Instructional Block 3

Which of the following is the best definition of self-efficacy?

A belief that one can perform adequately in a given situation

Which of the following could be considered high-stakes testing?

A drug test when applying for a job

Which of the following statements is true of Asch's research on conformity in groups?

About one-third of participants agreed with the group against their true beliefs.

Istvan is well liked by his friends because he is trusting, considerate, compassionate, loyal, and easy to get along with. Which of the Big 5 factors of personality would Istvan likely score high in?

Agreeableness

What is the definition of stressors?

Events or experiences that induce psychological and/or physiological stress

Stanley Milgram's studies on obedience (1963 and 1974) and more recent replications have shown that:

Female participants obediently shocked the experimental victim at a rate similar to males in the Milgram and other studies.

Which of the following is an example of the planning fallacy?

Gerard believes he can complete a term paper within a one-week time frame. He is surprised when he cannot complete the project as quickly as he anticipated.

Mood-congruent memory is occurring in which of the following scenarios?

John is currently sad and can more easily recall a time when he got in trouble for a late assignment

Wayne likes to travel to learn about new cultures. Whenever he returns from a trip he brings home a piece of art from that culture to add to his collection. Which of the Big 5 factors of personality would Wayne likely score high in?

Openness

People are usually motivated in some way when making social judgments and decisions. What often occurs as a result of having directional goals?

People may be skeptical about evidence that goes against their directional goal.

Walter Mischel (1968, 2009) pointed out this apparent fact about the predictability of individuals' behavior through personality tests:

People's behavior varies greatly situation by situation, but tests can reveal their average behavior across many situations.

Physically attractive people experience many benefits in life. Particularly, more physically attractive people have an easier time persuading others. Which characteristic is an example of why this occurs?

Physically attractive people are perceived as having higher moral character.

Walking down the street, Areanna is approached by a police officer. The police officer encourages Areanna to be a Good Samaritan and put money in a parking meter that's about to expire on a stranger's car. What factors might lead Areanna to obey this police officer's order and help pay for the parking meter?

She views the police officer as an authority figure.

Self-report questionnaires are subject to which of the following biases?

Social desirability

Elsa purchased concert tickets about two months ago. Today is the concert but it's raining out, meaning Elsa would have to purchase an umbrella and rain boots if she still wants to go. Why is Elsa still likely to be persuaded to attend the concert?

Sunk Costs

Which of the following is true of Milgram's (1963 and 1974) research on obedience to authority?

With each increment of shock voltage, fewer participants obeyed, but about 65% still administered 450 volts (the highest level).

Kelly is at a college party and notices everyone is drinking. She concludes that the majority of students on campus must also drink alcohol frequently. What would we call Kelly's perception of what most people are doing?

a descriptive norm

_____________ best describes when people feel like they have the power to change their environment or behavior if they need or want to?

a sense of control

The durability bias occurs when a person overestimates how long their feelings might last. This bias is a type of:

affective forecasting

Factor analysis allowed personality theorists to:

analyze the correlations among traits and identify the most important ones

Self-reports are one type of objective test that:

ask participants to describe themselves

What are the three characteristics of a speaker that makes him/her more trustworthy when delivering a persuasive message?

authority, honest, likability

Which heuristic would you likely use if you were asked, "are there more words in the English language that start with the letter "k" or that have "k" as the third letter in the word?"

availability heuristic

When being considered for a job opening, people being interviewed often mirror the interviewer's behavior. This can be explained by what concept?

chameleon effect

Personality refers to ______.

characteristic ways that people differ from one another.

Which of the following is a health condition that persists over time, typically for periods longer than three months?

chronic disease

What are the three criteria that characterize personality traits?

consistency, stability, and individual differences

A person does not "have" or "not have" a personality trait but instead can possess varying amounts of it. This is because personality traits reflect ____________________ rather than distinct personality types.

continuous distributions

Oscar would like to go to a movie without supervision. To try and get what he wants, he starts by asking his mom if he can go on a trip to the Rollercoaster Park with just his friends. When his mom says no, like he predicted, he goes on to ask if he can at least go to the movies by himself. Oscar's strategy in asking to go to the movies is an example of what persuasion trick?

door in the face

Which type of coping regulates the negative emotions associated with stressful events?

emotion-focused coping

Of all the possible stress reduction techniques which of the following has the most health benefits?

exercise

Damon experienced a death in his family from the hurricane that passed through his city recently. His stress levels are very high and he's starting to feel very tired and distracted at work. From these symptoms, what phase of the General Adaptation Syndrome would we say that Damon is in?

exhaustion

The peripheral route to persuasion takes advantage "trigger features" that activate sequential behavior in animals and humans. What is this sequence of behavior called?

