Question 1

After much deliberation, you decide on a college to attend. After you have made your decision, you find yourself reducing any dissonance by _____ the chosen university and _____ the unchosen universities.

Accepted Answer

The process of reducing dissonance involves upgrading the chosen university and downgrading the unchosen universities. This helps to justify the decision and makes the individual feel better about their choice. Therefore, option D is the best choice.

Question 2

According to the dissonance theory, managers, teachers, and parents should use _____ to elicit the desired behavior.

Accepted Answer

Dissonance theory suggests that using the smallest possible incentive to elicit desired behavior leads individuals to internally justify their actions, reducing cognitive dissonance and making the behavior more likely to be repeated.

Question 3

Though she is opposed to capital punishment, Lisa is asked to give a speech in favor of it to round out a class debate. In the context of insufficient justification, dissonance theory predicts that her true attitude will undergo the most change if she

Accepted Answer

When Lisa agrees to give the speech without special incentives, she experiences cognitive dissonance due to insufficient justification for her actions, leading to a greater change in her true attitude to reduce the dissonance.

Question 4

The insufficient justification effect involves reducing dissonance by _____ justifying one's behavior when _____ justification is insufficient.

Accepted Answer

The insufficient justification effect involves reducing dissonance by internally justifying one's behavior when external justification is insufficient.

Question 5

Sarah has always strongly believed that it is wrong to steal, but after she steals a bottle of nail polish from the drug store, her attitude toward stealing becomes significantly less harsh. Which theory best accounts for her shift in attitude?

Accepted Answer

Cognitive dissonance theory explains that when a person's actions are inconsistent with their beliefs, it creates psychological discomfort, leading them to change their attitudes or beliefs to reduce the dissonance. In this case, Sarah's attitude toward stealing becomes less harsh to align with her behavior of stealing.

Question 6

Which theory explains our conclusion that we must be anxious of something because we woke up before dawn?

Accepted Answer

Self-perception theory suggests that we infer our attitudes and emotions based on our behavior, and waking up early may lead us to believe that we are anxious about something.

Question 7

Which theory explains our conclusion that we must be nervous because we feel shaky, while forgetting we just had two cups of strong coffee?

Accepted Answer

According to self-perception theory, people infer their own attitudes, emotions, and beliefs by observing their own behavior and the situation in which the behavior occurs. In this scenario, the individual may interpret their shaky feeling as a sign of nervousness because they are observing their own behavior, but they may not attribute it to the coffee they consumed because they may not be aware of the effects of caffeine on their body.

Question 8

Schnall and Laird's (2003) research revealed that individuals induced to repeatedly practice happy expressions tended to recall more happy memories and found their happy mood lingered. This is best explained by the

Accepted Answer

Schnall and Laird's research findings are best explained by self-perception theory, which suggests that individuals infer their emotions by observing their own behavior and the context of the situation, rather than having innate or predetermined emotions. By repeatedly practicing happy expressions, individuals perceive themselves as happy, leading to a positive mood and increased recall of happy memories.

Question 9

As a teenager, your parents always compelled you to clean your room. Now that you are living on your own, you feel no motivation to clean, as there are no parents around to nag you. This shows that

Accepted Answer

This situation illustrates the concept of external regulation, where individuals do not engage in a behavior because they feel like they have to or because of external consequences (in this case, parents' nagging), rather than because they value the behavior itself. When the external source of motivation is removed (i.e. the parents are no longer around), individuals may not feel motivated to continue engaging in the behavior (i.e. cleaning their room). Therefore, it shows that people are unlikely to internalize forced behavior, which means they are unlikely to adopt a behavior as their own and continue it without external incentives or consequences.

Question 10

You have recently earned a promotion at work and are now a manager. You decide to use your knowledge of social psychology to improve the working conditions of your new subordinates. You know that the dissonance theory predicts that attitudes will follow behaviors for which we feel some responsibility; therefore you decide to use _____ to elicit the desired behaviors in your subordinates.

Accepted Answer

The dissonance theory predicts that attitudes will follow behaviors for which we feel some responsibility. Using incentives that are just enough to motivate the desired behavior can help create a sense of responsibility in the workers and lead to a change in attitude. Using too much incentive can result in workers feeling that the behavior is only being done for the reward, which can weaken the sense of responsibility and not lead to a change in attitude. Therefore, only enough incentive is the best choice to elicit the desired behaviors in subordinates.

