Social Psychology quiz q & a's

In Milgram's famous electroshock study, approximately ________ percent of the participants delivered the ultimate punishment of 450 volts.

65

What were the findings of the famous Rosenthal & Jacobsen study on the self-fulfilling prophecy?

High teacher expectations for students resulted in an increase in the students' IQ scores.

In class we discussed a particular cognitive phenomenon, self-handicapping, which describes a certain form of self-esteem maintenance. Which of the following is the best example of this phenomenon?

A student expects to fail her Biology exam, so she does not study for it. When she indeed fails the test, she says, "See? I'm just not good at biology!"

In which of the following situations is pluralistic ignorance being demonstrated?

A taxi driver is being robbed by a passenger with a firearm. Several people walk by this event as it is happening and notice the gun, but all conclude that they must be mistaken since no one is doing anything about it.

As an infant, Hannah was somewhat aloof and did not react much when her mother left her for a while, or when she returned. Now, as an adult, Hannah is not comfortable being close to others and finds it difficult to establish trust in her relationships. What attachment style does Hannah seem to have?

Avoidant

Captain Mullen wants to develop a training program for police officers to reduce destructive obedience to authority in the department. Which of the following components would make this program most effective?

Consistent reminders to officers of their personal responsibilities when obeying authorities.

Kendra and Emily are college roommates. Kendra hails from a farm in South Carolina and has a distinct drawl in her speech patterns; Emily was born into a family of actors who dress very "chic" and fashionably. After one semester living together, Emily starts to say "y'all" occasionally in conversation while Kendra has begun to wear black much more often. What type of social influence does this represent?

Convergence

Which "source" factor in attitude persuasion best explains why you would likely be highly influenced by Tiger Woods selling you golf equipment, but not highly influenced by him selling you a car?

Expertise

With the information we have been given in the example above, we would likely make what kind of an attribution about Winslow's behavior?

External—the behavior is likely due to some quality of Jill's

As mentioned in class, Australia and Great Britain are considered to be highly ________________ cultures.

individualist

The right for participants to withdraw from research without penalty and the steps that will be taken to protect the data they provide are two critical components of:

informed consent.

Business establishments sometimes display signs that say, "No shirt, no shoes, no service" implying that anyone not adhering to a certain basic dress code will be asked to leave. Policies like this one reflect a simple ____________________ for that society.

injunctive (prescriptive) norm

Katy is hired to market a product that she considers inferior. To reduce her cognitive dissonance, she convinces herself that the product is good. Katy's attitude change is likely motivated by:

insufficient external justification—since the product itself isn't good enough to get her support, she had to change her internal feelings about it.

Jade is a member of a violent inner-city gang, and she has been involved with drugs and criminal activity for as long as she can remember. However, she likes to envision herself attending higher education—perhaps a trade school where she could pursue her interests in computer science. A social scientist might say that Jade is engaging in ___________________, which is causing her to reconsider making her actual self more like her ideal self.

internal social comparison

According to research on the "overjustification effect," when people are paid for doing something they already enjoy doing, they will often:

lose intrinsic interest in the activity.

As a rule, Ilene always wears pants. When a friend invites her to their family's country club, Ilene decides to wear a dress so as not to "stick out" as someone who doesn't belong. This is likely an example of:

normative social influence.

According to researchers like Dan Batson, a distinction can be made between altruism and egoism in that:

only in altruism does a person adopt another's perspective to "feel what they feel."

Dr. Faber's first car was a white Ford Taurus (which he nicknamed "the whale"). He only owned it for about a year, but in that time he had to repair or replace the exhaust system, the starter, the timing belt, the wheel alignment, and the headlights (multiple times, due to an electrical problem). In fact, the entire experience was so frustrating he vowed never to own another American car. Dr. Faber's negative attitude toward American cars is likely the result of:

operant conditioning.

In the Kruger and Dunning (1999) Article 1 reading, the researchers tested participants on generally desirable traits such as humor recognition, logic skills, and grammar skills. They also asked the participants to provide self-assessments estimating how competent they believed themselves to be at those skills. The researchers found that:

people of low competency overestimated their skills far more than people of high competency.

One example of a social situation in which a person is forced to choose between cooperation and competition with another person is the:

prisoner's dilemma.

"Implicit racism" refers to:

racist attitudes that affect an individual's behavior unconsciously and unintentionally.

