Question 1

Montel,a White university student,is on academic probation for poor grades.Ever since he received notice of his probation,Montel has become increasingly hostile toward racial minority students and staff on campus.His increasing hostility can best be explained in terms of

Accepted Answer

Montel is displacing his frustration and anger about his academic performance onto racial minority students and staff, blaming them for his personal struggles. This aligns with the scapegoat theory, which suggests that individuals may target marginalized groups and blame them for their own problems.

Question 2

The tendency to categorize people on the basis of their gender is most likely to lead Jack to believe that

Accepted Answer

The tendency to categorize people on the basis of gender often results in stereotypes and assumptions about how members of a certain gender are likely to behave or think. Jack's belief that women all have pretty much the same attitudes about sex is an example of a gender stereotype.

Question 3

The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races is called

Accepted Answer

This is known as the other-race effect and has been demonstrated through various studies. It is thought to be due to lack of exposure and experience with faces of other races, leading to difficulty in distinguishing between them.

Question 4

Kelly is a Republican and Carlos is a Democrat.Both believe that the members of their own political party are more fair-minded and trustworthy than members of any other party.This belief best illustrates

Accepted Answer

Ingroup bias refers to the tendency to favor and be more influenced by members of one's own group (in this case, political party) over members of other groups. This bias can lead individuals to see their own group members as more fair-minded and trustworthy compared to members of other political parties.

Question 5

The tendency to perceive the members of an outgroup as similar to each other is referred to as

Accepted Answer

The tendency to perceive the members of an outgroup as similar to each other is known as outgroup homogeneity. This phenomenon can lead to stereotyping because individuals may assume that all members of the outgroup possess certain characteristics or behaviors. The other options are related to different biases in social psychology.

Question 6

Although President Obama is of mixed race,White Americans typically perceive and label him as Black.Researchers believe this happens because White observers ________ the distinctive physical features of the less-familiar Black minority.

Accepted Answer

The statement "White observers selectively attend to the distinctive physical features of the less-familiar Black minority" suggests that White Americans tend to focus more on physical features that are associated with Black individuals, such as skin color, hair texture, and facial features, rather than their biracial identity. This phenomenon is known as "racial categorization" and can influence how people perceive and label individuals based on their race or ethnicity. Therefore, the best choice is A, as it accurately describes how White Americans perceive President Obama based on his physical features.

Question 7

In the United States during the late 1980s,most Democrats wrongly believed that inflation had risen under Republican president Ronald Reagan.In 2010,most Republicans wrongly believed that taxes had increased under Democratic president Barack Obama.These incorrect beliefs best illustrate the impact of

Accepted Answer

This scenario best illustrates ingroup bias, the tendency for people to favor their own group over others. In both cases, members of a particular political party believed something negative about an opposing party's president, even though the information was incorrect. This bias can lead to stereotypes and prejudice against outgroups.

Question 8

Only when experimental participants were informed that a woman was raped did they perceive the woman's behavior as inviting rape.This best illustrates that victim blaming is fueled by

Accepted Answer

The scenario described in the question is an example of hindsight bias, where people tend to overestimate their ability to predict an outcome once they know it has occurred. In this case, participants were more likely to blame the victim for the rape because they believed that her behavior was somehow responsible for the outcome, even though they had no way of knowing this beforehand.

Question 9

Believing that wealthy people deserve to be robbed because of their ill-gotten gains best illustrates a potential consequence of

Accepted Answer

The just-world phenomenon is the belief that people get what they deserve in life, which can lead to the belief that wealthy people must have obtained their wealth through immoral or unethical means and therefore deserve to be robbed or punished. Outgroup homogeneity refers to the tendency to view members of an outgroup as more similar to each other than members of one's own ingroup, while ingroup bias is the tendency to favor one's own group over other groups. The other-race effect is the tendency to have difficulty recognizing and distinguishing faces of individuals from racial groups different from one's own. None of these concepts specifically address the belief that wealthy people deserve to be robbed due to their wealth.

