Social Psychology
2. You ask your academic advisor what to major in, as you can’t seem to decide. She suggests psychology; however, it is important to remember that this answer likely reflects her: Correct answer: Values.
(Page 9) Social psychologists’ values penetrate their work in obvious ways, such as their choice of research topics and the types of people who are attracted to various fields of study.
3. When asked who you think will win the next presidential election, you reply that you do not know. However, after the election results are reported, you claim that it was obvious all along. This is an example of the: Correct answer: Hindsight bias.
6. Ann Landers’ 1984 survey of women readers’ opinions about romantic affection and sex was probably: …show more content…
Correct answer: Flawed because it was not representative of the population.
8. An experimenter exposed participants to different room temperatures to determine their effects on aggression. The room temperatures were the: Correct answer: Independent variable.
(Page 16) Social psychologists experiment by constructing social situations that simulate important features of our daily lives.
By varying just one or two factors at a time- called independent variables- the experimenter pinpoints their influence. An experiment enables the social psychologist to discover principles of social thinking, social influence, and social relations. Independent variable is the experimental factor that is researcher manipulates.
13. You prefer that professors post exam scores (by identification number), rather than returning them individually. It makes you feel better to see how you did in comparison to other students. This is an example of what social psychology phenomenon? Correct answer: Social comparison
(Page 28) One way is through social comparisons. Others around us help to define the standard by which we define ourselves as rich or poor, smart or dumb, tall or short: We compare ourselves with them and consider if they attend a high school with most average students and how that self-concept can be threatened after graduation when a student who excelled in an average high school goes onto an academically selective university. The “big fish” is no longer in a small pond.
16. Education and persuasion tend to change what type of attitudes? Correct answer:
Explicit.
(Page 35) Verbalized explicit attitudes may change with education and persuasion; implicit attitudes change slowly with practice that forms new habits.
17. Practice that forms new habits, albeit slowly, tends to change what type of attitudes? Correct answer: Implicit.
(Page 35) Although explicit attitudes may change with relative ease, notes Wilson, “implicit attitudes, like old habits, change more slowly.” With repeated practice, however, new habitual attitudes can replace old ones.
19. Barbara was really shocked when her candidate was not elected. She had assumed that everyone felt as she did and supported her candidate’s ideas. This is an example of the: Correct answer: False consensus effect.
(Page 45) We have a curious tendency to enhance our self-images by overestimating or underestimating the extent to which other think and act as we do. On matters of opinion, we find support for our positions by overestimating the extent to which other agree- a phenomenon called the false consensus effect.
21. The truth concerning self-efficacy encourages us not to resign ourselves to bad situations. If we persist despite initial failures: Correct answer: Effort and fewer self-doubts will help us succeed.
(Page 40) Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura captured the power of positive thinking in his research and theorizing about self-efficacy. Believing in our own competence and effectiveness pays dividends. Children and adults with strong feelings of self-efficacy are more persistent, less anxious, and less depressed. They also live healthier lives and are more academically successful.
23. Sometimes the basis for one’s belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives. Social psychologists refer to this as: Correct answer: Belief perseverance.
(Page 55) This phenomenon, called belief perseverance, shows that beliefs can grow their own legs and survive the discrediting of the evidence that inspired them. The more we examine our theories and explain how they might be true, the more closed we become to information that challenges our beliefs. Once we consider why an accused person might be guilty, why an offending stranger act that way, or why a favored stock might rise in value, our explanations may survive challenges.
24. Research has shown that explaining why an opposite theory may be true (e.g., why a cautious person might be better firefighter than a risk-taking person) ____ belief perseverance. Correct answer: Reduces.
(Page55) After forming their theory that risk-prone people make better or worse firefigthers, the participants wrote explanations for it- for example, that risk-prone people are brave or that cautious people have fewer accidents. Once each explanation was formed, it could exist independently of the information generated explanations and therefore continued to believe that risk-prone people really do make better or worse firefighters. This phenomenon, called belief perseverance, shows that beliefs can grow their own legs and survive the discrediting of the evidence that inspired them.
28. You used to envy your brother because he was always so confident when talking to others. Yet the older you become, the more you realize that your brother is more often convinced of things rather than accurate things. Your brother’s behavior can be explained by the: Correct answer: Overconfidence phenomenon.
(Page 60) Our cognitive systems process a vast amount of information efficiently and automatically. But our efficiency has a trade-off; as we interpret our experiences and construct memories, our automatic intuitions sometimes err. Overconfidence phenomenon is the tendency to be more confident that correct- to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs.
