Question 1

Recall that Jon Jecker and David Landy (1969)conducted an experiment in which some participants were asked by the experimenter to return monetary compensation to him,while others were asked by the department secretary to return the money to a fund,and still others received no such request for the return of their compensation.Participants who were approached by the experimenter evaluated him better than did participants in the other two experimental conditions.These findings support the notion of

Accepted Answer

The findings that participants who returned the compensation to the experimenter evaluated him better support the Ben Franklin effect, which suggests that doing a favor for someone can lead to increased liking of that person.

Question 2

Too late,your neighbor discovered that he couldn't flush his toilet.He has asked you to come help him unstop his plugged toilet.It's not a task that you look forward to,but you come over to help.Based on the psychology of insufficient justification,you'd be most likely to change your attitudes about fixing broken plumbing if you helped

Accepted Answer

The answer of Too late,your neighbor discovered that he couldn't...

Question 3

The Ben Franklin effect would predict that you would most like someone ____,whereas behaviorist theories would predict that you would most like someone ____.

Accepted Answer

The Ben Franklin effect suggests that doing a favor for someone increases liking for that person, whereas behaviorist theories focus on reinforcement and punishment. Doing a favor for someone would be seen as a positive reinforcement, which would increase liking according to behaviorist principles.

Question 4

Based on the Ben Franklin effect,you are most likely to increase your liking for Tony when

Accepted Answer

According to the Ben Franklin effect, people tend to like those whom they have done a favor for. Therefore, if you lend Tony $10, he may become more likable to you because you have benefitted him in some way.

Question 5

According to the authors of your text,using ____ rewards or punishments leads to longer lasting attitude change than using ____ rewards or punishments.

Accepted Answer

Using smaller rewards or punishments leads to longer-lasting attitude change than using larger rewards or punishments. This is because smaller incentives require individuals to internally justify their behavior, leading to more enduring attitude change.

Question 6

Recall that Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues (1965)had army reservists eat fried grasshoppers,allegedly as part of a research project on survival foods.Reservists who ____ liked the grasshoppers more.

Accepted Answer

The study found that participants who ate grasshoppers at the request of a stern, unpleasant officer liked them more due to cognitive dissonance, as they had to justify their actions to themselves.

Question 7

Imagine that you have just moved into a house with four other people.One of your housemates,Tony,doesn't seem to like you all that much.If you were to make use of the Ben Franklin effect,what can you do to increase Tony's liking for you?

Accepted Answer

The Ben Franklin effect suggests that doing a favor for someone can actually increase their liking for you, even if they didn't like you before. Asking Tony for a small favor like a ride to the grocery store may make him feel more positively toward you as he has done something for you. Option A may come across as too intrusive and option B may seem insincere. Option D may make Tony feel like his opinion doesn't matter to you.

Question 8

When a neighbor asks if he can borrow your chemistry textbook and you do him this favor,dissonance theory would predict that you will like him more due to the Ben Franklin effect,which works because

Accepted Answer

Dissonance theory predicts that we experience discomfort when our beliefs and behaviors conflict, and we seek to reduce this discomfort by justifying our actions to ourselves. In this case, lending the chemistry textbook is a behavior that conflicts with any negative beliefs or feelings we may have had towards the neighbor. Thus, we may internally justify our behavior by convincing ourselves that we actually like the neighbor more than we thought. This is known as the Ben Franklin effect.

Question 9

Based on information provided by your text,external justification is to ____ as internal justification is to ____.

Accepted Answer

External justification is when an individual’s behavior is motivated by receiving a reward or avoiding punishment, which is a temporary change. Internal justification, on the other hand, is when an individual’s behavior is motivated by an internal belief or attitude, leading to lasting change.

Question 10

Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy once wrote,"We do not love people so much for the good they have done us as for the good we have done them." This quote is most closely related to the concept of

Accepted Answer

The quote by Tolstoy is describing the Ben Franklin effect, which suggests that we come to like someone more not because they have done something good for us, but because we have done something good for them. This effect is named after an incident in which Ben Franklin asked to borrow a rare book from a political opponent, and after the opponent granted the request, Franklin found himself liking the opponent more than before.

Question 11

An anecdote in your text describes a dialogue between a soldier from the Vietnam War and Aronson,who was shocked by this veteran's view of the Vietnamese as "not fully human." What is the reason that Aronson suggests explains why this veteran dehumanized the Vietnamese?

Accepted Answer

Aronson suggests that the veteran dehumanized the Vietnamese to alleviate his guilt for harming innocent people during the war. This is a common defense mechanism called "diffusion of responsibility," in which individuals avoid taking full responsibility for their actions by dehumanizing their victims.

