PSY 226 Chapter 3: Social Cognition

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 A) When his monitoring and operating processes work in tandem. B) When his operating process continues, and his monitoring process shuts down. C) When his operating and controlled processes work in tandem. D) When his monitoring process continues, and his operating process shuts down. E) When his automatic and monitoring processes work in tandem.

A) When his monitoring and operating processes work in tandem.

Which of the following can be considered good examples of schemas? A) stereotypes B) counterfactuals C) base rate information D) heuristics E) priming

A) stereotypes

In trying to decide which of two classmates is smarter, you use the rule, "the faster people talk, the smarter they are," and you choose the classmate who talks faster. You have applied a _______ to decide who is smarter. A) self-fulfilling prophecy B) fundamental attribution C) decoding bias D) correspondence bias E) judgmental heuristic

E) judgmental heuristic

When Marsha is giving her friends advice on dating, her decisions and advice are often simplistic and inaccurate. However, when Marsha is deciding for herself whom to date and how to handle her own relationships, she is a more complex thinker and her judgments are more accurate. This example illustrates the influence of _______ on social thinking. A) unconscious processing B) flexibility C) personal experience D) perspective-taking E) motivation

E) motivation

People are most likely to use judgmental heuristics when A) they have all of the relevant facts. B) they confront a simple "yes-no" decision. C) they are motivated to seek out all relevant facts. D) a lot rides on making the correct decision. E) pre-existing schemas are inappropriate.

E) pre-existing schemas are inappropriate.

Adele is from France, where rabbits are eaten regularly. She can tell you the most tender part of the rabbit, how long to cook one, and how big a rabbit you would need to feed five people. Marsha is from the United States, where rabbits are pets, and bring coloured eggs to children in the spring. She hasn't a clue about how to cook one, even if she wanted to. This example best illustrates A) the representativeness. B) that rabbits are ambiguous stimuli. C) individual differences in the contents of schemas. D) the universality of schemas. E) the cultural determinants of schemas.

E) the cultural determinants of schemas.

A major problem with schemas is that A) they take a long time to learn. B) they are more often wrong than right. C) we rely on them too much. D) they allow us to "fill in the gaps" and interpret ambiguous information. E) they operate automatically, making it difficult for us to know when we're using them.

E) they operate automatically, making it difficult for us to know when we're using them.

_______ processing is nonconscious, effortless, and unintentional, whereas _______ processing is conscious, effortful, and intentional. A) Biased; accurate B) Automatic; controlled C) Logical; illogical D) Illogical; logical E) Controlled; automatic

B) Automatic; controlled

Your roommate is interested in dating Carlotta, a woman you know from a history class. Your roommate asks if you think Carlotta is generally a considerate person. You remember how Carlotta lent you her notes when you missed class last week, and tell your roommate you think Carlotta is very considerate. In making your judgment, you have relied upon the _______ heuristic. A) anchoring and adjustment B) availability C) representativeness D) descriptive E) base rate

B) availability

When thinking about the film Casablanca, many people erroneously remember the Humphrey Bogart line, "Play it again, Sam." In reality, Bogart never said that line. This example illustrates that memory is A) objective. B) reconstructive. C) random. D) regularly false. E) inconsistent with our schemas.

B) reconstructive.

The _______ heuristic refers to the mental shortcut whereby people classify a person or thing based on how similar it appears to the typical case. A) base-rate B) representativeness C) anchoring and adjustment D) availability E) counterfactual

B) representativeness

Psychologists distinguish between two types of cognitive processing. _______ processing is nonconscious and unintentional, whereas _______ processing is conscious and intentional. A) Inefficient; efficient B) Controlled; automatic C) Automatic; controlled D) Accurate; inaccurate E) efficient; inefficient

C) Automatic; controlled

At an outdoor concert, Julian automatically applies his "pot-smoker" schema when he sees a young man with long hair, sandals, and a Grateful Dead T-shirt. He offers the man a joint, and is arrested by an undercover narcotics officer. From a social- psychological perspective, what is the moral to this story? A) It is very difficult to ignore atypical information completely. B) It's not advisable to use schemas in interpreting the social world. C) Efficient information processing often comes at a cost in accuracy. D) Never trust anyone wearing a Grateful Dead T-shirt. E) In everyday life, most people want their experiences to be atypical.

C) Efficient information processing often comes at a cost in accuracy.

When people classify a stimulus based on how similar it appears to the typical case, they are using the _______ heuristic. A) correspondence B) availability C) representativeness D) exemplar E) hindsight

C) representativeness

Recall that Harold Kelley (1950) told some students that a guest instructor was warm, and others that a guest instructor was cold. When the instructor behaved in an arrogant way, he was rated as immodest, no matter what students were told about him at the outset. These findings suggest that A) schemas are specific to the situation in which we find ourselves. B) when we dislike someone, we don't give that person the benefit of the doubt. C) when behaviours are decidedly unambiguous, we rely less on our schemas. D) in tense situations, we seldom rely on our schemas. E) schemas are completely malleable.

C) when behaviours are decidedly unambiguous, we rely less on our schemas.

So much research has been dedicated to automatic thinking because A) it helps us make important decisions. B) it allows us to think deliberately about the social environment. C) automatic thinking takes over from controlled thinking when unusual events occur. D) it is pervasive and dominates much of people's mental life. E) it helps researchers understand counterfactual thinking.

D) it is pervasive and dominates much of people's mental life.

Michelle has worked on a psychiatric unit for three years. On the way home from work one day, she encounters a man who gestures wildly and talks to himself while he stands at the bus stop. Michelle thinks to herself, "That poor guy must be psychotic. He should be on medication." This example illustrates that ________ can increase the accessibility of traits. A) unusual situations B) random thoughts C) implicit personality theories D) past experience E) norms

D) past experience

Which mental shortcut does the text suggest causes the Barnum effect? A) the judgmental heuristic B) the availability heuristic C) the base rate information D) the representativeness heuristic E) the cocktail party phenomenon

D) the representativeness heuristic

_______ are to structure as _______ are to process. A) Decision rules; schemas B) Decision rules; judgments C) Judgments; schemas D) Heuristics; schemas E) Schemas; heuristics

E) Schemas; heuristics

Carole has a subtle "Mona Lisa" smile that is much harder to detect than an obvious toothy grin. Assume that before you met Carole, a mutual friend described her as warm and friendly. The first time Carole smiled at you, you would probably conclude that she is A) bored talking to you. B) shy. C) a cool, aloof person. D) very hard to read. E) a friendly person.