fixed action patterns (FAPs)

Randy has joined a new social club on campus. Is it likely that Randy will:

form the impressions he makes of these club members after only one meeting

Which of the following is an example of manipulating the trustworthiness of a speaker?

have the speaker present his/her message as educational or objective information

People naturally use mental "shortcuts" to simplify their social world. These shortcuts are known as:

heuristics

Knowing Paige is extremely high in Extraversion does not help predict her scores on Neuroticism. This is because scores within the Five-Factor Model are mostly ___________, where two traits are separate from one another. Thus, in the Five-Factor Model, you need five scores to describe most of an individual's personality.

independent

Nora has decided to visit the new community recreation center for a swim. As she enters the change room she notices both of the two other people present put their shoes into a locker. Before she walks out to the pool she does the same. What concept helps explain her actions?

informational influence

Exposing participants to weak arguments before presenting them with strong persuasive messages helps participants resist persuasion. What is this effect called?

inoculation

When determining what measure to use, researchers often assess a measure's validity. Validity is when a measure:

is able to predict theoretical outcomes

Using informant ratings can lead to biased personality scores, specifically providing unrealistically positive assessments. This is because of the _________________________ effect where informants are usually individuals who like the person they are rating and therefore are motivated to depict them in a socially desirable way.

letter of recommendation

Gordon Allport and his colleagues' approach to personality led to the development of the five-factor model. Their approach, called the __________________, theorized that all important personality characteristics should be reflected in the language that we use to describe other people.

lexical hypothesis

Kari visited the doctor recently who told her she needed to start eating better or she is at risk for a heart attack within the next few years. Kari is very motivated to view herself in a positive light and doesn't like the news the doctor gave her. She wonders if the doctor's tests could have been inaccurate. Kari's uncertainty over her health results from the doctor is an example of what?

motivated skepticism

Asch's study on conformity, where participants had to make line-judgments, can be best explained by what concept?

normative influence

Hammond has just started working at a new job stacking items at the supermarket. He notices that most of his colleagues do stretching exercises before they begin their shift. Hammond assumes that this is a workplace regulation and also begins to do the stretching exercises. Which of the following concepts explains Hammond's behavior?

normative influence

To focus on an event that is causing stress in an effort to change or improve the situation is what type of coping?

not emotion-focused coping

Persuasion is most effective when individuals are:

not feeling that their freedom to make a choice is threatened

Research on social pressure and conformity suggests which of the following factors can help individuals resist conformity in a group?

observing just one person disagreeing with the majority

The method where non-conscious needs, feelings, and experiences influence a person's description of ambiguous stimuli is known as the:

projective hypothesis

Tracy enters a car dealership interested in buying a new car. Immediately she is greeted by a salesman offering her water or soda and a cookie. The salesman is likely relying on what social norm to help persuade Tracy to buy a car?

reciprocity

With so many different types of measures used to assess personality it is important to examine both the extent to which scores change over time and the consistency of test scores across repeated assessments. When completing test-retests like this, researchers are assessing measures' _____________.

reliability

Javari is teaching a psychology class and tells his students, "Kenna is 31, single, outspoken, and bright. She majored in philosophy in college. As a student, Kenna was deeply concerned with discrimination and other social issues." When Javari asked his class if it was more likely that Kenna was A) a bank teller or B) a bank teller AND a feminist, most people in his class chose option B. Javari explained that their answer was incorrect because their _____________ heuristic led them astray.

representativeness

Johnny has been known to "bounce back" from any negative situation he may encounter. When his small business went bankrupt Johnny didn't feel beaten. Instead, 10 years later he was able to modify his idea and turn it into a profitable business. Johnny is a perfect example of a person with ____________.

resilience

Thomas has four children. Two of these children are extremely sociable and attend every school event they can. The other two children do not care to attend EVERY school event. By comparing the differences between his children, Thomas concludes that two of his children are very shy and not at all sociable. However, Thomas is guilty of the ________________, exaggerating the true magnitude of the differences between his children.

sibling contrast effect

Ben is playing basketball with his friends one day when he notices everyone else has name brand shoes. He is uncertain how the quality of his shoes compares to his friends but because of __________ he feels pressure to conform and ends up buying name brand shoes for himself by the following week.

social proof

Since people cannot usually change stress __________, they should aim to change ___________ instead.

sources; responses

A benefit of using behavioral measures includes the fact that they are:

subject to less biased responses

Which of the following factors does NOT influence conformity?

the age of the group

The HEXACO model proposes:

there is a sixth dimension to the Five-Factor model

Jessie is interested in the cultural differences in respectfulness. To measure this she records how far away a person sits down when invited for an interview. The ability of Jessie's measure to predict her interest in respectfulness is known as the study's:

validity