Social Psychology Final Exam

18) The divorce rate in the United States has changed dramatically since the 1950s. This change may be explained in part by the effect that ________ have on behavior.

D) cultural beliefs

21) The branch of psychology that seeks to examine the potential role of genetic factors in different aspects of human behavior is known as ________.

D) evolutionary psychology

33) Recent research on implicit processes demonstrate that such processes ________.

B) are quite influential in our social behavior and thought

19) The social rules concerning how individuals should behave in specific situations are known as ________.

B) cultural beliefs and norms

40) A researcher worked with members of a political action committee (PAC) to survey potential voters by telephone before an election. PAC members conducted the poll themselves while the researcher tabulated the results. The poll asked which candidate people plan to vote for in the upcoming election. Which of the following may present problems for the accuracy of the results?

D) All of these may present problems for the accuracy of the results.

37) The observation of behavior as it occurs in natural settings is known as ________.

D) naturalistic observation

23) The evolutionary perspective on social psychology suggests that ________.

E) we inherit tendencies to behave in certain ways

30) ________ processes represent those factors and processes which influence thought, feelings or behaviors and of which we are either not aware or only dimly aware.

A) Implicit

27) ________ is the area of psychology that studies the interplay between brain events and thought, emotion and behavior.

A) Social neuroscience

14) LaShawna meets another girl at a party who is not from LaShawna's ethnic group, and whom LaShawna judges, based on her stereotype of that group, is probably shallow and a gossip. The best description of LaShawna's judgment is that she is engaged in ________.

A) a social cognitive process

9) The planning fallacy is ________.

A) a tendency for individuals to believe that projects will take less time than they actually do

4) Social Psychology embraces ________ as core scientific values.

A) accuracy, objectivity, skepticism, and open-mindedness

11) Social psychologists are primarily interested in understanding the many factors and conditions that shape the social ________ and ________ of individuals.

A) behavior; thought

15) Radha is from India and is Jana's friend. In making a judgment about Radha's reason for being late for coffee, Jana may infer that Radha was late because she had a confusing day, or Jana may decide that Radha doesn't really have much respect for her schedule. This is best explained as an example of a ________.

A) cognitive process

6) Why take a scientific approach? Part of the answer lies in the ________ nature of proverbs, axioms, maxims and the like.

A) contradictory

35) A multicultural perspective is recognized as increasingly important to research in social psychology because ________.

A) cultural factors such as race or ethnicity help determine self-identity

16) People tend to become more irritable and aggressive when the weather is hot and humid. This fact is an example of the effects of ________ on social behavior.

A) environmental variables

24) Despite some variation, there appear to be universal mating preferences for certain physical features. This fact suggests that these attractiveness features are influenced by ________.

A) evolutionary factors

26) Based on a(n) ________, a child, early in life, is more likely to look like ________.

A) evolutionary perspective; its father

31) Louis doesn't think he is a very worthwhile person, and spends most of his time engaged in bad business deals. Having been influenced by a(n) ________ process, Louis has relocated to ________.

A) implicit; St. Louis, MO

29) In one study, when participants encountered a person who was ________ on both warmth and competence, neural circuitry that normally responds to the presence of a human being ________.

A) low; was not activated, as if the person were not human

2) Social psychologists focus their attention mainly on individuals because ________.

A) our behavior is influenced by the actions of other individuals in social situations

36) The process of carefully observing behavior as it occurs is known as ________.

A) systematic observation

17) The moon is full, and Cristinel has been behaving wildly. Although sober, he's been alternately barking like a dog at strangers on the street, and/or asking them, "aren't ya' just happy now?" It is possible that Cristinel's behavior is due to ________.

A) the moon as an environmental influence

7) Kim knows she needs to go take summer courses, but worries about leaving her new boyfriend for 3 months. She wonders, will "absence make the heart go stronger" be true, or is "Out of sight, out of mind" more applicable. This is an example of ________.

A) the unscientific nature of conventional wisdom

41) Suppose a company asked its workers "Now that you have received a raise, how satisfied are you with your job?," and found out that 87% indicated they were "very satisfied" or "satisfied." A major concern of this study would likely be ________.

A) the way the question was asked

28) Recent neuroscience research has demonstrated that prejudice actually has two underlying dimensions, ________ and ________, with each dimension having a low or high value.

A) warmth; competence

20) The system of shared meanings, perceptions, and beliefs held by persons belonging to the same group is known as ________.

B) culture

22) The variation referred to by evolutionary psychologists is that ________.

B) individual members of any given species differ from each other in many ways

34) A(n) ________ in social psychology ________ in the U.S.

B) multicultural perspective; recognizes a widening of diversity

49) Research has, in adults, documented a negative correlation between 1) obesity, and 2) participation in physically demanding leisure activities. One possible interpretation of these results is that ________.

B) obese people tend to exercise less than non-obese people

44) One advantage of knowing the correlation between two variables is that ________.

B) one variable can then be used to predict another

12) Which of the following categories is NOT one of the five categories mentioned in your text regarding factors affecting social interaction?

B) perceptual processes

1) The branch of psychology that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior and thought in social situations is ________.

B) social psychology

47) Research has shown a positive correlation between 1) socio-economic status of the family of origin, and 2) college graduation rates. Based on this information, we can conclude that ________.

B) students born into wealthier families are more likely to complete college than students born into poorer families

38) In order to determine whether people have a strong or weak preference for the color of their cookware, a company wants to collect information from many of its past customers. If the number of past customers is very large, the company may want to consider using ________ methods.

B) survey

46) Researchers were recently surprised to learn that the correlation between the type of clothing people wear when they are not at work and the type of jobs they hold is approximately zero. Based on this, we can conclude that ________.

B) there is no relationship between the types of clothing worn in non-work settings and the type of work that people do

32) In one study, 3-month-old African infants who had grown up with mainly African people, or who had grown up with a mixture of both African and Caucasian people, were shown photos of both African people and Caucasian people. While the infants from the first group spent more time looking at photos of Africans, the second group showed no such preference, demonstrating that ________.

B) there was an implicit influence for attraction to the photos of persons reflecting the racial make-up of those with whom they had grown up

42) The way a question is phrased may sometimes influence the way people respond to the question. In survey research, this is known as the issue of ________.

B) wording

3) As a scientific discipline, social psychology strives for ________.

C) an objective understanding of behavior

43) A correlation exists between two variables when ________.

C) changes in the two variables are related to each other

5) The focus of social psychology is on ________.

C) the behavior and thoughts of individuals

50) Suppose smoking and drinking alcohol are found to be correlated at +.65. We can conclude that ________.

D) smoking is probably related to drinking

25) The evolutionary perspective on social behavior suggests that ________.

D) we inherit tendencies or predispositions to behave in certain ways

13) The ways we think about other people and the things we remember about them may have an effect on our behavior. These thoughts and memories are examples of ________.

E) cognitive processes

10) Armando, based on his estimate of how long it would take him to complete his mid-term essay, told his instructor he would turn in the paper on Tuesday, but was late turning it in, causing his instructor to deduct a letter grade from the paper. Next time Armando makes such a promise based on a plan, he will likely ________.

E) make the same planning error, and be late again

39) The people who complete a survey must be representative of the population about which conclusions are to be drawn. This is known as the issue of ________.

E) sampling

8) One reason that social scientists put their faith in the scientific method is that ________.

E) the scientific method produces more conclusive evidence than other methods