E) a friendly person.

Among the features of an analytic thinking style is A) a focus on objects. B) a focus on context. C) concern with the relationship between objects. D) greater cortical activity when paying attention to objects. E) efficient information searching strategies.

A) a focus on objects.

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 A) are placed on her operating process. B) increase controlled processing. C) increase monitoring processing. D) are placed on her monitoring process. E) halt automatic processing.

A) are placed on her operating process.

You stayed up all night cramming for an examination and didn't do as well as you had hoped. "If only I had started studying sooner and gotten a good night's rest, I'd have done much better," you think to yourself. You have just engaged in A) counterfactual thinking. B) self-justification. C) wish fulfillment. D) the hindsight bias. E) unrealistic fantasy.

A) counterfactual thinking.

In short, counterfactual thinking can be described as A) mentally reconstructing the past. B) one of the most rational responses to an undesirable outcome. C) putting a positive spin on things to enhance self-esteem. D) thinking about how things couldn't have turned out differently. E) avoiding thinking of things that may damage self-esteem.

A) mentally reconstructing the past.

You and your friend have a big assignment due today in your English class. You ask how your friend's paper turned out, and he mentions that he hasn't yet gotten around to writing it. Shocked, you ask him what he's going to tell the professor. He replies, "Oh, it won't be a problem. All female professors are pushovers; she'll let me turn the paper in next week." You tell your friend that you don't think all female professors are pushovers, but he doesn't seem worried. His conviction that his reasoning is correct is called the A) overconfidence barrier. B) motivational effect. C) arrogance barrier. D) perseverance effect. E) testosterone effect.

A) overconfidence barrier.

Why might taking a statistics course help you become more complex and accurate in your social judgments? Such a course teaches the skills needed by a(n) A) scientist. B) social worker. C) cognitive miser. D) motivated tactician. E) accurate tactician.

A) scientist.

Richard and his friend Henry are watching a movie. Henry's background is East Asian Canadian while Richard's background is European Canadian. Based on research in Chapter 3, which aspects of the movie is Richard likely to notice more than Henry? A) Background interaction between movie extras. B) Details of the hero's appearance. C) The scenery through which the hero is travelling. D) The storyline of the movie. E) The credits at the end of the movie.

B) Details of the hero's appearance.

Recall Victoria Medvec and her colleagues' (1995) study of the emotions experienced by Olympic athletes who won bronze and silver medals. If silver medalists out-performed bronze medalists, why were they less happy? A) There is a positive correlation between talent and competitiveness. B) It was easier for silver medalists to imagine winning the gold medal. C) Bronze medalists were grateful simply to have the opportunity to compete. D) Silver medalists had their sights set on gold, as do most "favoured" competitors. E) Bronze medalists did not think they were going to win anything.

B) It was easier for silver medalists to imagine winning the gold medal.

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? A) Katie, because she and James studied together. B) Katie, because it's easier for her to imagine getting one more test item right. C) James, because he knew how close Katie was to an "A." D) James, because he and Katie studied together. E) James, because it's harder for him to imagine an alternative outcome.

B) Katie, because it's easier for her to imagine getting one more test item right.

Which metaphor best represents the view of people as good, but not infallible, thinkers? A) Social thinkers are cognitive misers. B) Social thinkers are flawed scientists. C) Social thinkers are biased tacticians. D) Social thinkers are accurate statisticians. E) Social thinkers are practical theorists.

B) Social thinkers are flawed scientists.

You were supposed to make an important presentation at work, but you overslept and the bus was late, so you missed the meeting. If you are able to generate many ways in which to "undo" this terrible outcome you will experience _______ emotional reaction. A) a mild B) a strong C) an incapacitating D) no E) an irrational

B) a strong

Counterfactual thinking is A) unrealistic. B) conscious and effortful. C) voluntary and intentional. D) realistic. E) unconscious.

B) conscious and effortful.

Feeling lonely and sorry for himself, Jerry moans, "If only I hadn't gotten drunk and made a fool of myself on my date with Mary, she and I would now be happily married." According to the text, Jerry is engaging in A) ironic processing. B) counterfactual thinking. C) delusions of adequacy. D) self-improvement. E) wishful thinking.

B) counterfactual thinking.

Getting trapped in one's thoughts about unpleasant events and an inability to move on from them is a risk of A) the accessibility heuristic. B) counterfactual thinking. C) the availability heuristic. D) the self-fulfilling prophecy. E) the representativeness heuristic.

B) counterfactual thinking.

Marius doesn't often experience the overconfidence barrier because he A) is a physician. B) has taken two courses in research design and statistics. C) is a law school student. D) has been a victim of discrimination. E) is an older person.

B) has taken two courses in research design and statistics.

