Social Psychology Chapter 2

Which of the following individuals is exhibiting behaviors or thoughts consistent with priming? a) After finishing a romantic novel, Natalie passionately embraces her boyfriend and tells him how much she loves him. b) After watching a horror film, Jane comments on the fact that she did not find the film to be scary at all. c) Hector, a medical school student, realizes that his sore throat is probably the sign of a mild cold and not a serious illness. d) George, a business student, decides that the fastest way for him to become wealthy is to start his own business while still a student.

a) After finishing a romantic novel, Natalie passionately embraces her boyfriend and tells him how much she loves him.

Jack recently had a job interview that seemed to go exceedingly well by all objective standards. However, Jack noted that his interviewer seemed to be in a bad mood that day. To what extent should Jack be concerned about the latter piece of information? a) He should be aware that he will likely be viewed less favorably by the interviewer than if the interviewer was in a good mood. b) He should be very concerned about the interviewer's bad mood unless something happened immediately after the interview to improve the interviewer's mood. c) He should assume there is virtually no chance he will be offered the position due to the interviewer's negative mood. d) He should not be concerned at all because the interviewer's mood should have no bearing on how he or she evaluates Jack.

a) He should be aware that he will likely be viewed less favorably by the interviewer than if the interviewer was in a good mood.

Which of the following is an example of controlled processing? a) Learning to ride a bike b) Walking down your street c) Breathing while sleeping d) Blinking your eyes

a) Learning to ride a bike

Molly and Emily are members of a girls' basketball team who are responsible for helping to organize fundraising efforts for their team. Molly is extremely motivated to complete this task; in contrast, Emily only shows a mild interest in completing the required task. Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the likelihood that Molly and Emily will complete their tasks? a) Molly's motivation will likely cause her to predict that she will finish her task quickly; however, this will have no effect on whether she actually completes her task quicker than Emily. b) Molly will definitely complete the task in a prompt manner due to her high level of motivation; Emily might not complete the task at all due to her lack of motivation. c) Molly's level of motivation should not have any effect on how she thinks about proceeding with this task; consequently, Molly and Emily should complete the task at about the same time. d) Molly's motivation will probably cause her to become overly optimistic which, in turn, will cause her to not complete the task at all; Emily's lack of motivation will likely cause her to complete the task, surprising even herself.

a) Molly's motivation will likely cause her to predict that she will finish her task quickly; however, this will have no effect on whether she actually completes her task quicker than Emily.

Five students are preparing to take a mid-term exam in Political Science. Going in to the exam, who would be most likely to suffer from the overconfidence barrier? a) This is Ronald's first political science course and first semester of college. b) Greg is a junior and a political science major. c) Linda is a straight "A" student who is in her 7th year of college. d) Michele is a sophomore who hasn't missed a class and thinks the professor isinteresting.

a) This is Ronald's first political science course and first semester of college.

Shortly before being interviewed for a job she really wants, Meredith finds that the human resources director was involved in a minor traffic accident during lunch. Should Meredith be concerned that the traffic accident may have a negative influence on the outcomes of the job interview? a) Yes, research indicates that even experienced interviewers are influenced by their current moods. b) No, other factors, such as the strength of the applicants who have already been interviewed will strongly outweigh any lingering effect of the director's mood. c) Yes, but only if Meredith mentions the accident in a way that accentuates the director's presumed bad mood. d) No, research indicates that experienced interviewers are not influenced by accident- related current moods.

a) Yes, research indicates that even experienced interviewers are influenced by their current moods

Matt has never been to a professional baseball game, but he has a strong conviction that he wouldn't enjoy going to one. This prediction is known as a(n) ________. a) affective forecast b) mood congruence c) mood dependency

a) affective forecast

Gabriel and Jim were involved in a car accident and they both suffered a broken bone. Gabriel told Jim, "Hey, at least we only broke a few bones—we could've died!" Jim's response to Gabriel was, "Yes, but I'm now thinking about how I can be a better driver so that I never get in an accident again." Gabriel's statement reflects a(n) ________ counterfactual thought and Jim's response reflects a(n) ________ counterfactual thought. a) downward; upward b) upward; downward c) upward; upward d) downward; downward

a) downward; upward

Zoë is in a fairly good mood. Consequently, we should expect her to show a(n) ________ in her use of ________. a) increase; heuristics b) increase; effortful cognitive processing c) decrease; thought suppression d) decrease; heuristics

a) increase; heuristics

Which of the following effects describe how moods strongly determine which information in a given situation is noticed and entered into one's memory? a) affective forecasts effect b) mood-dependent memory effect c) mood congruence effect d) retrieval cue effect

c) mood congruence effect

Maria is driving her children to school. She is watching the road carefully and following a series of detour signs. One of her children in the back seat of the car is telling her a story, and on the radio a weather report is playing. Maria is trying to listen to her child's story, but she finds that she is unable to concentrate on what the child is saying. Maria is experiencing a) information overload. b) conditions of uncertainty c) a representativeness heuristic. d) anchoring adjustment.

a) information overload.