Question 10

According to the scapegoat theory,prejudice is likely to result from

Accepted Answer

The scapegoat theory suggests that when individuals experience frustration or negative emotions, they may direct their anger and blame towards a group of people who are perceived as different or inferior. This can lead to prejudice towards that particular group, as they are seen as the source of the individual's problems or frustrations.

Question 11

White children are better at recognizing White faces than Black faces.This illustrates

Accepted Answer

The statement describes the other-race effect, which is a phenomenon where individuals have better recognition memory for faces of their own race compared to faces of another race. This effect has been demonstrated across various age groups and can contribute to racial biases and stereotypes.

Question 12

Most children believe their school is better than the other schools in town.This best illustrates

Accepted Answer

This is an example of ingroup bias, as the children identify with their own school and hold a more positive view of it compared to other schools in the same town. The just-world phenomenon refers to the belief that people get what they deserve, outgroup homogeneity refers to the tendency to view members of outgroups as more similar to each other than members of ingroups, and scapegoating involves blaming a particular group for problems or issues. None of these options accurately describe the situation.

Question 13

Disparaging or belittling a despised outgroup provides people with a heightened sense of

Accepted Answer

Disparaging or belittling a despised outgroup can make individuals feel superior and boost their own self-esteem. By putting down others, individuals may create an ingroup bias that strengthens their sense of identity and belonging.

Question 14

People tend to perceive the members of an outgroup as ________ one another and the members of an ingroup as ________ one another.

Accepted Answer

This phenomenon is known as the outgroup homogeneity effect, where individuals see members of an outgroup as being more similar to each other than they are to members of their own group (ingroup), which they view as more varied.

Question 15

Twenty Wallonians were arrested for nonviolent crimes,whereas 20 Pireaneans were arrested for violent crimes.The tendency to judge that more crimes were committed by Pireaneans than by Wallonians best illustrates the power of

Accepted Answer

The answer of Twenty Wallonians were arrested for nonviolent crimes,whereas...

Question 16

Neuroscientists have detected implicit prejudice in an emotion-processing center known as the

Accepted Answer

Studies have found that the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure in the brain, is involved in processing emotions including fear and aggression, but also implicit biases towards certain groups.

Question 17

The tendency,after an event has occurred,to overestimate one's ability to have foreseen or predicted the outcome is called

Accepted Answer

Hindsight bias refers to our tendency to overestimate our ability to have predicted an outcome after the event has occurred. We often view the event as more predictable than it actually was before it happened. This bias can lead to an overconfidence in our decision-making abilities and lead us to make faulty judgments in the future.

Question 18

The violent crimes of some group members inflate people's judgments of the crime rate within the entire group because the instances of violent crime are

Accepted Answer

Memorable cases, such as instances of violent crime, tend to stick out in people's minds and can therefore skew their perception of the crime rate within a certain group. This phenomenon is known as the availability heuristic.

Question 19

Which theory most clearly suggests that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame when things go wrong?

Accepted Answer

Scapegoat theory suggests that prejudice serves as an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame when things go wrong. This theory proposes that people who are frustrated or unhappy may vent their anger onto groups that are already disliked or seen as different. In doing so, they can release their frustrations and find someone to blame for their problems.

Question 20

The longer Chinese people have resided in a Western country,the less they exhibit

Accepted Answer

The other-race effect is a phenomenon where people tend to have difficulty distinguishing between individuals of a race different from their own. This is often seen with Western individuals struggling to distinguish between individuals of Asian descent. However, research has shown that the longer an individual from a Chinese background has resided in a Western country, the less they exhibit the other-race effect, meaning they become better at distinguishing between individuals of a different race. Therefore, option C is the correct answer as the longer Chinese people have resided in a Western country, the less they exhibit the other-race effect.

Quiz 12: Social Psychology