In a study by Hedden and colleagues (2008) examining brain activity, East Asian and European Americans underwent an fMRI while focusing on either a target or the context of a picture. In which circumstances did European Americans show greater attention? A) when asked to attend to the target B) when asked to attend to the context C) when asked to ignore the context D) when in a room with many other people E) when in a room alone

B) when asked to attend to the context

Of the heuristics below, the use of _______ is most likely to have negative emotional consequences. A) the representativeness heuristic B) the availability heuristic C) counterfactual thinking D) the base rate fallacy E) anchoring and adjustment heuristic

C) counterfactual thinking

Recall that Christopher Davis and his colleagues (1995) interviewed people who had suffered the loss of a spouse or child. They found that the more ____________, the more distress the survivors reported. A) recent B) unpreventable the deaths were perceived to be C) easily they could imagine how the death could have been prevented D) vivid the survivors' memories of the death E) violent the cause of death

C) easily they could imagine how the death could have been prevented

In a study by Hedden and colleagues (2008) examining brain activity, East Asian and European Americans underwent an fMRI while focusing on either a target or the context of a picture. When asked to focus on the context of a picture, European Americans' ________ regions of the brain were more active. A) occipital B) limbic C) frontal and parietal D) temporal E) lateral

C) frontal and parietal

It is _______ to miss a bus by five minutes than to miss it by an hour because _______. A) more distressing; images of the people waiting for you are more available in memory B) less distressing; you feel good that you almost made it C) more distressing; it's easier to imagine what you might have done to catch the bus D) less distressing; it's easier to imagine what you might have done to catch the bus E) less distressing; you don't have to wait as long for the next bus

C) more distressing; it's easier to imagine what you might have done to catch the bus

After seeing the movie Fargo, Craig firmly believes that Minnesotans are the goofiest people in the United States. You believe that Minnesotans are no goofier than people any place else, and you would like to get Craig to change his judgment. To do this, you might A) tell him to stop being irrational. B) ask him to watch the film again. C) tell him that he needs a law school course. D) ask him to consider the opposite point of view. E) ask him to think more carefully about his judgment.

D) ask him to consider the opposite point of view.

Holistic thinking is to ________ as analytic thinking is to ________. A) automatic; controlled B) priming; heuristics C) linear; circular D) context; object E) inefficient; efficient

D) context; object

In a study by Hedden and Colleagues (2008) East Asian Americans showed greater cortical activity when instructed to ________, whereas European Americans showed greater cortical activity when instructed to ________. A) ignore objects; attend to objects B) think holistically; think analytically C) think automatically; think carefully D) ignore context; attend to context E) attend to context; ignore context

D) ignore context; attend to context

According to research conducted by Richard Nisbett and his colleagues (1983, 1986, 1987), how might you improve your social reasoning? Take a(n) _______ course. A) history B) economics C) chemistry D) statistics E) biology

D) statistics

When Jana was chiding herself for losing her favorite necklace and reciting a list of all the things she could have done to prevent the loss, her grandmother said, "Now, Jana. Don't cry over spilled milk." In essence, Jana's grandmother was advising her to A) avoid the hindsight bias. B) use base rates rather than the representativeness heuristic. C) avoid the self-fulfilling prophecy. D) stop engaging in counterfactual thinking. E) adjust her judgment farther away from the anchor.

D) stop engaging in counterfactual thinking.

Tom and Julius are both in line for a movie, but it sells out before either of them can get tickets. Tom is the last person in line, but Julius is directly behind the person who got the last ticket. Based on the idea of counterfactual reasoning, why will Julius be more upset than Tom? A) Julius got there earlier than Tom did, so he felt he deserved to see the movie. B) Julius wanted to see the movie more than Tom did. C) Julius may have let someone stand in line in front of him. D) Julius won't be more upset than Tom. E) It was easier for Julius to imagine how he could have gotten a ticket.

E) It was easier for Julius to imagine how he could have gotten a ticket.

Alyssa and Sara both had their wallets stolen out of their shopping carts at the grocery store. Alyssa always keeps her wallet in her cart when she shops. Sara, however, usually keeps her wallet in a purse, which she holds close to her at all times. The day Sara had her wallet stolen she'd been in a hurry and had just grabbed her wallet and dumped it into the cart. Who would experience more counterfactual thoughts after the theft, Alyssa or Sara? A) Neither would experience counterfactual thinking. B) Alyssa. C) Both would experience about the same amount of counterfactual thinking. D) It is impossible to say. E) Sara.

E) Sara.

Compared to those in Western cultures, those in East Asian cultures have a more ________ style of thinking. A) analytic B) automatic C) controlled D) schematic E) holistic

E) holistic

Assume that the winning lottery ticket was purchased at the convenience store just around the corner from your house. According to research on counterfactual thinking, you would probably feel worse than if the winning ticket had been purchased in another city, because A) it would be easy to imagine all the wonderful things you could do with the prize. B) you would assume that the local winner is similar to you. C) you could easily remember what it was like to struggle to make every penny count. D) you would be reminded of your loss whenever you see the store. E) you could think back on a dozen opportunities that you had to buy the winning ticket, but didn't.

E) you could think back on a dozen opportunities that you had to buy the winning ticket, but didn't.

________ refer(s) to the way people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions about themselves and others. A) Counterfactual thinking B) Social cognition C) Automatic thinking D) Schemas E) Decision rules

B) Social cognition

The shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that people use to make judgments and decisions quickly and efficiently are called A) judgmental heuristics. B) functional cognitions. C) cultural truisms. D) structural equations. E) rationalizations.

A) judgmental heuristics.

A teenager wants to borrow the family car to go to an out-of-town concert. Her parents resist the idea. The teenager in question is most likely to view her parents as stubborn and unreasonable when they say to her, A) "Tell us again what you would do if the car broke down." B) "Give us one reason why we shouldn't worry ourselves to death." C) "How many other friends are going with you?" D) "Give us five reasons why you should be allowed to borrow the car." E) "Give us ten reasons you should be allowed to borrow the car."

B) "Give us one reason why we shouldn't worry ourselves to death."

________ are the cognitive structures we use to organize our knowledge of the social world. A) Social roles B) Schemas C) Heuristics D) Social cognitions E) Internal attributions

B) Schemas

What have a number of research studies on the self-fulfilling prophecy revealed? A) Schema-confirming behaviours are conscious and deliberate. B) Self-fulfilling prophecies are the result of unconscious, inadvertent processes. C) Self-fulfilling prophecies are a result of our desire to "be right." D) Because their job is to assess performance, educators are especially susceptible to the self-fulfilling prophecy. E) Self-fulfilling prophecies cannot have any real impact on our behaviour.

B) Self-fulfilling prophecies are the result of unconscious, inadvertent processes.