One way to manage information overload is to make use of ________. a) mental shortcuts, such as heuristics b) the anchoring and adjustment stratagem c) automatic priming d) the complexity schema

a) mental shortcuts, such as heuristics

Jason is undergoing treatment for depression. His therapist has encouraged Jason to remember as many details as possible about times when Jason was not feeling depressed. Jason is having difficulties remembering a time when he was not depressed. This is probably because of the effects of ________. a) mood-dependent memories b) information-evoked memories c) inappropriate retrieval cues d) depression suppressing pleasant memories

a) mood-dependent memories

"Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses" refers to the ________ bias. a) optimistic b) overconfidence c) magical thinking d) counterfactual

a) optimistic

Carl watches a documentary about a man who survived after being stranded on an island. Not long after, his wife asks him if he wants to go hiking or go to the library. Carl chooses hiking. This is an example of ________. a) priming b) anchoring c) unpriming d) adjusting

a) priming

Bill's wife informs him that they will be attending the opera. Bill has never been to the opera, but he immediately has a mental image of he and his wife sitting in an ornate theater and wearing formal eveningwear. Bill is drawing up a(n) ________. a) schema b) heuristic c) anchor d) cognitive load

a) schema

Blair watches the newscast each evening, with its usual diet of fires and other accidents. She often eats at Herby's Fried Snacks, a restaurant located in a brick building, despite the fact that her eating there has resulted in bad indigestion several times. She avoids the well- respected Korean restaurant because the Korean restaurant is in a wooden building. Blair's eating habits are probably being guided by ________. a) the availability heuristic b) an anti-Korean prejudice c) the anchoring and adjustment heuristic d) an addiction to fried snacks

a) the availability heuristic

Amanda has lost some money she needs for next semester's tuition. While betting on red, the roulette wheel has come up with five blacks in a row. To try to get her money back, Amanda is now doubling up her bet each time on red, believing that red will come up soon. She bases her belief on the (roughly) 50/50 odds of red and black occurring over a large number of spins of the wheel. Amanda's strategy appears to be based on ________. a) the representativeness heuristic b) the advice of a successful gambler c) a magical thinking perspective d) the availability heuristic

a) the representativeness heuristic

One evening, after seeing a ________ at the Cineplex, you are on your way home. You drive into a store parking lot, where another driver grabs a parking place you had spotted and were waiting for. You perceive the behavior as very ________. a) violent movie; aggressive b) comedy; aggressive c) drama; meaningless d) violent movie; funny

a) violent movie; aggressive

People often forecast that they will feel ________ when reading about a large-scale tragedy compared to a smaller tragedy. However, findings indicate that people who actually read about such tragedies ________. a) worse; feel the same regardless of the size of the tragedy b) more overwhelmed; felt worse about the smaller tragedy c) less concerned; feel the same regardless of the size of the tragedy d) helpless; felt more empathy for the smaller tragedy's victims

a) worse; feel the same regardless of the size of the tragedy

If you would like for your student government to pass a bill putting more lights along major walkways, how could you use ease of retrieval to persuade them? a) Ask them to generate 10 instances in which the lack of lighting led to student harm. b) Ask them to think of 2 instances in which the lack of lighting made them or someone they know feel fearful while walking on campus after dark. c) Have them generate 6 newspaper stories in which students were harmed on campus at night. d) Give them one instance in which someone was afraid walking home at night, but include many details.

b) Ask them to think of 2 instances in which the lack of lighting made them or someone they know feel fearful while walking on campus after dark.

Which process of social cognition refers to the information we notice? a) Encoding b) Attention c) Retrieval d) Cognitive load

b) Attention

Which of the following is a downside of schemas? a) They can cause us to process social information at a slower rate. b) They can remain unchanged in the face of contradictory information. c) They are unable to guide our thoughts or actions. d) They cause social information to be disorganized in our brain.

b) They can remain unchanged in the face of contradictory information.

Tracy encounters a member of a certain political group whose views and attributes are inconsistent with her schemas about that group. Due to a strong perseverance effect, what is the MOST likely conclusion that Tracy will make? a) Tracy will completely change her schema about the group. b) Tracy will continue to believe that most members of that group fit her schemas. c) Tracy will decide the member is lying about her political affiliation. d) Tracy will suppress conscious awareness of this conflicting information, but it willexert an influence on her behavior without her awareness.

b) Tracy will continue to believe that most members of that group fit her schemas.

