Social Psychology Rewind
Stanley Milgram's experiment in which a "teacher" gave shocks to a "learner" was designed to test the limits of
c. obedience
Karen smokes two packs of cigarettes a day. However, she is aware that smoking is harmful to her health; therefore, she holds two conflicting or dissonant thoughts. If Karen were to reduce her cognitive dissonance by changing her attitude, she might say to herself,
a. "smoking really isn't that dangerous"
__________ is best known for his research on conformity
a. Asch
Which of the following statements concerning "jigsaw" classrooms is TRUE?
a. Jigsaw groups emphasize cooperation over competition
Which is TRUE regarding choosing a mate?
a. People who marry are highly similar in age, education, race, religion, and ethnic background
In North America, male friendships are __________ based and female friendships are __________ .
a. activity; based on sharing feelings
Studies of conformity indicate that people are more apt to be influenced by others if they
a. are concerned about the approval of others
When a person with little or no authority makes a direct request to another person, the situation involves
a. compliance
The __________ hypothesis states that frustration tends to lead to aggression.
a. frustration-aggression
Physical proximity increases attraction because it
a. increases frequency of contact
Creation of superordinate goals has been shown to be effective in reducing
a. intergroup conflict
When we perform well, we typically attribute our success to __________.
a. internal characteristics
The three techniques used for brainwashing identified by McConnell are
a. isolation, dependency, and reward
As part of an experiment, two young women stroll down a busy sidewalk with their arms around each other. They get a variety of reactions from passersby, including disapproving looks and comments. These reactions demonstrate the existence of
a. norms
When making the "attribution error," we tend to overestimate the importance of __________ in judging the behavior of others.
a. personal factors
Zimbardo interpreted the results of his simulated prison study as an indication of the
a. powerful influence of roles on people
Negative attitudes that are tinged with fear, hatred, or suspicion is a definition of
a. prejudice
Social traps can be dismantled by changing
a. rewards and costs
Expected behavior patterns associated with particular social positions are called
a. roles
Shows such as Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street demonstrate TV's ability to
a. teach prosocial behavior
Someone asks you to bring dip to a party and you agree. Later the person asks you to also bring popcorn, chips, and sodas. The person has used which compliance strategy?
a. the low-ball technique
In general, helping behavior in emergency situations is discouraged by
a. the presence of a large number of persons
Arabs are typically depicted in the media as oil-rich but ignorant and savage. In a time of war with an Arab country, this image would be used
a. to make it easier for soldiers to kill the enemy
According to evolutionary psychologists,
a. women tend to be concerned with whether mates will devote time and resources to a relationship
People's invisible "spatial envelope" defines their __________, and extends "I" or "me" boundaries past the skin.
b. personal space
According to Janis, John F. Kennedy's Bay of Pigs failure was caused in large part by
b. Groupthink
Frustration probably encourages aggression because it
b. raises arousal levels and sensitivity to cues for aggression
An individual's misuse of valuable natural resources could be an example of
b. a social trap
If everyone leaves five minutes before the game is over to avoid a traffic jam, the resulting traffic jam would be an example of
b. a social trap
Those roles which one attains voluntarily are called
b. achieved roles
Vanessa is female, a daughter, and a young adult. The roles that shape her behavior are called __________ roles.
b. ascribed
__________ is the process of making inferences about behavior.
b. attribution
Attribution theory concerns our tendency to explain our behavior and that of others
b. by inferring causes on the basis of internal or external factors
In an experiment in which a "student" simulated a seizure, helping was inhibited by
b. diffusion of responsibility
Which of the following was a factor in determining the degree of obedience in Milgram's series of experiments?
b. distance between the teacher and the learner
Comparing yourself with a person who ranks lower than you is referred to as
b. downward comparison
Nell tastes her food, then salts it. You assume that the food needed salt, therefore, you attribute her actions to a(n)
b. external cause
The person who agrees to a small request initially is more likely later to comply with a larger demand. This describes the
b. foot-in-the-door effect
There is a strong relationship between dating frequency and physical attractiveness
b. for females
During the Stanford Prison study,
b. guards readily assumed their roles as agents of force
Alcohol
b. lowers the threshold for aggression
According to evolutionary psychologists,
b. men place more emphasis on physical attractiveness
Subjects in Milgram's experiment who gave large shocks rationalized that they were NOT personally responsible for their actions. This raises questions about our willingness to commit inhumane acts as a result of
b. obedience to a legitimate authority
Which theory holds that a relationship must be profitable to endure?
b. social exchange theory
How individuals are affected by the presence of others is the focus of study in the field of
b. social psychology
The organization of roles, patterns of communication, and power in a group defines the group's
b. structure
In his classic studies of conformity, Asch demonstrated that
c. lack of unanimity greatly reduces the pressure to conform
Zimbardo's prison experiment suggests that many destructive human relationships have their source in
c. learned roles
Research by Donnerstein suggests that the circumstances most likely to increase violent sexual acts against women (such as rape) involve:
c. media images of violence
Which is true of social stereotypes?
c. Likable members of a rejected group are perceived as an "exception."