According to the authors, there are two ways that traits about others can become accessible. These are A) automatic activity and past experience. B) priming and attitude retrieval. C) past experience and priming. D) attitude retrieval and automatic activity. E) priming and attitude retrieval.

C) past experience and priming.

Melissa, a second-grade student, just finished going over her spelling list for the week. The list contained many adjectives that reflected positive emotions (e.g., happy, elated, delighted). As Melissa gazes out the window, she sees her sister Karin come running up to the house. If Melissa is like many of the participants in an experiment by Tory Higgins and his colleagues (1977), and if Melissa's construal is a function of priming, what is she most likely to think? A) "Mom told Karin not to run." B) "The neighbours must think Karin's crazy." C) "Why is Karin so scared?" D) "Karin must have something great to tell us." E) "I hope Karin is okay."

D) "Karin must have something great to tell us."

Linnea and Latrice have just left the movie theatre after watching Thelma and Louise, a film that chronicles the misadventures of two close friends, one a rape survivor and the other the wife of a piggish husband; they kill a man in self-defense and run from the law. At the end of the movie, Thelma and Louise chose to drive off a cliff rather than surrender to the men who have been pursuing them. As Linnea and Latrice walk through the lobby, every man they encounter looks loutish and threatening to them. This example illustrates the power of ________ in shaping our implicit personality theories. A) personal experience B) personality heuristics C) schematic norms D) priming E) cultural norms

D) priming

Which of the following statements best captures the relation between automatic and controlled processing? A) We look before we leap. B) We jump from the frying pan into the fire. C) We judge a book by it's cover. D) We count our chickens before they hatch. E) We shoot first and ask questions later.

E) We shoot first and ask questions later.

One of the authors of your text supervised an honours student from China who attended a curling championship in Winnipeg. The student was very amused to see people paying so much money to watch "a couple of guys mopping the floor." This story suggests that A) many schemas are common to different cultures. B) some cultures do not use schematic processing. C) different cultural schemas influence what people remember. D) the use of schemas is a human universal, no matter what the culture. E) schema are affected by one's native culture.

E) schema are affected by one's native culture.

Although there are only a few runners on your college track team, you see a woman on campus who has the physique of a runner. You decide that she's a member of the track team. Your conclusion is based on A) the availability heuristic. B) the base rate fallacy. C) base rate information. D) biased sampling. E) the representativeness heuristic.

E) the representativeness heuristic.

According to research by Dijksterhuis (2004), participants who had to choose among four different apartments in a short period of time made the best choice when A) the researcher asked the participant to choose immediately the apartment that they thought was the best. B) the researcher asked the participant to think carefully about the apartments for three minutes and then make a choice. C) the researcher asked participants to go with their "gut feeling". D) the researcher asked participants to reach consensus. E) the researcher gave the participants a distracting task for three minutes and then asked them to make a decision.

E) the researcher gave the participants a distracting task for three minutes and then asked them to make a decision.

What is the major advantage of processing information automatically? A) Automatic processing is more easily remembered than controlled processing. B) Automatic processing is more easily modified than controlled processing. C) It is easier to learn how to process information automatically. D) We can use our cognitive resources for other more important matters. E) Automatic processing yields more accurate judgments than does controlled processing.

D) We can use our cognitive resources for other more important matters.

Why do people often fall prey to the availability heuristic and draw incorrect inferences? A) What looks like the typical case may not be representative of the typical case. B) People are far better at making inferences about themselves than about others. C) People wrongly assume that correlation implies causation. D) What is easily brought to mind may not be typical of the big picture. E) People often ignore base rates.

D) What is easily brought to mind may not be typical of the big picture.

The self-fulfilling prophecy occurs because we often A) work to revise our schemas when necessary. B) distort reality to support our schemas. C) abandon our schemas when we're under pressure. D) act based on our schemas. E) ignore base-rate information.

D) act based on our schemas.

Recall that Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson (1968) informed grade school teachers that some of their students (called "bloomers") would show great academic improvement in the upcoming year. Also recall that students labeled "bloomers" actually showed greater increases on IQ tests, compared to students who were not labeled "bloomers." These differences occurred because teachers A) distracted "non-bloomers" by providing them too much personal attention. B) spent significantly more time interacting with "bloomers." C) decided to devote their attention to the students with the most promise. D) challenged "bloomers" more and gave them more and better feedback. E) ignored "non-bloomers."

D) challenged "bloomers" more and gave them more and better feedback.

When Frederic Bartlett (1932) interviewed both a Scotsman and a Bantu herdsman about the particulars of a cattle transaction, the Scot _______, whereas the Bantu herdsman _______. A) guessed; said that he couldn't remember B) remembered the faces of the traders; remembered the colour of the cattle C) erroneously recalled that sheep were traded; accurately recalled that oxen and cattle were traded D) consulted his notes; recalled details from memory E) guessed; remembered the colour of the cattle

D) consulted his notes; recalled details from memory

If I tell you that someone I know is a man who has a beard, drinks wine, and likes to read poetry, and you guess that he is more likely to be a classics professor than a construction worker, you are A) paying too much attention to base rate information. B) being misled by the availability heuristic. C) probably correct. D) falling victim to the representativeness heuristic. E) probably not familiar with classics professors.

D) falling victim to the representativeness heuristic.

Service agencies seeking donations are more likely to run television ads that show hungry or sick children than they are to show statistics, charts, or graphs that more accurately reflect the plight of children all over the world. Why? A) Research has shown that most viewers believe that it's easy to "lie with statistics." B) Vivid visual images are more available in memory and are more likely to influence decisions about whether to contribute. C) Most people do not understand statistics very well. D) Representative statistics are not available, so producers must rely on unreliable visual samples. E) Nielsen research has revealed that viewers will leave the room unless pictures of children are used.

B) Vivid visual images are more available in memory and are more likely to influence decisions about whether to contribute.

We are most likely to rely on schemas when the situation we confront is A) confusing. B) ambiguous. C) forgettable. D) interesting. E) arousing.

B) ambiguous.

