in social psychology was the result of the bold and creative work of Kurt Lewin?

A)the multicultural perspective
B)evolutionary psychology
C)the interactionist perspective
D)behavioral economics

Question 42

According to your text,one of the people who had the greatest impact on the developing field of social psychology was not a psychologist.Who was this person?

A)Plato
B)Charles Lindbergh
C)Adolf Hitler
D)Jackie Robinson

Question 43

Phoebe is a graduate student in social psychology who will only agree to conduct research that will help address an ongoing social problem.Phoebe's desire is most consistent with the philosophies of which pair of individuals?

A)Gordon Allport and Floyd Allport
B)Gordon Allport and Kurt Lewin
C)Kurt Lewin and Leon Festinger
D)Leon Festinger and Gordon Allport

Question 44

Which classic investigation does not have its roots in violence,war,or wartime culture?

A)Sherif's experiments on social influence
B)Triplett's research on performance in groups
C)Milgram's study of destructive obedience
D)Lewin's research on conservation

Question 45

Which statement regarding Kurt Lewin is most accurate?

A)His interactionist perspective argues that human behavior is mostly a function of situational pressures.
B)His push for practical research was met with great resistance in the early days of social psychology.
C)He was the first to test social psychological hypotheses in a scientific manner.
D)He conducted research on what kinds of leaders elicit the best work from group members.

Question 46

Of the following important figures in the history of social psychology,who most explicitly emphasized the importance______________of making important practical contributions to society?

A)Gordon Allport
B)Fritz Heider
C)Max Ringelmann
D)Muzafer Sherif

Question 47

According to the interactionist perspective,behavior is a result of the interaction between

A)motivation and cognition.
B)introverts and extraverts.
C)personality and environmental characteristics.
D)theoretical and practical concerns.

Question 48

"Founders of social psychology" Norman Triplett and Max Ringelmann both performed research that examined

A)the influence groups exert on their members.
B)the impact of the presence of others on performance.
C)how behaviors are shaped by perceptions.
D)the impact of different leadership strategies on group performance.

Question 49

Annie wants to find the first source that established social psychology as a separate field with an emphasis on experimentation and the scientific method.What should she probably read?

A)Allport's (1924)text
B)Ringelmann's (1913)article
C)McDougall's (1908)text
D)Triplett's (1897-1898)article

Question 50

Which event is regarded as having established social psychology as a distinct field of study?

A)the publication of the first three textbooks in social psychology
B)the publication of the first research article in social psychology
C)the formation of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
D)the introduction of the interactionist perspective to the field of psychology

Question 51

Muzafer Sherif's research was crucial for the development of social psychology because it

A)introduced the idea of cognitive dissonance.
B)marked the beginning of the pluralistic approach that continues to characterize the field.
C)firmly established the importance of an interactionist perspective.
D)demonstrated the feasibility of studying complex social issues in a rigorous manner.

Question 52

Blaine works in a factory producing car stereos.He notices that workers produce more stereos by the end of the day when they work together in the same room than when they work in separate rooms.His observation is consistent with a classic study conducted by which researcher?

A)Lewin
B)Asch
C)Triplett
D)Sherif

Question 53

The work of Muzafer Sherif was important for the development of social psychology because he

A)demonstrated the interaction between personality characteristics and situational factors.
B)developed professional associations for social psychologists.
C)showed that complex social behavior could be examined scientifically.
D)helped to find solutions to the crisis in the field during the 1960s and 1970s.

Question 54

By stressing both internal differences among individuals and differences among external situations,the interactionist perspective is an approach combining

A)personality psychology with social psychology.
B)social psychology with clinical psychology.
C)cognitive psychology with social psychology.
D)social psychology with sociology.

Question 55

Which individual is credited with publishing the first research article in social psychology?

A)Max Ringelmann
B)Norman Triplett
C)Floyd Allport
D)John Haharwood

Question 56

Which social psychologist is credited with demonstrating that it is possible to study complex and important social issues in a rigorous,scientific manner?

A)Sherif
B)F.Allport
C)Heider
D)Lewin

Question 57

Floyd Allport's social psychology textbook,published in 1924,is credited with

A)establishing the field's emphasis on experimentation and the scientific method.
B)imbuing the field with a cross-cultural orientation.
C)introducing the major theories of social psychology.
D)bridging the "hot" and "cold" perspectives on behavior and cognition.

Question 58

Which historical event sparked great interest in and gave shape to the field of social psychology?

A)the Great Depression
B)the U.S.military involvement in Korea
C)the actions of Nazis during World War II
D)the American Civil Rights Movement

Question 59

Which individual did not author one of social psychology's first textbooks?

A)William McDougall
B)Muzafer Sherif
C)Edward Ross
D)Floyd Allport

Question 60

An emphasis on experiments addressing the interaction of individuals and their social context is particularly clear in the writings of

A)John Cacioppo.
B)Norman Triplett.
C)Muzafer Sherif.
D)Kurt Lewin.

Question 61

The reference to social psychology in the 1960s and 1970s as being in the midst of "confidence and crisis" reflects an expansion in the types of issues studied by researchers,as well as increased criticism that largely came from

A)sociologists.
B)fellow social psychologists.
C)the general public.
D)the popular media.