Question 12

____ refers to long-lasting attitude change that arises from attempts to reduce cognitive dissonance.

Accepted Answer

Self-persuasion refers to the process of attempting to reduce cognitive dissonance by convincing oneself that the dissonant belief or behavior is correct or acceptable. This can lead to long-lasting attitude change, as the individual has actively worked to convince themselves of the new belief or behavior. The other options (self-verification, self-focused attention, and self-esteem maintenance) do not involve attempts to reduce cognitive dissonance.

Question 13

Jan and Michelle would both like to ride a motorcycle.Jan's parents explicitly prohibit her from riding a motorcycle and tell her that she'll be grounded should she choose to disobey them.Michelle's parents express their concern for her safety and tell her that they would be very disappointed if she decided to take a ride.According to dissonance theory,two months after the warnings,who would be more likely to ride a motorcycle if given the opportunity?

Accepted Answer

According to dissonance theory, when individuals experience cognitive dissonance (e.g. holding two conflicting beliefs or behaviors), they are motivated to reduce the discomfort by changing one of those beliefs or behaviors. In this scenario, Jan's parents explicitly prohibited her from riding a motorcycle, creating a dissonance between her desire to ride one and her obedience to her parents. If given the opportunity, Jan would be more motivated to reduce this dissonance by choosing to ride the motorcycle and justifying her behavior (e.g. "I wanted to experience riding a motorcycle despite my parents' rules"). On the other hand, Michelle's parents expressed their concern and disappointment, which may result in her deciding not to ride the motorcycle to reduce the dissonance between her desire to ride and the potential disappointment of her parents.

Question 14

The new governor hires you to devise a plan to stop bullying in the schools.Based on the principle of insufficient punishment,what might be a good way to punish bullies?

Accepted Answer

Option D is the best choice as it is based on the principle of insufficient punishment. Mild punishment that barely gets the bully to stop the behavior should be given to be consistent. This approach is effective as it reinforces that bullying is not acceptable without escalating the punishment to more severe consequences, which may not be effective in correcting the behavior. Additionally, this approach allows for the development of a positive relationship between the teacher and the student, which will give the student space to express their grievances and talk about their situation.

Question 15

A mother is trying to get her child to behave in the store and to stop running around,yelling,and grabbing things off the shelves.According to cognitive dissonance theory,if she wants to stop the child's behavior immediately for the time being,she should use a ____,but if she wants to more permanently change the behavior she should use a ____.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A mother is trying to get her...

Question 16

In a variation of the "forbidden toy" experiment by Elliot Aronson and J.Merrill Carlsmith (1963),Jonathan Freedman (1965)issued mild and severe threats to prevent children from playing with a very attractive battery-powered robot.Several weeks later,a woman came to the school,allegedly to administer tests to the children.When she left the room to score the tests,children were left alone with the robot and other less attractive toys.Almost 80 percent of the children who were issued severe threats by Freedman played with the robot; only 30 percent of those children issued mild threats succumbed to temptation.This experiment is noteworthy because it demonstrated that

Accepted Answer

The experiment showed that mild threats, which provide less external justification, led to more internalization and long-lasting attitude change, as fewer children played with the robot later.

Question 17

The Ben Franklin effect is named for an incident in which Ben Franklin

Accepted Answer

The Ben Franklin effect refers to a psychological phenomenon in which we come to like people for whom we do favors. The incident referred to is when Franklin purposefully asked a favor of a rival in the Pennsylvania Assembly who had previously treated him coldly. After the rival did the favor, he became friendly towards Franklin.

Question 18

Michael and Pam are friends,but have never dated.Michael wants to ask Pam out on a date,with the hope that she will think of him as more than just a friend.Based on research on external justification and dissonance theory,under which of the following conditions will Pam like Michael the most?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Michael and Pam are friends,but have never...

Question 19

Why does self-persuasion work better than being lectured by other people to behave in a certain way?

Accepted Answer

Self-persuasion works better than being lectured by other people because it takes place internally and involves convincing yourself of something. This makes it more personalized and meaningful, leading to longer-lasting behavior change. Unlike being lectured, self-persuasion is a conscious process that the individual engages in, making it more effective in creating behavior change.

Question 20

Recall that Jon Jecker and David Landy (1969)conducted an experiment in which some participants were asked by the experimenter to return the monetary compensation they had received as a special favor to him,while others were asked by the department secretary to return the money as a favor to the psychology department,and still others received no such request for the return of their compensation.The researchers found that participants who were approached by the experimenter evaluated him better than did participants in the other two experimental conditions.Why?

Accepted Answer

This phenomenon is known as cognitive dissonance, which is a feeling of discomfort when our actions do not align with our beliefs or values. By returning the compensation as a favor, participants in the first experimental condition justified their behavior by believing that they were doing a favor for the experimenter rather than returning the compensation solely because they felt guilty about receiving too much money. This, in turn, led them to evaluate the experimenter more positively.

Quiz 6: The Need to Justify Our Actions: the Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction

The Ben Franklin effect would predict that you would most like someone ,whereas behaviorist theories would predict that you would most like someone .