Keith and David are most likely to have a communal relationship if they are ____________ and most likely to have an exchange relationship if they are ______________.

romantic partners; strangers

Serena went to three different nightclubs this past week. Prior to this, she had a slightly negative attitude toward dancing, but after observing her own behavior, she starts to conclude that she must in fact enjoy it, otherwise she wouldn't have attended so many raves. This change in Serena's self-concept is most consistent with the predictions of:

self-perception theory.

Many people—your professor included—enjoy wearing clothing emblazoned with the names and logos of the music bands they like. Social psychologists would consider this behavior a form of ________________ because it immediately communicates important aspects of identity to other people.

self-presentation

In your Article 3 reading (Kteily & Bruneau, 2017), the "Ascent of Man" scale (with numbers corresponding to pictures of primitive apes evolving to modern humans) was used to assess blatant dehumanization toward which two groups typically marginalized by Americans?

Mexicans and Muslims

John's fiancée, Ruth, tells him that she wants to visit her ex-boyfriend. John becomes very upset with Ruth and they start arguing. During the argument she calls him a bad word. He slaps her and storms out of the house. When others hear about this incident, they are most likely to find John's behavior acceptable if he and Ruth live in:

Mississippi.

According to research on deindividuation, which of the following is NOT an important contributor to "mob mentality" behaviors like rioting and looting?

Moral ambiguity

Which of the following was NOT discussed in class as a way to "simulate" the caring bond and frequent interaction needed to satisfy a person's need to belong?

Moving in with a new roommate

Which of the following is true regarding the similarity theory of attraction ("birds of a feather flock together") and the complementarity theory of attraction ("opposites attract")?

People tend to endorse both theories, even though evidence is much stronger for the theory of similarity.

Which of the following constitutes a research hypothesis?

People who sing in the shower will have a greater number of friendly interactions later in the day than those who do not sing in the shower.

Jamal is in the waiting room at the doctor's office, where the television in the room is playing a newscast about upcoming weather events. After his appointment, Jamal abruptly takes a detour to the mall, where he buys a new pair of rain boots. "I've been meaning to get new ones for a while," he says to the store clerk. Which of the following concepts best explains Jamal's behavior?

Priming

Nalini Ambady's research on "thin slices" of expressive behavior revealed what about person perception?

Quick, automatic judgments of others can often be just as accurate as unhurried, effortful judgments.

Which of the following methodological elements do experimental studies typically feature that correlational studies do not?

Random assignment

Which trick to persuasion can be loosely summarized by the saying, "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"?

Reciprocity

The developers of the Elaboration Likelihood Model of attitude persuasion were:

Richard Petty and John Cacioppo.

Susannah just moved with her infant daughter into an apartment in a new neighborhood. Who is she most likely to make friends with?

Sasha, her next-door neighbor who is also a mother

Stephen is very passionate about politics and volunteers to work for the campaign of a candidate whom he strongly believes can make a difference. However, in the general election the candidate falters badly, pulling only a small fraction of the vote. Stephen is heavily disappointed by this, but rather than become disconsolate and depressed, he reminds himself that he is still doing well in his career as a patent lawyer and has a loving family. What aspect of the social self best explains Stephen's behavior?

Self-affirmation

Nikki, age 8, frequently watches violent television shows as well as horror movies. According to longitudinal research on children and media use, what can we expect about Nikki as she grows up, as compared to children who do not watch much violent media?

She is more likely to show aggression in numerous forms (e.g., relational, physical, verbal).

Which of the following well-known research studies was NOT about measuring conformity behavior?

Stanley Milgram's "subway" study

One important determinant of attitudes and social behavior in humans is our awareness of the inevitability of death, known as "mortality salience." What theory explains the adoption of attitudes, values and behaviors that reduce our potential anxiety about dying?

Terror management theory

Don is at a workshop where a presenter is attempting to persuade people to make a rather risky but potentially highly profitable financial investment. After carefully considering the presenter's arguments and their implications to his company, Don finds this person's plan sound and compelling and decides to invest. This example best demonstrates what route to attitude persuasion?

The central (systematic) route

Which of the following variables does NOT significantly impact the amount of social influence wielded by groups on individuals, according to Bibb Latané?

The cultural dimensions of the group

Your friend asks you if you'd be willing to run "really quick to the grocery store" with him. You agree. However, once in the car he asks if you'd mind running three other errands with him. Grudgingly you say yes. Your friend has used which of the following compliance techniques?

The foot-in-the-door

Mei Ling is usually bare-headed, but in her Outlook profile picture for work, she is wearing a hat. This picture is seen whenever someone in her company emails her. One day Mei Ling shows up to work actually wearing the hat, and several people smile or compliment her on looking good that day. What social attraction concept likely explains the behavior of Mei Ling's co-workers?

