Unit 14 - Test Answers

Which of the following would be the best advice to give parents who are concerned about the frequent aggressive outbursts of their 6-year-old son?

"Make a point of rewarding and praising your son whenever he is socially cooperative and altruistic."

Which of the following comments is most likely to be made in a group characterized by groupthink?

"We all seem to be in basic agreement, so there's no sense in continuing our discussion of this issue."

Vince, an extraverted university freshman, has just moved into a dormitory. Vince is most likely to become friends with

Bill, his assigned roommate who is majoring in computer science.

Which of the following is most clearly supported by research on social attraction?

Birds of a feather flock together.

Joie, age 19, is a Black female high school junior. Research on how we categorize social information suggests that Joie is most likely to believe that most

Chinese people tend to look pretty much alike.

How does the presence of observers affect a person's performance?

It improves performance on easy tasks and hinders a person's performance on difficult tasks.

The value of social conformity is most likely to be emphasized in

Japan.

Which of the following persons is most clearly acting aggressively?

a child who tries to hit another child with a rock

Pablo and Sabina argued bitterly about which of them should have use of the family car that night. Neither realized, however, that Sabina needed the car only in the early evening and that Pablo needed it only in the late evening. Pablo and Sabina's failure to resolve their argument for their mutual benefit illustrates a failure to develop

a win-win solution.

Cultural diversity best illustrates our

adaptive capacities.

The fundamental attribution error is most likely to lead observers to conclude that unemployed people

are irresponsible and unmotivated.

Social loafing is MOST likely to occur among

audience members who are asked to applaud after a speaker is introduced.

Anton is the only juror to favor acquittal on a murder trial. To influence the majority, he should

be self-confident and consistent in expressing his viewpoint.

During a test, Abe impulsively copied several answers from a nearby student's paper. He felt very uncomfortable about having done this until he convinced himself that copying answers is not wrong if classmates are careless enough to expose their test sheets. Which theory best explains why Abe adopted this new attitude?

cognitive dissonance theory

Explicit attitudes are typically ________, whereas implicit attitudes are often ________.

conscious; unconscious

When New York University women were dressed in Ku Klux Klan-style hoods, they demonstrated significantly more aggression. This finding is best explained in terms of

deindividuation

A vivid example of a North Korean's behavior has an unusually strong influence on people's judgments of all North Koreans primarily because people

estimate the frequency of group characteristics in terms of the memorability of these characteristics.

Solomon Asch reported that individuals conformed to a group's judgment of the lengths of lines

even when the group judgment was clearly incorrect.

A gap between modest goal attainments and very high goal expectations is most likely to trigger

frustration

Research on physical attractiveness indicates that men are more likely than women to

judge members of the opposite sex as more attractive if they have a youthful appearance.

Our explanations of our own admirable actions are ________ likely to involve situational attributions than our explanations of our own shameful actions. Our explanations of our own actions performed long ago are ________ likely to involve dispositional attributions than our explanations of our own very recent actions.

less; more

In most desegregated schools, ethnic groups resegregate themselves in the lunchrooms. People in each group often think they would welcome more contact with the other group, but they assume that the other group does not reciprocate the wish. This pattern of thinking best illustrates

mirror-image perceptions.

Mrs. Crane frequently thinks she has to shout at her husband to get his attention, but he thinks she yells because she's angry. Mr. Crane typically feels he has to shout back at his wife to defend himself, but she thinks his screaming proves that he's hostile. This couple's experience best illustrates

mirror-image perceptions.

After a month of watching violent pornographic movies on late-night cable TV, Myron will probably be

more likely to interpret a woman's friendliness as sexual interest.

Instead of providing arguments in favor of a political candidate, ads may build political support by associating pictures of the candidate with emotion-evoking music and images. This strategy best illustrates

peripheral route persuasion.

A dispositional attribution is to ________ as a situational attribution is to ________.

personality traits; assigned roles

What determined whether college freshmen who had been randomly paired for a Welcome Week dance liked each other?

physical attractiveness

Two social norms that influence altruistic behavior are

reciprocity and social responsibility.

Ever since he lost his job because he was constantly late for work, Richard has become increasingly hostile toward the "government bureaucrats who are leading the country toward bankruptcy." Richard's increasing prejudice is best explained in terms of

scapegoat theory.

Katya donated money to a religious charity in order to boost her own feelings of self-esteem. Jennifer failed to contribute to the same charity because she was fearful of running out of money. Differences in their altruistic behavior are best explained in terms of

social exchange theory.

Ingroup bias best illustrates the impact of our ________ on prejudice.

social identities

Youths who are shunned and mocked by peers are especially likely to respond with aggression if they have earlier experienced

social rejection.

Arturo believes that most young women from California are extremely good looking and that extremely good-looking women are usually selfish and egotistical. His beliefs are examples of

stereotypes

In Milgram's obedience experiments, "teachers" exhibited a somewhat lower level of compliance with an experimenter's orders when

the experiment was not associated with a prestigious institution like Yale University.

Cognitive dissonance theory is most helpful for understanding

the foot-in-the-door phenomenon.

To help people avoid social traps, psychologists should promote an increased awareness of

the social-responsibility norm.

While driving his girlfriend to work, Nate narrowly avoided a collision with another vehicle. Moments later, he experienced an unusually warm glow of affection for his girlfriend. His romantic reaction is best explained in terms of

the two-factor theory of emotion.