Arlene walks into the room her husband has just painted. She immediately dislikes the color. Arlene has experienced ________. a) a controlled evaluative reaction b) an automatic evaluative reaction c) an evaluative reaction schema d) controlled priming

b) an automatic evaluative reaction

Juanita finds that she has been given too much information about different new cars and their relative merits and drawbacks. She is having a difficult time making a decision about which car to buy because she cannot process all the information she has gathered. This is an example of ________. a) non-automatic processing b) information overload c) anchoring and adjustment d) the representativeness heuristic

b) information overload

Karen has always felt that if she looks at the back of a person's head, she can cause that person to turn around and look at her. This is an example of ________ thinking. a) counterfactual b) magical c) optimist d) rational

b) magical

Jonathan continues to buy Orange computers even though his colleagues and friends have informed him that there are newer, better, and cheaper types of computers on the market. Which heuristic is affecting Jonathan? a) representativeness b) status quo c) uncertainty d) anchoring and adjustment

b) status quo

On the walk to work yesterday, Randall was nearly run over by a bus. While the bus barely touched him, he was knocked off his feet and suffered many bruises and a concussion. Randall hasn't considered himself to be religious in many years, but after the accident he felt an increased sense of religiously and spirituality. Randall's increased religiosity is a form of ________. a) overconfidence bias b) terror management c) rational thinking d) counterfactual bias

b) terror management

Sarah recently went to a party even though she was in a very poor mood. At the party, she met a man named Alan, an architect from San Diego. In one month's time, Sarah will more easily remember these details if she ________. a) has spoken to Alan again during this month b) tries to recall them while in a negative mood c) tries to recall them while in a positive mood d) is at another party and is in a positive mood

b) tries to recall them while in a negative mood

Bob and Joe are given the task of dividing $10 between them. Bob initially makes an offer to divide the money such that he takes $7 for himself and gives Joe $3. If you were looking at an MRI scan of Joe's brain, what would you see? a) No activity in the limbic system as this is clearly a rational task. b) Activity in the limbic system, but little activity anywhere else. c) Activity in both the limbic system and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex because bothemotion and rationality are involved. d) Bob's MRI scan would be more informative than Joe's to understand how Joe willreact.

c) Activity in both the limbic system and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex because both emotion and rationality are involved.

Which of the following is a benefit of automatic processing? a) It allows us to approach decisions in a systematic and logical way. b) It allows us to dedicate our full attention to a problem at hand. c) It allows us to deal with problems when our attention is directed elsewhere. d) It allows us to weigh all relevant aspects of a situation before taking action.

c) It allows us to deal with problems when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Greg has just stopped his car to allow a funeral procession to pass by. The cars in the procession all have stickers from his alma mater and are similar to the car he is driving. At this point, he realizes that he too will certainly die at some point. Based on the concept of terror management, which of the following is Greg likely to do next? a) Buy funeral insurance. b) Commit suicide. c) Reconfirm his belief in supernatural powers. d) Become an atheist.

c) Reconfirm his belief in supernatural powers.

When people deal with uncertainty in a situation by using something they know as a starting point and then modifying their thinking from there, they are using the ________ heuristic. a) representativeness b) status quo c) anchoring and adjustment d) information overload

c) anchoring and adjustment

Once it is activated, the status quo heuristic may have automatic effects on behavior. This can cause individuals to ________. a) develop information overload and a temporarily diminished cognitive capacity b) behave inconsistently with the schema without realizing the stress this puts on theirmental frameworks c) behave consistently with the schema without being aware of the reason for the behavior d) notice information that is inconsistent with the schema more readily than consistent information

c) behave consistently with the schema without being aware of the reason for the behavior

Two drivers on a highway are cut off by a third driver. The first driver is startled but shrugs, thinking, "that other driver was careless, but I don't think he noticed me." The second driver is furious, thinking, "that other driver deliberately tried to run me off the road." This scenario MOST clearly illustrates how________. a) mood influences affect and arousal b) affect influences arousal c) cognition influences affect d) affect influences cognition

c) cognition influences affect

In thinking about a major assignment that is due in one week, Jacey focuses on the tasks to be accomplished and how she thinks she will approach each task. She does not spend much time thinking about how long similar tasks have taken her in the past. As a result, Jacey is likely to underestimate the amount of time needed for the assignment. This is probably because Jacey has ________. a) fallen prey to the negativity bias b) activated an inappropriate schema c) entered a planning or narrative mode of thought d) never attempted a similar type of assignment in the past

c) entered a planning or narrative mode of thought

Research indicates that there are two distinct systems that interact in complex ways during cognitive processes. The two systems are those involving ________. a) retrieval and production b) rationality and magical thinking c) reason and emotion d) congruence and dependency

c) reason and emotion

Suppose you are telling your friend about a woman you just met. You tell your friend that this person seemed very compassionate and was interested in helping others; however, you couldn't recall whether she said she was a nurse or a businesswoman. On the basis of the ________ heuristic, your friend would probably think that she is a ________. a) availability; nurse b) availability; businesswoman c) representativeness; nurse d) representativeness; businesswoman