The mere exposure effect

A researcher is interested in studying "cuteness aggression," which has been defined as the urge to crush or bite cute things (without intent to cause harm). She gathers participants and gives them each a "squeeze ball" equipped with a pressure sensor. She then randomly shows them an adorable picture of a baby human or a puppy and records how tightly they squeeze the ball upon viewing the picture. Her goal is to see which stimulus elicits the most cuteness aggression. In this study, what is the dependent variable?\

The pressure on the ball, as recorded by the sensor

n a 1947 study by Allport and Postman, participants were shown a subway scene with a Black man dressed in a suit and a White man brandishing a razor. What eventually happened in a majority of cases when the scene was repeatedly described to others who had not seen the original picture?

The razor changed hands from the White man to the Black man.

Two people are placed in a room and are provoked to behave aggressively toward one another. Which of the following is most likely to happen?

They are more likely to behave aggressively if there is any kind of weapon anywhere in the room.

In the famous Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) study on cognitive dissonance, where participants had engaged in boring activities and then were asked to rate how they felt about them, which group felt that the activities were MOST interesting?

Those who received $1 to tell the next person that the study was interesting

In one of the studies described in class, football and hockey teams that wore black were shown to be consistently penalized more for aggressive play than teams that did not have black as a major uniform color. The social psychology concept that best explains this finding would be:

social perception—the referees associated "black" with "bad" and unconsciously judged those teams as being more aggressive. self-perception—the teams were aware they were wearing black so they figured they must be aggressive.

In class, we mentioned that experiencing social rejection is neurologically very much like ______________, because the same brain areas are activated in both situations.

suffering physical pain or injury

The term "cognitive miser" refers to our tendency to:

take shortcuts in processing complex information in order to conserve mental resources.

During their first year of medical school, many medical students begin to think that they and other people they know are suffering from serious illness. This phenomenon, known as "medical student syndrome," is probably due to:

the availability heuristic.

In the 1999 film "Analyze This," Robert DeNiro plays a mob boss (a stretch for him, I know!!) who begins to see a therapist (played by Billy Crystal) with the goal of treating his numerous psychological issues caused by a life in organized crime. At one point during their sessions, Crystal tells DeNiro, "When I'm angry, sometimes I hit a pillow." DeNiro then pulls out a gun and violently shoots the pillow several times, whereupon he claims to feel better. This humorous scene illustrates:

the catharsis hypothesis.

Group cohesiveness is most likely to increase when:

the effort required to gain entry is increased.

Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison study had to be terminated less than halfway through because:

the guards and prisoners had apparently completely internalized their roles to the point where the conflict became dangerous.

In class we watched a video of an attractive young woman (really a confederate) stealing a bicycle from a park in broad daylight. Rather than calling the authorities or trying to stop her, passersby frequently helped her. This implicit assumption that beautiful people must also be good people is a form of:

the halo effect.

The most powerful situational influence in explaining the results of Milgram's obedience studies was probably:

the presence of a strong authority figure ordering the "teacher" to continue.

A couple has been together for several years and they are now deciding whether to end their relationship. Based on social exchange theory, one of the primary factors that will affect their decision is:

the relative rewards and costs that they experience being with each other.

Evolutionarily speaking, mating behavior between (and within) the sexes is fairly predictable throughout the animal kingdom. Notably, in almost all species, _____________ is/are more selective in choosing mates, which causes _____________ to compete amongst each other more aggressively.

the sex with greater investment in offspring; the sex with less investment in offspring

The hindsight bias may lead psychology students to:

think they already know about social psychology without actually studying it.

Belief perseverance and the planning fallacy would both be considered examples of:

top-down processes.

Given empirical support for the bystander effect (e.g., Latané & Darley, 1970), all things being equal, you would be most likely to get needed assistance if you were to have a severe allergic reaction:

while having a conversation with one other person.

According to our class discussions, what is one of the key considerations when judging if a study is ethical or not?

Whether the potential benefits of the study to society outweigh the risks to participants.

The concept of "groupthink" as a potentially dangerous, socially-pressured state of agreement among members of a group was first explored scientifically by:

Which of the following constitutes a socioemotional consequence of satisfying (or frustrating) the need to belong?

In the Fazio and Olsen (2001) study on attitude formation that was discussed in class, the Pokémon characters would be considered:

a conditioned (originally neutral) stimulus.

Research has determined that Black students score as well as White students on GRE questions when the questions are described as being ____________, a finding that is consistent with predictions about ______________.

a simple laboratory task; stereotype threat

According to the "A-B-C" dynamic triad model of social psychology, getting jealous when you see that your romantic partner is talking closely with an attractive acquaintance would represent a(n):

affect.