When confronted with "H H H H T T T T T T" as a summary of the results of a series of 10 flips of a coin, most people will view that series as "less random" than a summary of results that looks like "H H T H T T H T H T," even though the odds of a "head" on the next toss is 50/50 in each case. Why? Their estimates have been biased by A) counterfactual thinking. B) the availability heuristic. C) the representativeness heuristic. D) downward counterfactual thinking. E) anchoring and insufficient adjustment.

C) the representativeness heuristic.

Reasoning based on the ease with which we can bring something to mind involves the use of the _______ heuristic. A) representativeness B) availability C) confirmatory D) counterfactual E) base rate

B) availability

Mental structures that organize information in our social world are called A) cognitive filters. B) counterfactuals. C) schemas. D) affect blends. E) heuristics.

C) schemas.

When recent experiences are ________, personality traits become ________, increasing the likelihood that those traits will be used to interpret social stimuli. A) ignored; less accessible B) ignored; more accessible C) automatic; less accessible D) primed; less accessible E) primed; more accessible

E) primed; more accessible

An important function of controlled thinking is to A) increase the efficiency of processing. B) replace automatic processing. C) speed automatic processing. D) precede automatic processing. E) provide a check on automatic processing.

E) provide a check on automatic processing.

Jason assumes that redheads are hot-tempered. When asked whether Linda, a redhead, has a quick temper, Jason replies, "My confident prediction is that she is hot- tempered." Jason has just applied _______ to _______. A) the availability heuristic; the representativeness heuristic B) his schema for redheads; the representativeness heuristic C) the vividness effect; his schema for redheads D) the availability heuristic; his schemas for redheads E) the representativeness heuristic; his schema for redheads

E) the representativeness heuristic; his schema for redheads

When asked to guess whether Mark is from Winnipeg or Toronto, you guess Toronto because more people live in Toronto. You have used _______ in making your decision. A) the availability heuristic B) base rate information C) the representativeness heuristic D) counterfactual thinking E) anchoring and adjustment

B) base rate information

Why do schemas differ from culture to culture? A) Cultures differ in terms of what is important and relevant to the people who live in them. B) In some cultures, it is more important to make quick decisions. C) Life is simpler in nonindustrialized cultures, making schemas less important. D) A good memory is more important in some cultures than in others. E) Survival is more difficult in nomadic cultures, making schemas more important.

A) Cultures differ in terms of what is important and relevant to the people who live in them.

Gitte is writing her term paper with the radio playing in the background. Suddenly she realizes that her name is being spoken on the radio because she won a contest. This is referred to as A) the cocktail party phenomenon. B) non-automatic thinking. C) representative listening. D) intuition. E) conscious processing.

A) the cocktail party phenomenon.

Because a rhino horn looks something like an erect penis, some people believe that crushed rhino horn is an aphrodisiac. A couple decides to try it to spice up their sex life. Their decision is most like A) the representativeness heuristic. B) the noncommon effects heuristic. C) the correspondence bias. D) the availability heuristic. E) counterfactual thinking.

A) the representativeness heuristic.

During the last Canadian election, there was a televised debate among the candidates for Prime Minister. After the debate supporters of each side claimed that their candidate had handily won the debate. The supporters' judgments were probably affected by A) their schemas. B) the hostile media effect. C) a self-fulfilling prophecy. D) the fundamental attribution error. E) the representativeness heuristic.

A) their schemas.

Based on the 2010 study by Callan and colleagues, which of the following responses would be expected if you had been subliminally primed with a legal term (such as "judge" or "lawyer")? A) You would be more likely to worry about expenses. B) You would show more opposition to government policies that were unfavourable to you. C) You would show less competitiveness in games. D) You would be more likely to interpret an ambiguous scenario as having cooperative qualities. E) You would be more likely to follow the rules of the road when driving.

B) You would show more opposition to government policies that were unfavourable to you.

Sometimes when forming impressions of others, we are influenced by the schemas that are in the forefront of our mind. When this happens, social psychologists talk about the role of ________ in colouring our impressions of others. A) the unconscious B) accessibility C) memory D) past experience E) priming

B) accessibility

In Chapter 3, the lesson to be learned from accident victim Kevin Chappell's story is that we can automatically categorize objects and faces A) because of the mere exposure effect. B) allowing processing capacity for other important things. C) because we are particularly interested in faces and objects. D) because of our strong desire to do so. E) because of cognitive biases that influence our perception.

B) allowing processing capacity for other important things.

When the stakes are high and accuracy counts, people are more likely to use _______ strategies and thus to make _______. A) simplistic; more accurate judgments B) sophisticated; more accurate judgments C) sophisticated; slower judgments D) motivated; less accurate judgments E) simplistic; less accurate judgments

B) sophisticated; more accurate judgments

You've rented the movie Sophie's Choice. There is a scene in which Sophie, a recent immigrant from Poland, is both surprised and amused that Americans have so many words for the concept "fast." She reports that in Polish, there is only one word. You've just read Chapter 3 (Social Cognition), and a friend asks you why the cultures differ in that regard. What would you say? A) Americans are generally better educated than Poles. B) Polish has different roots than does English. C) Poles don't have well-developed schemas for the concept "fast." D) English has borrowed more words from foreign languages than Polish has. E) Poles have a relatively limited vocabulary compared to Americans.

C) Poles don't have well-developed schemas for the concept "fast."

According to the text, which of the following statements about judgmental heuristics is false? A) They are examples of automatic rather than controlled processing. B) They are usually adaptive because they help us make decisions when dealing with large amounts of ambiguous information. C) They usually lead us to make faulty decisions. D) They may be most likely to show up in experiments when researchers don't follow rules regarding conversations. E) They allow us to make judgments quickly and efficiently.

C) They usually lead us to make faulty decisions.

Why do we use schemas? A) Schemas are taught to us in our early childhood. B) Schemas enable us to interpret the world accurately. C) Without schemas, the world would seem inexplicable and confusing. D) Humans are born with schemas. E) Without schemas, we could not be accurate in our judgments.