Question 62

Raynei criticized the field of social psychology during the 1960s and 1970s.It is likely that Raynei despaired about the ability of social psychological researchers to do all of the following except

A)suggest possible solutions to everyday social concerns.
B)acknowledge their role in artificially producing the results of their studies.
C)consider the cultural context in which their findings were obtained.
D)design ethical experimental contexts.

Question 63

Which of the following best illustrates Lewin's interactionist perspective?

A)Sally is a very creative kind of person who likes to build things.
B)Jerry only works because he receives a very large income.
C)Rikki is usually shy,but at work she appears to be quite outgoing.
D)Maury gives money to charities because he wants other people to think he is very generous.

Question 64

Sarai studies stereotypes and prejudice;Kevin studies how people learn about themselves by comparing themselves______________to others.Sarai and Kevin probably feel particular______________gratitude to______________and______________,respectively,for helping to establish these areas in social psychology.

A)Solomon Asch;Gordon Allport
B)Gordon Allport,Leon Festinger
C)Leon Festinger;Muzafer Sherif
D)Muzafer Sherif;Solomon Asch

Question 65

Much of the debate in social psychology during the period of "confidence and crisis" occurred in reaction to

A)the usefulness of applied research.
B)the use of laboratory experiments.
C)new technological developments in the research lab.
D)Lewin's interactionist perspective.

Question 66

Because of his research on practical issues,such as the research he conducted in the 1940s concerning promotion of more economical and nutritious eating habits,Kurt Lewin could be considered one of the founders of

A)evolutionary social psychology.
B)psychoneuroimmunology.
C)"hot" theories of social psychology.
D)applied social psychology.

Question 67

Abe understands human behaviors through the lens of the theories of psychoanalysis.Abe's view probably differs from that of Kurt Lewin in that Abe is more likely to emphasize the power of

A)external rewards.
B)internal motives.
C)situational factors.
D)interpersonal relationships.

Question 68

Arguably,the most famous research in social psychology focused on the situational factors influencing obedience to authority and was conducted by

A)Floyd Allport.
B)Muzafer Sherif.
C)Leon Festinger.
D)Stanley Milgram.

Question 69

When Taka is teaching his social psychology class,he emphasizes that the field must encompass a range of research techniques and cultural perspectives if it is to flourish.Taka's emphasis reflects a(n)

A)contextualist orientation.
B)empirical approach.
C)"hot" approach to studying social behavior.
D)pluralistic orientation.

Question 70

From the middle 1970s through the 2000s,social psychology is best characterized by

A)confidence and crisis.
B)social activism.
C)pluralism.
D)interactionism.

Question 71

Social psychologists reacted to critiques of the field in the 1960s and 1970s by doing all of the following except

A)adopting more rigorous and formalized ethical standards.
B)paying more attention to cross-cultural differences in cognition and behavior.
C)denouncing experiments as unacceptably artificial.
D)developing more stringent procedures to avoid the effects of experimenter bias.

Question 72

Which criticism has been leveled against social psychology in the 1960s and 1970s?

A)The discipline failed to address topics of social relevance.
B)The discipline failed to distinguish itself from other fields of psychology.
C)Researchers had not yet agreed upon a conventional methodology.
D)The findings were limited to current historical circumstances.

Question 73

Lewin's research concerning both how to promote economical and nutritious eating habits,and what kinds of leaders elicit the best work from group members,was important in establishing the idea that

A)different topics require different research strategies.
B)social psychology could be used to understand and help solve practical problems.
C)early theories in social psychology were often historically and culturally limited.
D)social psychologists may unwittingly influence the behavior of research participants.

Question 74

The pluralistic approach to social psychology

A)encourages research outside of controlled settings.
B)emphasizes the motivational more than the cognitive underpinnings of behavior.
C)has been supplanted by other approaches in the past 30 years.
D)limits the kinds of topics that social psychologists can study.

Question 75

Research on the social psychological underpinnings of prejudice might be said to have its roots in research by

A)Kurt Lewin.
B)Gordon Allport.
C)Solomon Asch.
D)Leon Festinger.

Question 76

Which statement is not a valid criticism of laboratory experimentation in the 1960s and 1970s?

A)Experiments were sometimes unethical.
B)Experimenters' expectations might influence the results.
C)The theories being tested in the laboratory were often historically and culturally limited.
D)Experiments did not allow researchers to draw conclusions about causal relationships.

Question 77

Ashraf would like to read about social psychological research on conformity.He should look at the research of

A)Solomon Asch.
B)Kurt Lewin.
C)Leon Festinger.
D)Floyd Allport.

Question 78

Mona would like to understand the interactionist perspective.She has enough time to skim two textbooks.She should probably read one textbook in social psychology and one in

A)evolutionary psychology.
B)cognitive psychology.
C)clinical psychology.
D)personality psychology.

Question 79

During the 1960s and 1970s,social psychologists who favored laboratory experiments rebuffed critics about the limitations of laboratory work by arguing that

A)critics' concerns regarding experimenter bias were exaggerated and misplaced.
B)it did not matter that some studies were unethical because the benefits of running these experiments outweighed the costs.
C)experimental studies were easier to conduct than non-experimental studies.
D)the theoretical principles being tested in the lab were widely applicable across eras and cultures.

Question 80

Elliot is interested in how people can change their attitudes through their own behavior.The best approach for him would be to read the writings of

A)Gordon Allport.
B)Solomon Asch.
C)Leon Festinger.
D)Stanley Milgram.