Question 1

Izzy finds that when people vacate a parking spot, they do so more slowly when there is someone waiting to take their spot than if there is no one waiting. He attributes this behavior to an innate predisposition toward territoriality. It might be said that Izzy's findings represent a combination of work in social psychology and

Accepted Answer

Izzy's findings touch on behaviors and predispositions that could be linked to evolutionary adaptations, which is a key focus of evolutionary psychology. This field examines how evolutionary principles like natural selection influence human behavior and psychological traits, including territorial behaviors.

Question 2

What kind of research is designed to examine racial and ethnic groups within a given culture?

Accepted Answer

Multicultural research is specifically designed to examine, understand, and compare the cultural differences and similarities among racial and ethnic groups within a given culture, making it the correct choice for this question.

Question 3

Which of the following technologies is not mentioned in your text as one that is used in social psychological research?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following technologies is not...

Question 4

An interdisciplinary subfield that focuses on how social and cognitive psychology relate to economic decision making is called

Accepted Answer

Behavioral economics combines elements from both psychology and economics to examine how individuals actually make economic decisions, often in ways that deviate from the predictions of traditional economic theory due to cognitive biases and emotional factors.

Question 5

Positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are technologies that enable social psychologists to

Accepted Answer

PET and fMRI allow researchers to observe brain activity and thus see images of the brain as individuals engage in various cognitive and emotional processes. These technologies do not directly record attitudes, present stimuli for brief periods, or induce mood states, but rather visualize brain function.

Question 6

Which of the following methods is a relatively new technology used in contemporary social psychological research?

Accepted Answer

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a relatively new technology used in contemporary social psychological research to study brain activity and functions, offering insights into how social processes and behaviors are linked to neurological mechanisms.

Question 7

Of the following, which best illustrates an interest in multicultural psychology?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Of the following, which best illustrates an...

Question 8

Dr. White is using a recently developed technology to conduct research on how the brain responds to visual images that are culturally familiar or unfamiliar. Which of the following tools might he employ in his laboratory?

Accepted Answer

Event-related potential (ERP) is a neuroimaging technique that measures the brain's electrical response to specific sensory, cognitive, or motor events, making it suitable for studying how the brain processes culturally familiar or unfamiliar visual images.

Question 9

Which of the following statements is true of behavioral economics?

Accepted Answer

Behavioral economics integrates insights from psychology to understand how people make economic decisions, highlighting the limitations of traditional economic models that assume rational behavior.

Question 10

Virtual reality allows social psychologists to

Accepted Answer

Virtual reality provides a controlled and manipulable environment, allowing social psychologists to simulate scenarios that might be impractical or unethical to test in real life. This enables the study of human behavior in situations that are difficult to replicate in the real world.

Question 11

Fatima investigates whether natural selection plays a role in how people are attracted to each other. Fatima's research is in the area of

Accepted Answer

Fatima's research focuses on how evolutionary factors, such as natural selection, influence human behavior and attractions, which is a key area of interest in evolutionary psychology. This field examines how evolutionary principles help explain psychological processes and traits.

Question 12

Which of the following subfields of social psychology studies the relationship between playing violent video games and subsequent aggression?

Accepted Answer

Social neuroscience explores the biological and brain-based underpinnings of social behaviors, including how external stimuli like violent video games can influence aggression and other social behaviors.

Question 13

The role of natural selection processes in the development of social behavior is a primary concern in

Accepted Answer

Evolutionary psychology focuses on how evolutionary principles such as natural selection shape behaviors and psychological traits, including social behaviors. It examines how adaptation to environmental challenges over time has influenced the development of these behaviors and traits.

Question 14

The ability to communicate and collaborate with other social psychologists and to recruit research participants from across the world through the Internet has produced

Accepted Answer

The Internet has facilitated global communication and collaboration among social psychologists, leading to the internationalization of the field. This means that research and practices in social psychology are increasingly incorporating perspectives, participants, and collaborators from around the world, making the field more globally oriented and interconnected.

Question 15

Cross-cultural research looking at performance on a difficult letter-unscrambling task indicates that

Accepted Answer

This finding aligns with research on cultural differences in motivation and self-concept. Asian cultures often emphasize interdependent self-construals, where identity is closely tied to social relationships and responsibilities, particularly within the family. Being reminded of their mothers likely activated a sense of duty and interconnectedness for Asian-American students, motivating them to work harder on the task. European-American students, coming from cultures that emphasize independent self-construals, may not experience the same motivational boost from thinking about their mothers.

Question 16

Mischa conducts research on what makes people perceive themselves as members of a different racial group. She monitors the different patterns of brain activity of people to support her findings. In this research, she is using

Accepted Answer

Mischa's research involves monitoring brain activity to understand social phenomena, specifically how people perceive themselves as members of different racial groups. This approach is characteristic of social neuroscience, which examines how biological systems influence social processes and behaviors.

Question 17

Christine conducts cross-cultural research and Betty conducts multicultural research. Which of the following statements is most likely to be true ?

Accepted Answer

Christine is more likely to sample individuals from many different cultures because cross-cultural research involves comparing different cultures.

Question 18

Jessica and Nick are behavioral researchers. Jessica believes that her sons have been aggressive from birth because she and her husband Nick have inborn aggressive tendencies. Nick, however, believes that their sons are aggressive because throughout history, it has been adaptive for men to be aggressive so that they can protect their territory and possessions. Nick's beliefs reflect the influence of ____, whereas Jessica's beliefs reflect ____.

Accepted Answer

Nick's perspective aligns with evolutionary psychology, which suggests behaviors (like aggression) have developed to solve adaptive problems (like protecting territory). Jessica's view reflects behavioral genetics, focusing on how genes influence behaviors.

Question 19

The research of Jonathan Haidt (2012, 2017) addresses the question of whether we can understand the different concepts of morality that separate

Accepted Answer

Jonathan Haidt's research, particularly in "The Righteous Mind" (2012), focuses on the moral foundations that underpin political ideology, exploring the differences in morality between liberals and conservatives.

Question 20

Which of the following statements regarding the relationship between online communication and contemporary social psychology research is most accurate?

Accepted Answer

Online communication not only aids collaboration among researchers but also serves as a significant topic for research itself, exploring its effects on social behavior and interactions.

Quiz 1: What Is Social Psychology