C) Without schemas, the world would seem inexplicable and confusing.

Which of the following is NOT a step in the self-fulfilling prophecy? A) Your behaviour toward someone influences their behaviour toward you. B) The person you have an expectation about actually behaves in a manner that confirms your expectation. C) Your expectation of someone influences your interpretation of their behaviour. D) You ignore information that is not consistent with your expectations. E) Your expectation of someone influences how you behave toward them.

C) Your expectation of someone influences your interpretation of their behaviour.

Korsakov's syndrome is a neurological disorder that makes sufferers unable to form new memories. The world is disorienting and incoherent to patients with this disorder, so they often confabulate or invent fictions to make the world less scary and confusing. A social psychologist might say that these patients A) are not concerned with reducing ambiguity. B) invent schemas where none exist. C) are cursed with memory that is always reconstructive. D) have lost their schemas. E) cannot form schemas.

C) are cursed with memory that is always reconstructive.

Sometimes traits are chronically accessible due to past experience. Other times, traits are accessible for more arbitrary reasons, such as what we're currently thinking. Social psychologists use the term ________ to describe the latter case. A) attributions B) implicit personality theories C) priming D) social retrieval E) accessibility

C) priming

Recall that Norbert Schwarz and his colleagues (1991) asked some participants to think of 6 times they had behaved assertively and asked other participants to think of 12 times they had behaved assertively, and then asked all participants to rate how assertive they thought they really were. Participants who tried to generate 6 examples of assertive behaviours rated themselves as more assertive than did participants who tried to generate 12 examples. Why? A) Participants asked to think of 12 examples didn't have time to complete the experimental task. B) Participants who could generate 12 examples were really more assertive, or else they couldn't come up with the examples. C) Participants who were asked to generate 6 examples were more likely to use the representativeness heuristic. D) Participants asked to generate 6 examples could do so more easily than participants who were asked to generate 12. E) Participants asked to generate 12 examples could do so just as easily than participants who were asked to generate 6.

D) Participants asked to generate 6 examples could do so more easily than participants who were asked to generate 12.

Which of the following statements about schemas is true? A) Schemas affect the information we notice, but only when we are aware of the schema. B) Schemas affect what we perceive while emotional processes are important for determining what we think about and remember. C) Schemas affect what we notice but not necessarily what we remember. D) Schemas affect the information we notice, think about, and remember. E) Schemas affect what we remember while intensity of stimuli determines what we notice.

D) Schemas affect the information we notice, think about, and remember.

Priming and accessibility have greater impact when we interpret a(n) _______ event. A) explicit B) unusual C) certain D) ambiguous E) improbable

D) ambiguous

In most cases, when we encounter a fact that is inconsistent with our schemas, we A) ponder the source of the inconsistency. B) abandon our schemas. C) examine the nature of the inconsistency. D) overlook the inconsistent fact. E) revise our schemas.

D) overlook the inconsistent fact.

Recall that Frederic Bartlett (1932) interviewed both a Scotsman and a Bantu herdsman about the particulars of a cattle transaction. The Bantu herdsman recited from memory many details, but the Scot had to consult his notes. If this difference were the result of the cultural influence on schemas, the Scot would be more likely to notice and remember the _______ than would the Bantu herdsman. A) songs sung at his daughter's wedding B) number on a basketball player's shirt C) day his father died D) plaid pattern on a man's shirt E) colour of the cattle

D) plaid pattern on a man's shirt

The first day of class Maria absolutely loved her new social psychology professor, but Daniel couldn't stand the professor. If their interpretations were influenced by schemas, in all likelihood, Maria had heard ________, whereas Daniel had heard ________. A) nothing about the professor; that the professor was horrible B) that the professor was great; nothing about the professor C) nothing about the professor; that the professor was supposed to be great D) that the professor was great; that the professor was horrible E) that the professor was an introvert; that the professor was an extravert

D) that the professor was great; that the professor was horrible

If accurate judgments are our goal, we should use base rate information instead of the representativeness heuristic when A) base rates are high. B) we have a wealth of information about the person in question. C) base rates are low. D) we don't have a lot of specific information about the person in question. E) the decision is a complicated one.

D) we don't have a lot of specific information about the person in question.

In the study by Kunda, Sinclair, and Griffin (1997), participants were told that a person was either a salesperson or an actor and very extroverted. Participants generated descriptions of the person that A) varied according to the occupation of the person. B) did not differ according to the occupation. C) varied depending on the attractiveness of the person. D) were better remembered when consistent with the occupation of the person. E) were similar to the participant's own personality.

D) were better remembered when consistent with the occupation of the person.

According to the authors, why do people often rely on a variety of mental shortcuts? A) We're inherently flawed in our ability to reason. B) We're more interested in speed than in accuracy when we reason. C) We're motivated to enhance our self-esteem. D) We're not interested in much of the information we take in. E) We're confronted with an overwhelming amount of social information.

E) We're confronted with an overwhelming amount of social information.

Recall Dr. Robert Marion, who was the first physician to correctly diagnose a 9-year- old girl with a rare disease. He explains that "doctors are just like everyone else. We go to the movies, watch TV, read newspapers and novels. If we happen to see a patient who has symptoms of a rare disease that was featured on the previous night's 'Movie of the Week,' we're more likely to consider that condition when making a diagnosis." In essence, Dr. Marion is describing the _______ heuristic. A) representativeness B) primacy C) nonbiased D) counterfactual E) availability

E) availability

Iain is from Australia, where people drive on the left-hand side of the road. When he moved to Canada, his accident rate was higher than any of his friends'. Why might this be? A) Driving schemas differ between Canada and Australia. B) There is less traffic in Australia. C) Iain had no schema for driving behaviours. D) They don't have Driver Education courses in Australia. E) There is no speed limit in Australia.

A) Driving schemas differ between Canada and Australia.

