Question 1

Imagine you are trying to lose weight by reducing your consumption of desserts.To help you avoid the desserts that you love,you try not to think about them.According to work done on thought suppression,if you are ____,you will actually be more likely to think about the desserts.

Accepted Answer

Research on thought suppression has shown that trying not to think about something can actually increase the frequency of those thoughts, especially when the individual is "cognitively busy" or distracted. Therefore, if the person trying to avoid desserts is busy or distracted, they may be more likely to think about them. The other choices (A, C, D) are not applicable to the situation described.

Question 2

According to Daniel Wegner's theory of thought suppression,two processes are involved in suppressing unwanted thoughts.The ____ process searches for evidence of the unwanted thought; the ____ process attempts to provide a distraction whenever the thought comes to mind.

Accepted Answer

According to Wegner's theory, the two processes involved in suppressing unwanted thoughts are monitoring, which searches for evidence of the unwanted thought, and operating, which attempts to provide a distraction whenever the thought comes to mind. "Monitoring" and "operating" best represent these two processes, respectively.

Question 3

When asked a question during Trivial Pursuit,Sylvia is certain that her answer is correct,even though her teammates disagree.Sylvia cannot be persuaded by her teammates to reconsider how accurate her response is. She is demonstrating the

Accepted Answer

The overconfidence barrier refers to the tendency to have unwarranted confidence in judgments and decisions. Sylvia is displaying this by being convinced that her answer is correct despite her teammates disagreeing with her. She cannot be persuaded to consider that her response may not be accurate. The other options are not relevant in this scenario.

Question 4

The text discusses how counterfactual thinking can be either detrimental or beneficial to people's mental health.Counterfactual thinking can be detrimental because it ____ and beneficial if it ____.

Accepted Answer

Counterfactual thinking can be detrimental if it leads to rumination and prevents people from thinking about anything else, but it can be beneficial if it focuses people on ways they can cope better in the future. Option B is the best choice as it describes the potential benefits of counterfactual thinking, while also acknowledging that it can be harmful in certain circumstances. Options A, C, and D do not fully capture the nuances of the effects of counterfactual thinking on mental health.

Question 5

Recall Victoria Medvec and her colleagues' (1995)study of the emotions experienced by Olympic athletes who won bronze and silver medals.If silver medalists outperformed bronze medalists,why were they less happy?

Accepted Answer

Silver medalists may feel they were just one step away from winning gold, making it easier for them to imagine a different outcome than the one they experienced. Bronze medalists, on the other hand, may be grateful simply to have won a medal and be recognized for their performance. Therefore, even though silver medalists outperformed bronze medalists, they may have been less happy due to their mindset and expectations of winning gold.

Question 6

Which of the following is one way to overcome social cognitive mistakes,as described by your textbook?

Accepted Answer

Considering an opposite point of view can help individuals overcome social cognitive mistakes by allowing them to see different perspectives and challenge their own biases and assumptions. Relying solely on automatic or controlled processes may not always lead to accurate perceptions of social situations, and taking advanced college courses in physics is not relevant to social cognitive processes.

Question 7

A mother who has tragically lost a daughter in a car accident spends her days rehearsing "if onlys": "If only I had made her stay home that night"; "if only she had taken Route 78 instead of Route 22"; "if only I had offered to chauffeur her instead of letting her drive herself." The mother is engaging in the process known as

Accepted Answer

The mother is engaging in counterfactual thinking, which refers to the process of imagining alternative outcomes to the actual events that occurred. In this case, the mother is thinking about how things might have been different if she had made different choices, which is a common reaction for people who are processing a traumatic event. Option B) blaming the victim does not apply because the mother is not blaming her daughter for the accident. Option C) the availability heuristic and option D) the self-fulfilling prophecy also do not apply to this situation.

Question 8

Jason cannot stop thinking about the fact that because he turned in his term paper late,he missed getting an "A" in the class.He repetitively focuses on this negative part of the class; in other words,his counterfactual thinking has turned into ____.

Accepted Answer

Rumination refers to the repetitive focus on negative thoughts and outcomes, which is exactly what Jason is doing by continually thinking about missing out on an "A" in the class.

Question 9

Counterfactual reasoning is like controlled processing in that it is ____,but it can be like automatic processing in that it may be ____.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Counterfactual reasoning is like controlled processing in...

Question 10

Austin cannot stop thinking about a scary accident in which he was involved.These intrusive thoughts are both unpleasant and distracting.When is Austin least likely to think about the accident? When his

Accepted Answer

When Austin's monitoring and operating processes work in tandem, he is actively trying to distract himself from the intrusive thoughts, making it less likely for him to think about the accident.

Question 11

After seeing the movie Fargo,Craig firmly believes that Minnesotans and North Dakotans are the goofiest people in the United States.You believe that Minnesotans and North Dakotans are no goofier than people any place else,and you would like to get Craig to change his judgment.To do this,you might

Accepted Answer

The answer of After seeing the movie Fargo,Craig firmly believes...

