Social Psychology Exam 2
Mara pays close attention to the quality of the speaker's arguments in making up her mind on an issue. She is demonstrating
the central route to persuasion.
Confucius just fell down a flight of stairs. One of his disciples makes an internal attribution for the fall. What might this disciple be thinking?
"Confucius is so clumsy!"
Which of the following advertising slogans for a new stereo system would be MOST appealing to someone in a collectivist culture?
"Invite your friends over so they can dance to music of the highest clarity."
All of the following could be categorized as sources of "raw data" for a study of social perception EXCEPT
Accounts given by others about a person
Which of the following has been demonstrated by research examining the role of culture in the attribution process?
Adults in Western cultures are more likely to make the fundamental attribution error than those in Eastern cultures.
Which two components are the ones that deal with the emotional reactions toward the attitude object and the thoughts about the attitude object?
Affective and Cognitive Components
Cross-cultural differences exist in all of the following nonverbal behaviors EXCEPT for which one?
Evaluations of emotions and facial features
Vito finished first in the school spelling bee, Fabrizio finished second, and Luigi finished third. The first place winner gets a cash prize and the opportunity to compete at the regional spelling bee, but the others get nothing. Which of the following is MOST likely to occur?
Fabrizio will engage in more counterfactual thinking than Luigi.
Which of the following concerning the use of fear appeals is NOT supported by research?
Fear appeals are generally less effective than messages that do not provoke fear.
Participants in an extremely boring experiment are asked to lie and say that the experiment was fun and exciting. Which of the following participants will exhibit the MOST favorable attitudes toward the experiment?
Jerry, who thinks that his lie will lead other participants to expect the experiment will be fun
The purpose of an emoticon is to
Provide nonverbal cues in written media forms
Which of the following is the WEAKEST explanation for the fundamental attribution error?
Situational factors are not reliable indicators.
Scripts are often culture-specific. This means that
The same behaviors may be perceived very differently in different cultures
The study of social perception addresses all of the following EXCEPT
The strategies people use to create a positive self-image
Josue listened to a speech on the radio advocating the increased use of automobiles that are not reliant on fossil fuels. One would expect the sleeper effect to be greatest if Josue found out about the background of the speaker _____ the speech and was asked about his views about the issue _____.
after; a few weeks later
In terms of how it is experienced, cognitive dissonance MOST closely resembles ____.
an emotion or feeling of arousal
According to the two-step model of the attribution process, people make an
automatic first step of making a personal attribution, and then an effortful second step of considering situational factors.
Professor Shackleford is elated because she has just learned that her paper has been accepted for publication. When a student passes her in the hallway and tells her that he missed the latest exam in order to stay home with his depressed cat, her good mood renders her likely to
be less skeptical than usual about the excuse.
Marge believes rather strongly that more money should be devoted to environmental concerns. However, she is agitated because she just signed a petition for a friend advocating the logging of a local forest in order to create new jobs. She then seems to soften her stance about the environment. This is BEST explained by
cognitive dissonance theory.
An unpleasant psychological state often aroused when people hold two conflicting cognitions is called
cognitive dissonance.
One way to increase the accuracy of self-report measures of attitudes is to
convince respondents that any deception can be detected
Research suggests that people seem to commit the fundamental attribution error
even when they are aware of the situational constraints of the behavior.
Why did the clown park his car in a red zone, where he might get a ticket? If you assume it is because his car happened to break down right then and there, in the red zone, then you have made a(n) ____.
external attribution
You hear Tiger Woods doing a radio commercial for Buick. Even though you know that Woods did not write the commercial himself, was paid to provide the voice-over for the commercial, and probably does not drive a Buick in real life, you still think that at some level, at least, Woods must think highly of Buicks. This is an example of
fundamental attribution error.
Attitude accessibility refers to ____.
how easily the attitude comes to mind
Elena changes her attitude about nuclear weapons after giving a speech supporting their development to a group of classmates. Brett gives the same speech, but to an empty classroom, and does not change his attitude. The difference between Elena and Brett supports
impression management theory.
A social psychology graduate student who works long hours for little pay becomes increasingly convinced that she loves social psychology. This student's attitude toward her chosen field of study is MOST likely the result of
insufficient justification.
Everyone you know seems to love the TV show The Apprentice. You're a huge fan of reality TV as well, as you never miss an episode of The Amazing Race, American Idol, or Project Runway. But every time you watch The Apprentice, you have the same reaction: you hate it with a passion. According to Kelley's (1967) covariation theory of attribution, your dislike of this show would be?
low in consensus, high in distinctiveness, and high in consistency.
Cross-cultural research on perception of emotion, such as that conducted by Elfenbein and Ambady (2002), indicates that
people are fairly successful at perceiving the emotional states of individuals from other cultures, but we are better at judging emotions of individuals from our own culture.
Research using bicultural participants, such as China-born students attending college in the U.S., indicates that
people can simultaneously hold differing cultural worldviews, either of which can influence attributional tendencies depending on the situation.
All of the following are necessary conditions for cognitive dissonance specified by Cooper and Fazio (1984) EXCEPT
people must assign responsibility for the behavior to an outside source.
Attitudes are BEST understood as
varying in strength along both positive and negative dimensions.
Tariq doesn't want his kids to give in to peer pressure to smoke. According to the inoculation hypothesis, one way he could build up their resistance to potential peer pressure is to
present them with weak arguments for smoking so that they can generate counterarguments.
When used to measure attitudes, physiological measures such as heart rate and perspiration
reveal the intensity of an attitude.
Hope read a persuasive message written by a source who she considered to be incompetent and untrustworthy. The sleeper effect would suggest that her attitude toward the issue should
show greater change over time in the direction advocated by the speaker.