c) representativeness; nurse

Sarah supervises a work group of six colleagues in an advertising agency. Recently, the creativity of her work group has not been as high as it should be. To help boost the group's creativity, and keeping in mind the effects of mood on cognition, Sarah might ________. a) speak to each member privately about performance issues b) ask the group to remember what they were doing the last time they were highlycreative c) take steps to put her group's members in a happier mood during work hours d) remind the group that creativity is an important aspect of their job

c) take steps to put her group's members in a happier mood during work hours

Norman chronically buys and sells things on eBay. He is used to establishing an anchor in negotiating his way toward some endpoint, a sales price, an agreement about delivery time, shipping costs, etc. The anchor for him is almost always a way of dealing with ________. a) others' likely business judgments b) knowing what the item likely sells for elsewhere c) uncertainty d) frequent ups and downs in the market price

c) uncertainty

Which of the following contrasts controlled processing and automatic processing? a) Controlled processing occurs very quickly, whereas automatic processing occurs at a much slower rate. b) Controlled processing is largely intuitive, whereas automatic processing is largely logical. c) Controlled processing occurs in the amygdala, whereas automatic processing occurs in the prefrontal cortex. d) Controlled processing is systematic and effortful, whereas automatic processing is fast and relatively effortless.

d) Controlled processing is systematic and effortful, whereas automatic processing is fast and relatively effortless.

Sabiha is left-handed and prefers left-handed men. She is going to be introduced to Wilbur. Left-handers comprise about 10 percent of the population. She has been truthfully informed that Wilbur is either a left-handed Chinese psycholinguist or a left-handed used car salesman from the Midwestern region of the United States. If Sabiha makes good use of base rates, which of the following outcomes should she expect? a) Wilbur is a left-handed Chinese psycholinguist. b) Wilbur is a new car salesman from the Midwestern region of the United States. c) She has been misinformed about Wilbur's existence as a crude statistical prank. d) Wilbur is a used car salesman from the Midwestern region of the United States who also happens to be left-handed.

d) Wilbur is a used car salesman from the Midwestern region of the United States who also happens to be left-handed.

One way that schemas influence social thought is by ________. a) ensuring that inconsistent information is stored in our memories and retrieved rapidly b) increasing our cognitive load by activating more information from our long-termmemory stores c) activating the availability heuristic and enabling automatic priming d) acting as a filter to direct our attention towards some information and away from other information

d) acting as a filter to direct our attention towards some information and away from other information

Eric knows that plane crashes are extremely rare and statistically unlikely. However, he avoids flying and instead drives everywhere, even though he knows the likelihood of being injured in a car accident is far more likely than in a plane accident. Eric is being affected by the ________ heuristic. a) anchoring and adjustment b) representativeness c) status quo d) availability

d) availability

Jordan recently won third place in his city's creative writing contest, even though he hasn't written creatively in years and he submitted a story he wrote years ago. He thinks to himself, "If only I had been working on my writing this whole time, I might have won first place." This is an example of ________ thinking. a) magical b) optimist c) overconfident d) counterfactual

d) counterfactual

Andrew saw a TV commercial for a new video game that he had been wanting. The game was on sale for 50% off, but the store was set to close in two hours. Andrew was 15 minutes late getting to the store and missed the sale. To ease his distress about missing the sale, Andrew reasoned that he never really had a chance to get to the store before it closed because traffic was too heavy, even though he could have taken a different, quicker route. This is an example of ________. a) affective shifting b) contra-affective cognition c) affective heuristics d) counterfactual thinking

d) counterfactual thinking

Heuristics exert a strong influence on our thinking in large measure because they ________. a) rely on our internal personal biases and unknown prejudices b) are effortful processes that require an expenditure of mental energy c) activate critical brain structures such as the amygdala d) reduce the mental effort needed to make judgments and decisions

d) reduce the mental effort needed to make judgments and decisions

During finals week, Jonah tells his friend that he'll be able to write four term papers over the next few days. Jonah is shocked and upset when he is barely able to complete two of these four papers. Jonah's behavior is consistent with ________. a) counterfactual thinking b) the pessimistic bias c) the negativity bias d) the planning fallacy

d) the planning fallacy

The fact that we can make judgments and evaluations about different aspects of the world in either a controlled, reflective way or an automatic way suggests ________. a) we have several different evaluative systems that operate relatively independently of each other and generally address different aspects of the world b) we have only one system for evaluating the social world, but this system can be controlled or operated in two different ways c) our reasoning abilities can overcome most of our automatic processes if we pay attention to the judgments we are making at any particular time d) we have two systems for evaluating the social world which may be located in different areas of the brain

d) we have two systems for evaluating the social world which may be located in different areas of the brain