29. Sharon typically watches televised news stations that support her existing political beliefs. She is less inclined to watch the news on other stations, as it may disprove her preconceptions. Sharon’s approach illustrates the: Correct answer: Confirmation bias.
(Page 62) They typically formed some erroneous belief about the rule and then searched for confirming evidence rather than attempting to disconfirm their hunches. We are eager to verify our beliefs but less inclined to seek evidence that might disprove them, a phenomenon called the confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is a tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions.
31. Although travelers in the United States are more likely to die in an automobile crash than on a commercial flight covering the same distance, people often assume that flying is more dangerous than driving. What type of heuristic are people using when they make this assumption? Correct answer: Availability heuristic.
(Page 63-64) Using the ease of remembering examples or the amount of information, one can quickly remember, as a guide to making an inference is called using the availability heuristics. Because new footage of airplane crashes is readily available memory for most of us- especially since September 11, 2001- we often suppose we are most at risk traveling in commercial airplanes than in cars.
32. You did not study for your psychology exam. However, you imagine yourself earning a better grade than the one you actually earned. This is an example of: Correct answer: Counterfactual thinking.
(Page 65) Imagining worse alternatives helps us feel better. Imagining better alternatives, and pondering what we might do differently next time, helps us prepare to do better in the future. Similarly, the higher a student’s score within a grade category, the worse they feel. The B+ student who misses an A- by a point feels worse than the B+ student who actually did worse and just made a B+ by a point. Counterfactual thinking is imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened by didn’t.
36. According to the attribution theorist Kelley (1973), what three types of information do we use when we make attributions for other people’s behavior? Correct answer: Consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus.
(Page 69) Pioneering attribution theorist Harold Kelley (1973) described how we explain behavior by using information about “consistency,” “distinctiveness,” and “consensus.”
37. Misha is struggling with her computer. She is asked if she has difficulty using other computers on campus. The answer to this question provides information about: Correct answer: Distinctiveness.
(Page 69) When explaining why Edgar is having trouble with his computer, most people use information concerning consistency (Is Edgar usually unable to get his computer to work?), distinctiveness (Does Edgar have trouble with other computers, or only this one?), and consensus (Do other people have similar problems with this make of computer?).
38. Misha is struggling with her computer. She is asked if she usually encounters difficulty when using her computer. The answer to this question provides information about: Correct answer: Consistency.
(Page 69) When explaining why Edgar is having trouble with his computer, most people use information concerning consistency (Is Edgar usually unable to get his computer to work?), distinctiveness (Does Edgar have trouble with other computers, or only this one?), and consensus (Do other people have similar problems with this make of computer?).
43. A variation of the foot-in-the-door technique is often used by car dealers, because it typically results in people complying with higher and higher requests. It is called the ___ technique. Correct answer: Low-ball.
(Page 90) Cialdini and his collaborators explored a variation of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon by experimenting with the low-ball technique, a tactic reportedly used by some car dealers. After the customer agrees to buy a new car because of its bargain price and begins completing the sales forms, the salesperson removes the price advantage by charging for options or by checking with a boss who disallows the deal because “we’d be losing money.”
44. The attitudes-follow-behavior effect is strongest when: Correct answer: People feel that they have some choice in their behavior.
(Page 92) The attitude-action relation also works in the reverse direction: We are likely not only to think ourselves into action but also to act ourselves into a way of thinking. When we act, we amplify the idea underlying what we have done, especially when we feel responsible for it. Many streams of evidence converge on this principle. The actions prescribed by social roles mold the attitudes of the role players.
45. Although you were opposed to the war with Iraq, your attitude changed when you were required to report on the justifications for it at your job as a newspaper journalist. Which theory best explains the change in your attitude? Correct answer: Cognitive dissonance theory.
(Page 93)One theory is that our attitudes change because we are motivated to maintain consistency among our cognitions. That is the implication of Leon Festinger’s famous cognitive dissonance theory. The theory is simple, but its range of application is enormous, making “cognitive dissonance” part of the vocabulary of today’s educated people. Cognitive dissonance is tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions. For example, dissonance may occur when we realize that we have, with little justification, acted contrary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another.
49. According to the over justification effect, promising children a reward for doing what they already intrinsically enjoy will: Correct answer: Lead to less enjoyment of the activity.
(Page 98) Lepper and David Greene at Stanford, and by Ann Boggiano and her colleagues at the University of Colorado have confirmed this over justification effect. Pay people for playing with puzzles, and they will later play with the puzzles less than will those who play for no pay. Promise children a reward for doing what they intrinsically enjoy and you will turn their play into work.