Aggression is best defined as
c. any action carried out with the intent of harming another person
A learned disposition to respond to people, objects, or institutions in a positive or negative way defines
c. attitudes
According to the theory of cognitive dissonance, attitudes are changed because
c. clashing thoughts cause discomfort
After Mrs. Keech's doomsday predictions failed, her followers suddenly became interested in convincing others they were right. This turn of events is predicted by __________ theory.
c. cognitive dissonance
When you have "clashing thoughts," you are experiencing
c. cognitive dissonance
The degree of attraction among group members relates to the dimension of
c. cohesiveness
The process of changing your behavior to match that of others in a group is
c. conformity
People who think their ethnic, national, or religious group is superior to others are called
c. ethnocentric
A compulsion by decision makers to maintain each other's approval, even at the cost of critical thinking and good judgment, is called
c. groupthink
Discrimination refers to behaviors that
c. prevent individuals from doing things they should be able to do
During research in a simulated prison situation
c. prisoners quickly became passive and dehumanized
The demonstration by Jane Elliot with blue-eyed and brown-eyed children suggests that an effective way to generate conditions of prejudice is to
c. produce inequalities in power, prestige, or privileges of group members
The study of unspoken rules for the use of interpersonal space is called
c. proxemics
Desensitization is
c. reduction of emotional sensitivity
A __________ group is a group based on social comparison.
c. reference
Social position in a group determines one's
c. role
The judge who is caught cheating on his income tax is likely experiencing
c. role conflict
Scapegoating is releasing aggression on __________ targets.
c. safe
Prejudice based on displaced aggression represents a form of
c. scapegoating
Sharing your own private thoughts and feelings is called
c. self-disclosure
A student who is unprepared for a final exam complains that he has a stomach ache and cannot take the exam. If the student's roommate ignores this complaint, he or she has probably attributed the student's symptoms to the
c. situation
Overdisclosure often results in
c. suspicion and reduced attraction
With respect to social traps, people are more likely to restrain themselves from inappropriate behavior if
c. they believe others will also
People's attitudes about women and rape primarily come from
c. violent images in mainstream movies and magazines
The fact that physically attractive people also tend to be rated more highly on traits such as intelligence and honesty is an example of
d. the halo effect
Which statement about physical attractiveness is FALSE?
d. For marriage partners there is a tendency for attractive men to be paired with highly educated women with high incomes
Which of the following is a testament to the power of roles?
d. Zimbardo's prison experiment
__________ attachment style is marked by conflicting feelings of affection, anger, and emotional turmoil
d. ambivalent
A reference group is
d. any group whose values and attitudes are seen as relevant to one's own
Groups reward members with __________ and __________ for comformity.
d. approval; acceptance
Solomon Asch's classic experiment (in which subjects judged a standard line and comparison lines) was arranged to test the limits of
d. conformity
Cognitive dissonance theory is based on the human need for
d. consistency
An ongoing pattern of life including such things as language, customs and sex roles is called
d. culture
The study in which college students attached a bumper sticker for a militant black organization to their cars and then received frequent traffic citations demonstrates
d. discrimination
You are asked by a close friend to outline a complete text to aid her studying for a final exam. You refuse to help. Later, your friend asks if you would at least outline two chapters. Feeling guilty, you now agree to help. Your behavior is predicted by the
d. door-in-the-face effect
Janis recommends ways to prevent groupthink, which include
d. encouraging someone to play devil's advocate
The study of the adaptive origins of human behavior patterns is called
d. evolutionary psychology
For most American adults, an invisible spatial envelope defining their most intimate space
d. extends about 18 inches out from their body
You do not want a large, unattractive political sign in your yard. However, if you initially agree to put a small sign in your window, later you are more likely to allow the large sign in your yard. This course of events is described by the
d. foot-in-the-door effect
The real danger of "groupthink" is that it
d. leads to a suspension of critical thinking
You are walking into a store when a man rudely cuts in front of you, almost shoving you, so that he may enter the store first. "What a jerk!" you think to yourself. As you enter the store, you see the same man performing an emergency tracheotomy on a women with a collapsed windpipe. You have just
d. made the fundamental attribution error
Which is a method to reduce prejudice?
d. mutual interdependence
Milgram's shock study showed people to be surprisingly
d. obedient
An example of a superordinate goal is
d. protecting clean water supplies
Moderate self-disclosure typically leads to
d. reciprocity
During his rise to power, Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's economic woes. This is an example of
d. scapegoating
Interpersonal attraction is encouraged by which one of the following?
d. similarity
With regard to the effects of TV on children, we can conclude that
d. the amount of TV viewing may be related to aggressive behavior later in life
Which of the following was a significant factor in determining the degree of obedience in Milgram's series of experiments?
d. the setting in which the experiment was conducted
When subjects in Milgram's obedience experiments received their orders over the phone, they
d. were far less obedient