Question 1

Hilda is on a low carbohydrate diet, which restricts her from eating foods such as white bread, potato chips, and pretzels. The more Hilda thinks about the fact that she cannot eat such foods, however, the more desperately she begins to crave them. Social psychologists refer to this kind of pattern as a(n) ______________________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Hilda is on a low carbohydrate diet,...

Question 2

People who receive extremely low scores on IQ tests almost always perform better the second time around. This pattern can be attributed to statistical regression.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. Statistical regression suggests that individuals who receive extremely high or low scores on a test will likely score closer to the mean when they take the test again.

Question 3

Within the field of social cognition, the term ____________________ essentially refers to schemas that are about events.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Within the field of social cognition, the...

Question 4

Wing Tung is reading his textbook for history class. At the end of each paragraph, he stops and asks himself what the paragraph was about. Once he feels like he knows that, he goes on. Wing Tung is using ____ to improve his thinking.
A) meta-cognition
B) contamination
C) conjunction
D) attribution

Accepted Answer

Wing Tung is using meta-cognition, or thinking about his own thinking process, to improve his understanding of the history text.

Question 5

The term ____________________ was coined to refer to people's general unwillingness to do much extra conscious thinking (i.e., people's mental "laziness").

Accepted Answer

The answer of The term ____________________ was coined to refer...

Question 6

People tend to want to explore most issues thoroughly before making decisions.

Accepted Answer

The answer of People tend to want to explore most...

Question 7

One explanation for the false consensus effect is that people use their own attitudes and behaviors as "anchors" for predicting others' attitudes and behaviors.

Accepted Answer

The false consensus effect occurs when people overestimate the extent to which others share their attitudes and behaviors. One explanation for this phenomenon is that people use their own attitudes and behaviors as a reference point, or "anchor," for predicting others' attitudes and behaviors. This can lead individuals to believe that their views are more widely shared than they actually are.

Question 8

The self-serving bias refers to people's tendency to think that others are more similar to them than they really are when it comes to their faults and weaknesses.

Accepted Answer

The self-serving bias refers to people's tendency to attribute their successes to internal factors (such as ability or effort) and their failures to external factors (such as bad luck or difficult circumstances), rather than the reverse. It does not pertain to thinking that others are more similar to oneself with regard to faults and weaknesses.

Question 9

Research indicates that ____ engage in counterfactual thinking; and that ____ engage in meta-cognition.
A) both humans and other animals; both humans and other animals
B) both humans and other animals; only humans
C) only humans; both humans and other animals
D) only humans; only humans

Accepted Answer

The answer of Research indicates that ____ engage in counterfactual...

Question 10

The older students get, the more variance there is in their reading test scores. This pattern can be attributed to statistical regression.

Accepted Answer

The increasing variance in reading test scores among older students is more accurately attributed to factors such as differing levels of access to resources, varying quality of education, and individual differences in learning and development, rather than statistical regression, which refers to the phenomenon where extreme scores on one measurement tend to be closer to the mean on a subsequent measurement.

Question 11

Social psychologists call how information is presented to others ____________________, while politicians call it ____________________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Social psychologists call how information is presented...

Question 12

Polina is three years old. She is just beginning to understand concepts such as "dog," "cat," "chair," and "sofa," and to understand how these concepts differ from one another. In other words, she is just beginning to develop ____________________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Polina is three years old. She is...

Question 13

Thinking about thinking is called ____.
A) magical thinking
B) meta-cognition
C) counterregulation
D) information overload

Accepted Answer

The term for thinking about thinking is meta-cognition. This involves reflecting on one's own thought processes and being aware of how one thinks and learns. Magical thinking involves believing in supernatural powers or events. Counterregulation refers to a process by which individuals intentionally offset their own behavior, such as indulging in unhealthy food after sticking to a strict diet. Information overload refers to being exposed to too much information, to the point where it becomes overwhelming and difficult to process.

Question 14

Malle's research has supported the traditional notion of the actor-observer bias.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Malle's research has supported the traditional notion...

Question 15

Jack read about the swine flu in the papers for the past two weeks. When he comes down with fever, chills, and a bad cough, he is absolutely certain that he has the swine flu because of all the media coverage it has received. Jack is illustrating the simulation heuristic.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Jack read about the swine flu in...

Question 16

The fact that men and women report having had very different numbers of sex partners can be almost completely explained by the fact that men have engaged in more homosexual sex.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The fact that men and women report...

Question 17

If a moderately liberal person watches a lot of liberal news media television and listens to liberal news radio programs, her viewpoints will probably become more liberal.

Accepted Answer

Exposure to media with a certain bias can reinforce and even shape one's beliefs and viewpoints towards that bias. This is known as confirmation bias, which occurs when individuals seek out information that confirms their preexisting beliefs while ignoring or dismissing information that challenges them. Therefore, if someone frequently consumes content from liberal media sources, it is likely that their viewpoints will become more liberal.

Question 18

Counterregulation occurs when people indulge in a behavior they are trying to regulate after an initial regulation failure.

Accepted Answer

Counterregulation is a real phenomenon where people may give up on trying to regulate a behavior after an initial failure and actually engage in the behavior more than before.

Question 19

The tendency to think that all African Americans are likely to be great athletes because LeBron James (2008-09 NBA League MVP) is such a great athlete illustrates the illusory correlation.

Accepted Answer

The illusory correlation is the tendency to perceive a relationship between two variables even when there is no actual relationship, often based on limited or irrelevant information. In this case, the limited information is the success of one African American athlete and the assumption that all African Americans must be great athletes.

Question 20

The first instinct fallacy refers to the false belief that it is better not to change one's first answer even if one starts to think that a different answer is correct.

Accepted Answer

The first instinct fallacy is indeed the belief that one's initial answer on a test or decision is more likely to be correct than a later changed answer, despite evidence showing that changes from wrong to right answers are more common than changes from right to wrong.

Quiz 5: Social Cognition