(Page 9) Social psychologists’ values penetrate their work in obvious ways, such as their choice of research topics and the types of people who are attracted to various fields of study.
3. When asked who you think will win the next presidential election, you reply that you do not know. However, after the election results are reported, you claim that it was obvious all along. This is an example of the: Correct answer: Hindsight bias.
6. Ann Landers’ 1984 survey of women readers’ opinions about romantic affection and sex was probably: …show more content…
Correct answer: Flawed because it was not representative of the population.
8. An experimenter exposed participants to different room temperatures to determine their effects on aggression. The room temperatures were the: Correct answer: Independent variable.
(Page 16) Social psychologists experiment by constructing social situations that simulate important features of our daily lives.
By varying just one or two factors at a time- called independent variables- the experimenter pinpoints their influence. An experiment enables the social psychologist to discover principles of social thinking, social influence, and social relations. Independent variable is the experimental factor that is researcher manipulates.
13. You prefer that professors post exam scores (by identification number), rather than returning them individually. It makes you feel better to see how you did in comparison to other students. This is an example of what social psychology phenomenon? Correct answer: Social comparison
(Page 28) One way is through social comparisons. Others around us help to define the standard by which we define ourselves as rich or poor, smart or dumb, tall or short: We compare ourselves with them and consider if they attend a high school with most average students and how that self-concept can be threatened after graduation when a student who excelled in an average high school goes onto an academically selective university. The “big fish” is no longer in a small pond.
16. Education and persuasion tend to change what type of attitudes? Correct answer:
Explicit.
(Page 35) Verbalized explicit attitudes may change with education and persuasion; implicit attitudes change slowly with practice that forms new habits.
17. Practice that forms new habits, albeit slowly, tends to change what type of attitudes? Correct answer: Implicit.
(Page 35) Although explicit attitudes may change with relative ease, notes Wilson, “implicit attitudes, like old habits, change more slowly.” With repeated practice, however, new habitual attitudes can replace old ones.
19. Barbara was really shocked when her candidate was not elected. She had assumed that everyone felt as she did and supported her candidate’s ideas. This is an example of the: Correct answer: False consensus effect.
(Page 45) We have a curious tendency to enhance our self-images by overestimating or underestimating the extent to which other think and act as we do. On matters of opinion, we find support for our positions by overestimating the extent to which other agree- a phenomenon called the false consensus effect.
21. The truth concerning self-efficacy encourages us not to resign ourselves to bad situations. If we persist despite initial failures: Correct answer: Effort and fewer self-doubts will help us succeed.
(Page 40) Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura captured the power of positive thinking in his research and theorizing about self-efficacy. Believing in our own competence and effectiveness pays dividends. Children and adults with strong feelings of self-efficacy are more persistent, less anxious, and less depressed. They also live healthier lives and are more academically successful.
23. Sometimes the basis for one’s belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives. Social psychologists refer to this as: Correct answer: Belief perseverance.
(Page 55) This phenomenon, called belief perseverance, shows that beliefs can grow their own legs and survive the discrediting of the evidence that inspired them. The more we examine our theories and explain how they might be true, the more closed we become to information that challenges our beliefs. Once we consider why an accused person might be guilty, why an offending stranger act that way, or why a favored stock might rise in value, our explanations may survive challenges.
24. Research has shown that explaining why an opposite theory may be true (e.g., why a cautious person might be better firefighter than a risk-taking person) ____ belief perseverance. Correct answer: Reduces.
(Page55) After forming their theory that risk-prone people make better or worse firefigthers, the participants wrote explanations for it- for example, that risk-prone people are brave or that cautious people have fewer accidents. Once each explanation was formed, it could exist independently of the information generated explanations and therefore continued to believe that risk-prone people really do make better or worse firefighters. This phenomenon, called belief perseverance, shows that beliefs can grow their own legs and survive the discrediting of the evidence that inspired them.
28. You used to envy your brother because he was always so confident when talking to others. Yet the older you become, the more you realize that your brother is more often convinced of things rather than accurate things. Your brother’s behavior can be explained by the: Correct answer: Overconfidence phenomenon.
(Page 60) Our cognitive systems process a vast amount of information efficiently and automatically. But our efficiency has a trade-off; as we interpret our experiences and construct memories, our automatic intuitions sometimes err. Overconfidence phenomenon is the tendency to be more confident that correct- to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs.