Your roommate questions how charitable you really are. She says to you, "Give me just one example of the last time you gave money to a homeless person." Odds are that her challenge will convince you that you really are a generous person. Based on research by Norbert Schwarz and his colleagues (1991), why is that? A) It's easy to bring to mind one example that supports your self-schema. B) It's easier to think of "factuals" than "counterfactuals." C) Your roommate activated your "generosity" schema. D) You will believe that you donated more money than the average person. E) Homeless people are representative of people who need our help.

A) It's easy to bring to mind one example that supports your self-schema.

You have just arrived for your first year of university, but your roommate, Leah, is nowhere to be found. Your next-door neighbour, Tim, tells you that he's met Leah, and that she's really shy and introverted. If you wanted to counteract the self-fulfilling prophecy, what might you do when you meet Leah? A) Try to get her to talk about fun activities she did in high school. B) Ask her if she is an introvert. C) Be quiet and shy yourself, so as not to intimidate her. D) Ask her what books she's read lately. E) Ask her if she likes to spend a lot of time alone.

A) Try to get her to talk about fun activities she did in high school.

When most people think of the character Captain Kirk from the original Star Trek series, they think of the line, "Beam me up, Scotty!" But that line of dialogue never appeared on the show. This example illustrates that memory is often A) a product of our schemas. B) influenced by our peers. C) more accurate in thinking about real people than about fictitious characters. D) completely random. E) inconsistent with our schemas.

A) a product of our schemas.

Warren believes that Kurt is an outgoing, gregarious person. "How many parties did you go to this weekend?" Warren asks Kurt. "Tell me about all of the fun and crazy things that you have planned for the summer," Warren continues. Although Kurt is usually rather quiet and reserved, he responds to Warren in an outgoing, friendly manner. This is an example of A) a self-fulfilling prophecy. B) false memory. C) the perseverance effect. D) the primacy effect. E) reconstructive memory.

A) a self-fulfilling prophecy.

New professors often have to concentrate very hard to give a lecture, and monitor themselves carefully to make sure they're not talking too fast and that they are using appropriate and clear examples. More seasoned professors don't have to concentrate as much, and can talk clearly and engagingly, reorder the overheads, and keep an eye on students all at the same time. This example represents the transition from _______ processing to _______ processing as professors gain experience. A) controlled; automatic B) random; systematic C) automatic; controlled D) unconscious; conscious E) controlled; random

A) controlled; automatic

Self-fulfilling prophecies most often are a result of A) inadvertent and unconscious influences of individuals' schemas. B) deliberate attempts by people to confirm their schemas. C) deliberate attempts to treat people in an unbiased manner. D) the immediate situation. E) priming.

A) inadvertent and unconscious influences of individuals' schemas.

You do not know many people with disabilities, but view a telethon in which people with disabilities are shown needing and appreciating help. The next day, you see a blind person walking down the street, judge her to be in need of help, and ask her if you can help her find her destination. The notion of helping people with disabilities was ________ by the telethon, and became accessible in this situation. A) primed B) clarified C) validated D) reinforced E) biased

A) primed

A particular company employs 100 people; 80 are lawyers; and 20 are engineers. Albert, an employee at the company, is quiet, enjoys puzzles, and carries a calculator. Most people, when asked whether Albert is a lawyer or an engineer, will guess that he is an engineer. People are using the _______ heuristic to make this faulty guess. A) representativeness B) availability C) anchoring and adjustment D) base rate E) counterfactual

A) representativeness

In general, _______ represent knowledge to which we often apply _______. A) schemas; heuristics B) generalizations; logic C) base rates; personal experience D) personal experience; base rates E) biases; corrections

A) schemas; heuristics

Most people, when asked, guess that more people die from grisly accidents than from strokes. This is probably due to the greater number of accidental deaths reported in the media, and thus, due to A) the availability heuristic. B) the base rate fallacy. C) upward counterfactual thinking. D) the representativeness heuristic. E) downward counterfactual thinking.

A) the availability heuristic.

Recall that Norbert Schwarz and his colleagues (1991) asked some participants to think of 6 times they had behaved assertively and asked other participants to think of 12 times they had behaved assertively, and then asked all participants to rate how assertive they thought they really were. The findings were that A) those assigned to generate 6 examples rated themselves most assertive due to the availability heuristic. B) those assigned to generate 12 examples rated themselves most assertive due to the availability heuristic. C) those assigned to give 12 items rated themselves more assertive due to the influence of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic. D) assertive people were more likely to generate 12 examples. E) the groups rated themselves equally in assertiveness due to the influence of the representativeness heuristic.

A) those assigned to generate 6 examples rated themselves most assertive due to the availability heuristic.

Pierre encounters his physics professor working on her laptop computer in a coffee shop. The professor has a stack of physics journals, along with a rap music CD on the table. If asked later to recall what he had seen, Pierre would be most likely to remember ________ because ________. A) the rap music CD; it is consistent with his schema for a coffee shop B) the computer and journals; they are consistent with his schema for physics professors C) the rap music CD; it is consistent with his schema for physics professors D) the rap music CD; it is consistent with his schema of a student E) the computer and journals; they are inconsistent with his schema for physics professors

B) the computer and journals; they are consistent with his schema for physics professors

Korsakov's syndrome is a neurological disorder more closely associated with abnormal psychology than with social psychology. Why would the authors of your text describe the symptoms of Korsakov's syndrome and provide Oliver Sacks's description of his encounter with a patient suffering from that disease? This discussion illustrates A) the dangers of relying on heuristics to understand medical problems. B) the importance of schemas in helping humans make sense of their experiences. C) the power of schemas to create reality. D) how unreliable our schemas can be. E) the hazards of holding rigid, inflexible schemas.

B) the importance of schemas in helping humans make sense of their experiences.

Chapter 3 began with a description of accident victim Kevin Chappell who suffered brain damage that left him with a severe visual disability. His disability is such that A) he is blind due to damage to the optic nerve. B) he can recognize environmental context but not the objects or people in the scene. C) he can recognize faces but not things. D) he can recognize objects, but cannot read. E) he can recognize things but not faces.