Colin and Erin are waiting to meet with their caterer so that they can discuss the menu for their wedding. The caterer is 30 minutes late and still hasn't arrived. Colin suggests that the caterer is probably delayed because of traffic. Erin suggests that the caterer is probably disorganized and unreliable. Colin is making a(n) _____attribution, whereas Erin is making a(n) _____ attribution.
situational; personal
The theory of planned behavior posits that behavior is a function of attitudes, subjective norms, behavioral intentions, and
the amount of control we perceive to have over our behavior.
An audience member is more likely to use the peripheral route to persuasion if
the argument is a familiar one.
Research on the attitudes of twins suggests
the attitudes of identical twins are more similar than the attitudes of fraternal twins.
Stephen knows someone whose brother received a very lucrative contract to play professional basketball for the National Basketball Association (NBA). With this success story in mind, he ignores the statistics that indicate a very low probability that anyone will make it to the NBA and overestimates his own chances of making it. This scenario BEST illustrates
the base-rate fallacy.
Sofia voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. She believes that approximately 90% of college students also voted for Obama, when in reality that number is much lower. Sofia's overestimation is consistent with
the false-consensus effect.
Lindy is trying to decide whether or not Marisa's behavior is dispositional. If Lindy relies on correspondent inference theory, she would consider all of the following factors except?
whether Marisa knew she was being observed during the behavior.
Which one of the following statements best describes cognitive dissonance theory?
"People don't like to be hypocrites."
Which scenario does NOT illustrate someone relying on a peripheral cue?
Anya is trying to decide what movie to go to tonight. "There are so many movies out there!" she thinks to herself. She decides to meticulously read through all available reviews, and then make a decision about what to see.
The tendency to think that most victims of Hurricane Katrina were irresponsible and naive for not evacuating their homes before the storm hit is MOST likely to result from which of the following tendencies?
Belief in a just world
Elias believes that gun control is necessary. Which of the following would cause Elias to change his attitude the MOST?
He anticipates giving a speech against gun control, and then gives the speech.
Jacob wants to learn how to water-ski. Which of the following would NOT be required by the theory of planned behavior?
He recognizes the dangers associated with waterskiing.
Which of the statements below about Storms (1973) study is NOT true based on the findings?
It demonstrated that the actor-observer effect remains intact even presented with the other person's perspective.
Which of the following statements about the central route to persuasion is FALSE?
It is more commonly used by advertisers in collectivist cultures (e.g., Korea) than it is by advertisers in individualistic cultures (e.g., the United States).
Which of the following is supported by research on deception?
People are more accurate at detecting deception if they focus on body movements rather than facial expressions.
According to correspondent inference theory, in which of the following situations would a personal attribution be most appropriate?
Steve, a world renowned playboy, joins a monastery and takes a vow of celibacy.
According to correspondent inference theory, in which of the following situations would a personal attribution be MOST appropriate?
Steve, a world-renowned playboy, joins a monastery and takes a vow of celibacy.
Which of the following theories suggests that intentions to perform a behavior are BEST predicted by attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control?
Theory of planned behavior
Trista had to choose between two potential mates, Charlie and Ryan, on the final episode of the original The Bachelorette. In the end, she chose Ryan. Several weeks later, a reporter interviewed Trista about her feelings towards the two men. Which of the following predictions regarding her feelings at the time of the interview would be most likely if she is trying to avoid post-decision dissonance?
Trista suggests that she was impressed by his career ambitions at first, but has come to realize that Charlie's busy work schedule would have been an obstacle to a successful relationship.
Which of the following is the BEST example of a self-fulfilling prophecy?
When minority candidates perform more poorly in interviews because interviewers act on their expectations that these candidates are unprepared
Dr. Flinstone, president of Quarry College, needs to convince students that the college must double its tuition beginning in five years. He is hiring someone to promote this idea, as well as developing supportive arguments. Would he need to adopt a different strategy if he instead wanted to implement the change in the next academic year?
Yes. If the change is to happen next year, the strength of the arguments will matter more than whom he hires to promote the idea.
Gino, a salesperson, wants to use techniques that will lead his potential customers to rely on peripheral route persuasion. He should do all of the following EXCEPT
approach prospective buyers who obviously care deeply about his product.
Because communicator trustworthiness is important, people tend to be readily impressed by speakers who
argue against their own interests.
A baseball manager who clings to old strategies that are ineffective, a lawyer who selects juries according to false stereotypes, and a political leader who does not withdraw support for a failing program are all exhibiting
belief perseverance.
Jacqueline, an attitude researcher, is interested in how people feel about alcohol. She would be well-advised to use a
bogus pipeline because it is not as susceptible to social desirability effects.
Those who argue that self-perception theory better explains why people change their attitudes in research studies than does cognitive dissonance theory do NOT believe that
changes in attitudes are motivated by a desire to reduce unpleasant feelings.
Chandler wants to give blood at the school blood drive, and he plans to try to do so. But he knows that he will probably be turned away because of a medicine he is on. Chandler has a positive attitude toward blood donation, but what element of the Theory of Planned Behavior inhibits his ability to behave consistently with his attitude?
perceived behavioral control
While traveling around the world, Teun shows various people pictures of men and women from his hometown who are smiling and frowning, and he asks these people to infer what emotions the individuals in the pictures are experiencing. According to the research on perceptions of primary emotions, Teun should find that?
perceptions of the emotions are relatively consistent across most cultures.
Veronica is talking to her parents about her French professor and claims that he gave her a failing grade on her last paper because he is arrogant, cold, and indifferent to the progress of his students. Veronica is making a(n)
personal attribution.