Decisions made due to activation of availability and representativeness heuristics may be flawed because they tend to ignore information about:

base rates and actual frequencies.

According to common theories of aggression, "frustration" is the natural, automatic response to:

being impeded or prevented from pursuing a goal or gratification.

According to research such as the "Robber's Cave" study and the "jigsaw classroom," the most effective way to reduce ingroup-outgroup hostility is:

by giving the groups equal status and a common goal.

Sal is running a research study about social behaviors directed toward ethnic minorities in the United States. She arranges with two of her research assistants (one of whom is Caucasian, the other Arabic) to have them each go out alone and get into crowded elevators, talking loudly on their cell phone, then observe and record the reactions of the other people in the elevator. In this study, the research assistants themselves would be considered:

confederates.

If you voted for Joe Biden in 2020, you are more likely to pay attention to reasons why he is a good president and ignore reasons why he might be a poor president. This is an example of the:

confirmation bias.

Our personal interpretations of social stimuli and events, known as ______________, are based heavily on our ______________—that, is, our learned general knowledge sets about how the world works.

construals; schemas

The "precarious manhood hypothesis" suggests that men's masculine social identity is ___________ to earn and ____________ to lose, the implicit knowledge of which makes them engage in more aggressive and risky behaviors than women.

difficult; easy

It has been demonstrated empirically that people are more willing to help their spouse on a task (and do so faster) when they already have children together than when they do not have children together. This supports predictions about prosocial behavior that would be made by:

evolutionary kin selection theory.

Lupe and Maria have a grandmother who was not very nice to them as children. They rarely visit her, and when they do, they both stay for as little time as possible. Lupe recognizes that she does not like her grandmother very much; however, Maria talks to others for long periods about how wonderful their grandmother is and how lucky they are to have her, despite clearly being uncomfortable around her. Lupe's attitude would be considered _____________, while Maria's might be considered ____________.

explicit; implicit

amesha thinks of herself as a professional risk-taker. In a recent meeting with other vice-presidents in her company, however, she discovered that her co-workers favored a more ambitious business strategy than she herself would have proposed. As a result, Ramesha quickly shifted and endorsed an even bolder position herself. The process most likely underlying her behavior change is:

group polarization.

Winslow is always very flirtatious toward Jill. Tom, Dick, and Harry are also flirtatious toward Jill. Winslow, however, is not really the outgoing type; he rarely dates and is not flirtatious with anyone but Jill. If we were to try and make an attribution about the reasons for Winslow's behavior, we would want to note that consensus is ____________ and distinctiveness is _____________.

high; high

Carmen, an 11-year-old girl, is angry with her brother for breaking her model airplane, so she tells their mother that he is playing video games when he is supposed to be doing his homework. She then posts to one of his online friend groups that he is afraid of the dark. Carmen's behaviors illustrate:

hostile aggression.

Bandura's (1961) "Bobo doll" studies of aggressive behavior in children:

illustrated the ability of children not only to imitate, but to creatively expand on observed aggressive behaviors.

As discussed in your text, the approach/inhibition theory of power predicts that if a person's power over others is ___________, they will begin to act more impulsively and assertively; conversely, if it is ___________, they will begin to behave more carefully and empathically.

increased; decreased

Major predictors of relationship quality include:

Lower expectations of one's partner to contribute to the raising of the family.

Aggression and abuse sometimes occur in unhealthy relationships because of a potentially dangerous error of judgment known as the hostile attribution bias. Which of the following statements illustrates the thoughts of someone who displays this cognitive bias?

"I'll bet she's just saying that to humiliate me."

When a group of English-speaking students from Shanghai is given the "I Am..." test in two languages, what would be the likely result?

In Chinese, they name their group affiliations; in English, they name their personal traits.

Which of the following research findings supports Robert Zajonc's theory that "evaluation apprehension" impacts individual performance more than the mere presence of other people?

Individual performance is altered when others are around, but not if those others are blindfolded.

Jane Elliott's "brown eyes/blue eyes" classroom exercise demonstrated which of the following aspects of prejudice and stereotyping?

Ingroup favoritism / outgroup discrimination

When we say that psychology is an "empirical" science, what does this mean?

It is based on the systematic observation, collection, and analysis of data

Brigette works in customer satisfaction for a major airline, where she is tasked with collecting data about people's attitudes regarding various services offered by the airline as well as their fee structures. What is the most likely method for Brigette to measure her customers' attitudes?

Likert response scales