Question 1

Solomon Asch had participants choose which line was the same length as a comparison line in the presence of confederates who chose obviously wrong answers.Asch found about twice as much conformity when the number of confederates was large (about 10)as when it was smaller (about 5).

Accepted Answer

Asch found that conformity increased with the number of confederates up to a point, but not significantly after three or four confederates, indicating that increasing the number of confederates beyond three or four does not significantly increase conformity.

Question 2

According to the door-in-the-face technique,an effective way to get you to agree to a big request (take a group of juvenile delinquents to the zoo on Saturday)is to first ask you to do an even larger request (serve as a counselor to the delinquents for two hours,every week for the next two years).

Accepted Answer

This is the basic principle of the door-in-the-face technique. By making an initially larger request, the second, smaller request seems more reasonable and is more likely to be agreed to.

Question 3

Researchers have found that composite photos that produce average facial features are rated as highly attractive.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. Research has shown that composite photos that blend together multiple faces to create an average face are generally rated as more attractive than individual faces. This is often referred to as the "averageness effect" and is thought to be because average faces are perceived as more symmetrical and therefore more genetically fit.

Question 4

Proximity refers to a feeling of warmth,affection,and closeness to another person.

Accepted Answer

Proximity refers to the physical or geographical closeness between people, not the emotional closeness or feelings of warmth and affection.

Question 5

To measure the maturity of someone's moral judgments,Kohlberg devised a series of moral dilemmas,which are problems that pit one moral value against another.

Accepted Answer

Kohlberg did indeed use moral dilemmas to measure the maturity of someone's moral judgments.

Question 6

The term aversive racism refers to a blatant,obvious form of hostility for people of other races.

Accepted Answer

Aversive racism refers to a subtle, unconscious form of bias or prejudice towards people of different races, rather than an overt form of hostility.

Question 7

According to research on the sleeper effect,persuasion attempts are much more likely to be successful when we hear them subconsciously,such as when we are asleep.

Accepted Answer

The sleeper effect refers to the phenomenon where persuasion attempts become more persuasive over time, even when the source of the message is forgotten or discounted. It does not suggest that hearing messages subconsciously, such as while asleep, is more successful.

Question 8

Couples that divorce within the first seven years of marriage actually begin their marriages with more love and affection than do couples that remain married.

Accepted Answer

This statement is false. Research shows that couples who remain married past the seven-year mark report higher levels of love and affection for each other compared to those who divorce within that time frame.

Question 9

A group of volunteers and paid staff work for a political campaign.The candidate loses the election.According to the theory of cognitive dissonance,the volunteers are more likely to be upset and feel that they have wasted their time than the paid staff.

Accepted Answer

According to the theory of cognitive dissonance, volunteers are more likely to rationalize their efforts and maintain a positive view of their participation to resolve the dissonance between their efforts and the outcome, whereas paid staff might not experience the same level of dissonance since their efforts are compensated, making them less likely to feel they wasted their time.

Question 10

Two groups have a history of prejudice and hostility between them.The research has found that the best way to reduce this prejudice is to have members from each group talk and try to get to know each other.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Two groups have a history of prejudice...

Question 11

Altruistic behavior refers to helping others despite some cost or risk to others.

Accepted Answer

Altruistic behavior refers to helping others despite some cost or risk to oneself, not to others.

Question 12

Hank falls to the sidewalk among many other pedestrians-he's having a heart attack! Harry falls to the sidewalk in the presence of just one other pedestrian-he's having a heart attack! Hank is more likely to receive help than Harry is.

Accepted Answer

This scenario illustrates the bystander effect, where people are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. Harry, being in the presence of just one other pedestrian, is more likely to receive help than Hank, who is surrounded by many pedestrians.

Question 13

On the average,first impressions are more influential than information learned later.

Accepted Answer

Studies have shown that first impressions have a strong impact on people's opinions and perceptions, and can even cause them to disregard or downplay subsequent information that contradicts their initial impression. Therefore, on average, first impressions tend to be more influential than information learned later.

Question 14

Your professor is passing back exams,and as you are waiting to receive your exam,you notice that the student sitting next to you has a big,red "F" at the top of her exam.You think,"Wow,this must have been a really difficult exam." Your thinking illustrates the fundamental attribution error.

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error involves overestimating the influence of personality and underestimating the influence of situations when explaining others' behaviors. In this scenario, attributing the failure to the exam's difficulty rather than the student's abilities or personality traits does not illustrate the fundamental attribution error.

Question 15

The vast majority of students at Really Big State University wear backpacks with straps over both shoulders.The vast majority of students at the University of Some Distant State wear backpacks with just a single strap over one shoulder.Students at both universities say they wear their backpacks that way because it is the most comfortable for them.The students' backpack wearing behavior at both schools reflects normative influence.

Accepted Answer

Normative influence refers to the influence of social norms on behavior. In this case, the behavior of wearing backpacks with either two straps or one strap is influenced by the norms at their respective universities. The fact that students at both universities wear their backpacks that way because it is comfortable for them suggests that this behavior is normative at their respective institutions.

Question 16

Psychologists once regarded morality as a set of arbitrary,learned rules,such as learning to stop at a red light and go at a green light.

Accepted Answer

Early theories of moral development proposed by psychologists such as Lawrence Kohlberg regarded morality as a set of learned rules that were influenced by culture and socialization. However, more recent research has shown that moral reasoning and decision making involve cognitive, emotional, and social processes that are more complex and dynamic than simply following a set of rules.

Question 17

The Implicit Association Test,taken by over 600,000 people,finds that even Whites who claim to have little or no prejudice,link White-pleasant and Black-unpleasant more quickly.

Accepted Answer

The statement correctly reflects the results of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) which has found that even individuals who claim to be racially unbiased may still exhibit unconscious bias, as measured by the speed of their associations between race and positive or negative traits. Specifically, the IAT has shown that most participants (including White participants) tend to make faster associations between White faces and positive traits and between Black faces and negative traits.

Question 18

The basic lesson from Zimbardo's simulated prison study and from Milgram's teacher-learner study is that humans are crueler than previously realized.

Accepted Answer

The basic lesson from these studies is that situational and systemic factors can greatly influence individuals' behavior, often leading them to act in ways that are contrary to their personal morals and ethics.

Question 19

Tony,a sophomore,listens to a speech favoring a tuition increase at his college for next year.Because Tony intends to return for his junior year,he is more likely to follow the central route to persuasion in listening to the speech than the peripheral route.

Accepted Answer

According to the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion, individuals are more likely to use the central route to persuasion when they are motivated and have the ability to process a message deeply. In this scenario, Tony is motivated to attend his junior year and therefore may be more likely to process the information presented in the speech deeply and critically, rather than being swayed by peripheral cues or superficial aspects of the message.

Question 20

You are going to play a prisoner's dilemma game with the same partner every day for a week.According to the research,the choice that is most likely to lead to a big pay-off over the course of the week is for you to choose to compete as frequently as possible.

Accepted Answer

Research on the prisoner's dilemma, especially in repeated games, suggests that cooperative strategies, like "tit for tat" (where you initially cooperate and then replicate your partner's previous move), tend to lead to better outcomes over time compared to consistently competitive approaches.

Quiz 13: Social Psychology