C) he can recognize faces but not things.

The importance of physical environment in triggering automatic thinking about racist stereotypes was shown in a study that found A) participants in a bright room responded with more positive evaluations of their own race compared to participants in a darkened room. B) participants who were in an open field gave more aggression responses to faces of black men, while those in a closed booth gave more flight responses. C) participants in a darkened room had faster access to negative stereotypes of black people compared to participants seated in a bright room. D) participants were more likely to "shoot" at a picture showing a white person than they were one showing a black person. E) tools were more likely to be misidentified as guns if a preceding photograph was of a white face.

C) participants in a darkened room had faster access to negative stereotypes of black people compared to participants seated in a bright room.

According to the research by John Bargh and his colleagues (2001), your professor might read the following words prior to an exam if she wants her students to do well on the exam: A) coward, timid, fear. B) sloppy, messy, wasteful. C) remember, integrate, comprehend. D) quiet, concentrate, obey. E) hockey, tennis, cricket.

C) remember, integrate, comprehend.

We can conclude from the studies comparing motivated judgments to automatic processing that people who are A) motivated to produce judgments are more anxious and tense and this biases their judgments. B) not motivated to produce judgments tend to be proficient in their thinking and their judgments are less biased due to low stress. C) strongly motivated to produce unbiased judgments tend to do so. D) strongly motivated to produce judgments tend to produce biased ones due to the availability effect. E) strongly motivated to produce judgments tend to produce biased ones due to the perseverance effect.

C) strongly motivated to produce unbiased judgments tend to do so.

Recall that Harold Kelley (1950) told some college students that their guest lecturer was a warm person, and others that he was a cold person. The visitor then lectured for 20 minutes, and the students later evaluated him. Assume for the moment that students' evaluations and behaviours didn't differ in the two conditions. These findings would suggest that A) the contents of the lecture contradicted the warm versus cold descriptions. B) the guest lecture was the same in both conditions. C) students didn't have schemas for "warm" and "cold" personalities. D) schemas don't exist. E) the students did not pay attention to the lecturer.

C) students didn't have schemas for "warm" and "cold" personalities.

In trying to understand new situations, we A) prefer to come up with brand new schemas to specifically fit the situation. B) tend to avoid the use of heuristics. C) use judgmental heuristics to make decisions quickly and efficiently. D) attempt to apply old schemas, which often lead to faulty decisions. E) exhaustively search our memories for all relevant information in order to ensure the correct decision.

C) use judgmental heuristics to make decisions quickly and efficiently.

Some participants in a study by Tory Higgins and his colleagues (1977) memorized "positive" trait adjectives (e.g., adventurous, neat); others memorized "negative" adjectives (e.g., reckless, disrespectful). All participants then read an ambiguous description of a person named Donald and formed an impression of him. Some, but not all, negative adjectives led to negative interpretations of Donald's actions, and some, but not all, positive adjectives led to positive interpretations of those same actions. These results suggest that thoughts must be both _______ and _______ before they influence our impressions. A) vivid; applicable B) applicable; vivid C) widely shared; vivid D) accessible; widely shared E) accessible; applicable

E) accessible; applicable

In a controlled experiment, Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) informed grade school teachers that some of their students (called "bloomers") would show great academic improvement in the upcoming year. In reality, the "bloomers" were chosen randomly by the researchers, and were no smarter than any of the other students. Which of the following best describes the results of this study? At the end of the year, A) both bloomers and non-bloomers improved more on IQ tests. B) there were no IQ differences between bloomers and non-bloomers, but the bloomers were more interested in school. C) non-bloomers improved more on an IQ test than did bloomers. D) bloomers and non-bloomers performed equally well on an IQ test. E) bloomers improved more on an IQ test than did non-bloomers.

E) bloomers improved more on an IQ test than did non-bloomers.

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. If you are _______, you will actually be more likely to think about the desserts. A) unmotivated B) cognitively distracted C) not hungry D) extremely above your desired weight E) careless

E) careless

In distinguishing between availability and accessibility we can say that availability is related to _______ while accessibility is related to _______. A) stream of consciousness; making judgments quickly and efficiently B) making judgments quickly and efficiently; stream of consciousness C) resemblance to a typical case; making judgments quickly and efficiently D) stream of consciousness; ease of recall E) ease of recall; stream of consciousness

E) ease of recall; stream of consciousness

Recall that Harold Kelley (1950) told some college students that their guest instructor was a warm person, and told others that he was a cold person. Students who were told that the guest instructor was a warm person evaluated him more positively and participated more in class discussion than did students who were told that he was cold. These results support the idea that schemas are A) impossible to modify. B) generally accurate. C) different, depending on the information to which we are exposed. D) universal. E) especially influential when we encounter ambiguous information.

E) especially influential when we encounter ambiguous information.

The main difference between the availability heuristic and accessibility is that availability refers to _______ while accessibility refers to _______. A) information on your mind at any given moment; adjusting an answer according to a starting point. B) the ease or difficulty of bringing a concept to mind; information on your mind at any given moment. C) adjusting an answer according to a starting point; information on your mind at any given moment. D) information your mind at any moment; calculation according to how similar it is to a typical case. E) information on your mind at any moment; the ease or difficulty of bringing a concept to mind.

E) information on your mind at any moment; the ease or difficulty of bringing a concept to mind.

Marvin flips a coin 5 times, and gets 5 "heads" in a row. Now Marvin thinks he is almost sure to get a "tails" on the next flip. According to the text, Marvin A) is guilty of biased sampling. B) is correct. C) needs therapy. D) is falling victim to the availability bias. E) is making an error due to the representativeness heuristic.

E) is making an error due to the representativeness heuristic.

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. A) controlled; automatic B) tracking; diverting C) diverting; tracking D) seeking; distracting E) monitoring; operating

E) monitoring; operating

"If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck..." This expression best captures the essence of the A) judgmental heuristic. B) correspondence heuristic. C) fundamental attribution error. D) availability heuristic. E) representativeness heuristic.

E) representativeness heuristic.