Question 12

Barbara is distracted at work because she cannot stop thinking about her upcoming wedding.She decides that the best way to avoid those distracting thoughts is to immerse herself in the multiple demands of her job.Why is this strategy actually counterproductive in suppressing those thoughts of her wedding? Too many cognitive demands

Accepted Answer

Too many cognitive demands are placed on her operating process, which makes it difficult to suppress thoughts of her wedding.

Question 13

Recall that a group of researchers interviewed people who had suffered the loss of a spouse or child.They found that the more ____,the more distress the survivors reported.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Recall that a group of researchers interviewed...

Question 14

The fact that people usually have too much confidence in the accuracy of their judgments is the definition of ____,according to the authors of your text.

Accepted Answer

The term "overconfidence barrier" refers to the tendency for people to be too confident in the accuracy of their judgments, despite the fact that they may be incorrect or biased. This phenomenon can lead to poor decision making and a lack of critical thinking.

Question 15

Based on your reading of Chapter 3 (Social Cognition),who would you predict would be more frustrated: Katie,who missed an "A" by one point,or James,who missed an "A" by five points?

Accepted Answer

Katie would likely be more frustrated because it's easier for her to imagine a scenario where she could have earned just one more point to get an A, making her situation seem almost successful but just out of reach. This concept is related to counterfactual thinking in social cognition, where individuals imagine alternative outcomes that could have happened, often feeling stronger emotions about situations that were close to a different outcome.

Question 16

Elmer was trying desperately to forget about his embarrassing experience at the bar over the weekend. According to the authors of your text,Elmer is engaging in

Accepted Answer

Elmer is engaging in thought suppression, which involves actively trying to push unwanted thoughts or memories out of consciousness.

Question 17

Kayla has been under a lot of stress from school,her sorority,her friends,and her significant other.According to information about thought suppression and mental health,how should Kayla deal with the stress?

Accepted Answer

According to research on thought suppression and mental health, trying to suppress thoughts about stressors can actually result in increased stress and negative emotions. Instead, it is recommended to talk about the stressors with a supportive friend, which can help to reduce the negative impact of stress on mental health. Distraction (option B) can also be helpful in the short-term, but it may not address the underlying stressors and can lead to avoidance behaviors in the long-term. Keeping it to oneself and getting busier (option D) can increase stress and burnout. Relying on a monitoring process (option A) may be helpful in identifying triggers of stress, but it is not a complete solution for managing stress.

Question 18

In Wegner's theory on the consequences,the "ironic" process is the ____ process because ____.

Accepted Answer

In Wegner's theory, the "ironic" process is the monitoring process because it makes one think about what one doesn't want to think about. This is because when one consciously tries to suppress certain thoughts, the mind actually ends up focusing on those thoughts, leading to their increased occurrence in the mind. This is known as the ironic process. So, option B is the best choice as it explains the concept of the ironic process in Wegner's theory.

Question 19

Research on the health consequences of thought suppression suggests that spending effort suppressing thoughts is ____ to our physical health and ____ to our psychological health.

Accepted Answer

Research indicates that thought suppression can lead to increased stress and anxiety, which are detrimental to both physical and psychological health.

Question 20

In which ways is counterfactual thinking a controlled process? It is

Accepted Answer

The answer of In which ways is counterfactual thinking a...

Quiz 3: Social Cognition: How We Think About the Social World

Imagine you are trying to lose weight by reducing your consumption of desserts.To help you avoid the desserts that you love,you try not to think about them.According to work done on thought suppression,if you are ____,you will actually be more likely to think about the desserts.

According to Daniel Wegner's theory of thought suppression,two processes are involved in suppressing unwanted thoughts.The process searches for evidence of the unwanted thought; the process attempts to provide a distraction whenever the thought comes to mind.

When asked a question during Trivial Pursuit,Sylvia is certain that her answer is correct,even though her teammates disagree.Sylvia cannot be persuaded by her teammates to reconsider how accurate her response is. She is demonstrating the

The text discusses how counterfactual thinking can be either detrimental or beneficial to people's mental health.Counterfactual thinking can be detrimental because it and beneficial if it .

Recall Victoria Medvec and her colleagues' (1995) study of the emotions experienced by Olympic athletes who won bronze and silver medals.If silver medalists outperformed bronze medalists,why were they less happy?

Which of the following is one way to overcome social cognitive mistakes,as described by your textbook?

Jason cannot stop thinking about the fact that because he turned in his term paper late,he missed getting an "A" in the class.He repetitively focuses on this negative part of the class; in other words,his counterfactual thinking has turned into ____.

Counterfactual reasoning is like controlled processing in that it is ,but it can be like automatic processing in that it may be .