29. Sharon typically watches televised news stations that support her existing political beliefs. She is less inclined to watch the news on other stations, as it may disprove her preconceptions. Sharon’s approach illustrates the: Correct answer: Confirmation bias.
(Page 62) They typically formed some erroneous belief about the rule and then searched for confirming evidence rather than attempting to disconfirm their hunches. We are eager to verify our beliefs but less inclined to seek evidence that might disprove them, a phenomenon called the confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is a tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions.
31. Although travelers in the United States are more likely to die in an automobile crash than on a commercial flight covering the same distance, people often assume that flying is more dangerous than driving. What type of heuristic are people using when they make this assumption? Correct answer: Availability heuristic.
(Page 63-64) Using the ease of remembering examples or the amount of information, one can quickly remember, as a guide to making an inference is called using the availability heuristics. Because new footage of airplane crashes is readily available memory for most of us- especially since September 11, 2001- we often suppose we are most at risk traveling in commercial airplanes than in cars.
32. You did not study for your psychology exam. However, you imagine yourself earning a better grade than the one you actually earned. This is an example of: Correct answer: Counterfactual thinking.
(Page 65) Imagining worse alternatives helps us feel better. Imagining better alternatives, and pondering what we might do differently next time, helps us prepare to do better in the future. Similarly, the higher a student’s score within a grade category, the worse they feel. The B+ student who misses an A- by a point feels worse than the B+ student who actually did worse and just made a B+ by a point. Counterfactual thinking is imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened by didn’t.
36. According to the attribution theorist Kelley (1973), what three types of information do we use when we make attributions for other people’s behavior? Correct answer: Consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus.
(Page 69) Pioneering attribution theorist Harold Kelley (1973) described how we explain behavior by using information about “consistency,” “distinctiveness,” and “consensus.”
37. Misha is struggling with her computer. She is asked if she has difficulty using other computers on campus. The answer to this question provides information about: Correct answer: Distinctiveness.
(Page 69) When explaining why Edgar is having trouble with his computer, most people use information concerning consistency (Is Edgar usually unable to get his computer to work?), distinctiveness (Does Edgar have trouble with other computers, or only this one?), and consensus (Do other people have similar problems with this make of computer?).
38. Misha is struggling with her computer. She is asked if she usually encounters difficulty when using her computer. The answer to this question provides information about: Correct answer: Consistency.
(Page 69) When explaining why Edgar is having trouble with his computer, most people use information concerning consistency (Is Edgar usually unable to get his computer to work?), distinctiveness (Does Edgar have trouble with other computers, or only this one?), and consensus (Do other people have similar problems with this make of computer?).
43. A variation of the foot-in-the-door technique is often used by car dealers, because it typically results in people complying with higher and higher requests. It is called the ___ technique. Correct answer: Low-ball.
(Page 90) Cialdini and his collaborators explored a variation of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon by experimenting with the low-ball technique, a tactic reportedly used by some car dealers. After the customer agrees to buy a new car because of its bargain price and begins completing the sales forms, the salesperson removes the price advantage by charging for options or by checking with a boss who disallows the deal because “we’d be losing money.”
44. The attitudes-follow-behavior effect is strongest when: Correct answer: People feel that they have some choice in their behavior.
(Page 92) The attitude-action relation also works in the reverse direction: We are likely not only to think ourselves into action but also to act ourselves into a way of thinking. When we act, we amplify the idea underlying what we have done, especially when we feel responsible for it. Many streams of evidence converge on this principle. The actions prescribed by social roles mold the attitudes of the role players.
45. Although you were opposed to the war with Iraq, your attitude changed when you were required to report on the justifications for it at your job as a newspaper journalist. Which theory best explains the change in your attitude? Correct answer: Cognitive dissonance theory.
(Page 93)One theory is that our attitudes change because we are motivated to maintain consistency among our cognitions. That is the implication of Leon Festinger’s famous cognitive dissonance theory. The theory is simple, but its range of application is enormous, making “cognitive dissonance” part of the vocabulary of today’s educated people. Cognitive dissonance is tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions. For example, dissonance may occur when we realize that we have, with little justification, acted contrary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another.
49. According to the over justification effect, promising children a reward for doing what they already intrinsically enjoy will: Correct answer: Lead to less enjoyment of the activity.
(Page 98) Lepper and David Greene at Stanford, and by Ann Boggiano and her colleagues at the University of Colorado have confirmed this over justification effect. Pay people for playing with puzzles, and they will later play with the puzzles less than will those who play for no pay. Promise children a reward for doing what they intrinsically enjoy and you will turn their play into work.