Question 11

When we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer them the same way someone else would who was observing us-that is, we look at our behavior.
Which theory does this describe?

Accepted Answer

This describes self-perception theory, which suggests that we infer our attitudes by observing our own behavior in the same way that we observe others' behavior to infer their attitudes.

Question 12

If you are studying because you want to do well in a course and truly want to understand the material, you are more likely to want to study in the future as compared to those students who view studying as compulsory. Your situation is an example of how

Accepted Answer

The answer of If you are studying because you want...

Question 13

After spending a great deal of time researching vehicles, Linda makes a purchase. After having owned the vehicle for several months, she experiences dissonance and wonders if she made the right decision with her purchase. According to dissonance theory, we would expect Linda to reduce her dissonance by _____ the chosen vehicle and _____ the unchosen vehicles.

Accepted Answer

According to dissonance theory, Linda would be expected to reduce her dissonance by upgrading the chosen vehicle (in order to reaffirm the decision) and downgrading the unchosen vehicles (in order to make her decision seem like the better choice).

Question 14

A research study had experimental participants perform a dull task but paid them to lie by telling a prospective participant that the task had been enjoyable. Results showed that the participants who were paid _____ came to believe that the task had been _____.

Accepted Answer

The participants who were paid $1 were more likely to change their attitudes and beliefs about the task in order to justify the lie they were paid to tell. Thus, they came to believe that the task had been interesting and enjoyable. The participants who were paid $20 were less likely to feel the need to justify their lie and were better able to maintain their internal beliefs about the task, so they did not experience the same attitude change.

Question 15

Which theory assumes that we observe our actions for clues about our own attitudes and beliefs?

Accepted Answer

The theory that assumes that we observe our actions for clues about our own attitudes and beliefs is the self-perception theory. This theory suggests that we infer our own attitudes based on our behavior, just like we infer other people's attitudes based on their behavior. The other options, self-presentation, cognitive dissonance, and self-justification, do not specifically focus on the observation of one's own behavior for clues about attitudes and beliefs.

Question 16

Once we make a decision or choice, and feel some cognitive dissonance,

Accepted Answer

When we experience cognitive dissonance after making a decision or choice, we tend to justify it by forming additional reasons to support our decision. This helps to reduce the discomfort caused by the conflicting thoughts or beliefs. This phenomenon is known as the post-decisional dissonance or the decision justification effect. Therefore, option A is the best choice.

Question 17

You are fortunate to receive multiple job offers after graduating from college. You find the decision-making very difficult, but once you decide on an offer to accept, you notice yourself _____ the job offers that you did not accept in order to reduce dissonance.

Accepted Answer

The term "downgrading" refers to the act of mentally devaluing the options not chosen to reduce cognitive dissonance, which is the discomfort experienced when holding conflicting thoughts.

Question 18

Which of the following theories assumes that our actions are self-revealing?

Accepted Answer

Self-perception theory assumes that we infer our attitudes and behaviors from observing our own actions and the context in which they occur. Essentially, this theory suggests that we come to understand our own thoughts and feelings by observing ourselves in action, and we judge ourselves based on our behavior in a given situation.

Question 19

You receive more than one marriage proposal, and after deciding on who you wish to spend your life with, dissonance theory would predict that you would _____ the individual whose proposal you did accept.

Accepted Answer

Dissonance theory predicts that once we make a decision, we tend to upgrade the chosen option and downgrade the unchosen options in order to reduce cognitive dissonance. Therefore, if someone decides on accepting one marriage proposal, they are likely to upgrade the chosen individual and potentially downgrade the unchosen individuals.

Question 20

After making important decisions, we usually reduce dissonance by _____ the chosen alternative and _____ the unchosen option.

Accepted Answer

According to the concept of cognitive dissonance, after making important decisions, we tend to reduce the discomfort or dissonance caused by the unchosen options by downgrading them and upgrading the chosen alternative. Therefore, choice D, upgrading the chosen alternative and downgrading the unchosen option, is the correct answer.

Quiz 4: Nature, Nurture, and Human Diversity

After much deliberation, you decide on a college to attend. After you have made your decision, you find yourself reducing any dissonance by _ the chosen university and _ the unchosen universities.