Exam 3: The Core Elements of Social Cognition

When people tell a story about an event they observed to someone else, they often sharpen it by _____ and level it by _____.

Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the research on subliminal priming?

In the classic study by Tversky and Kahneman (1981) on people's choices when presented with statistically identical treatment options, what was the conclusion regarding people's heuristic processing?

What is the difference between an experiential association and a semantic association? Provide an example of each.

In what kinds of priming situations is a contrast effect more likely to occur than an assimilation effect?

Selena reads newspapers very frequently, and likes to follow high-profile criminal cases. At the time of the trial of Bernard Madoff for committing the largest financial fraud in U.S. history, Selena read almost every article that came out about the case. One day she was traveling. She read an article about Madoff in a filthy bus station on her way home, and then a similar article that evening sitting in her bright, clean house. Theory on metaphor's role in cognition suggests that Selena would have the HARSHEST opinion of Madoff in which setting?

In one study, researchers asked participants to either provide their gut feelings about their current romantic relationships, or to discuss at length after conscious reflection whether their relationships were good for them. The researchers then tried to use this information to predict the success of these relationships. What did the researchers find was the best predictor of relationship success?

What are two ways in which schemas lead us to have a confirmation bias when we are processing information? Briefly describe examples of research relevant to each.

Mental short cuts used automatically for making decisions are called _____.

In a classic study by Higgins and colleagues (1977), participants were first asked to complete a task which primed them with different kinds of words, then they evaluated a person whom they had never met before who tends to engage in risky behavior. What were the findings?

What does current research suggest about the relationship between social cognition, emotion, and motivation?

Takashi often thinks about his life as a journey that he is taking. For example, he feels like he took a wrong turn when he started hanging out with some cruel friends in high school, but now that he's in college studying what interests him, he feels like he's back on the right path. It is MOST appropriate to say that Takashi is using a(n) _____ to understand his life.

Which of the following is NOT a reason why schemas often lead us to reach biased decisions?

In one study, researchers found that participants thought they were more likely to draw a red marble from a jar with 10 red marbles and 90 other-colored marbles, rather than a jar with 1 red marble and 9 other-colored marbles, even though technically this is not true. This study BEST illustrates the pervasiveness of what aspect of social cognition?

Facilitated communication with individuals with autism was eventually discredited, as it became apparent that the thoughts of the communicants were actually the thoughts of the facilitators. It seemed that the facilitators were influencing the words that were typed by the individuals with autism, even though the facilitators had no awareness of this. What does this case tell us about the nature of social cognition?

In social priming, what is the difference between an assimilation effect and a contrast effect? Provide examples of each.

A(n) _____ occurs when a primed schema changes a person's thinking in the direction of that schema, whereas a(n) _____ occurs when a primed schema changes a person's thinking in the opposite direction of that schema.

Research suggests that people in a positive mood process information _____, while people in a negative mood process information _____.

Which of the following statements does NOT describe a way in which the unconscious is smart?

Which of the following conditions is NOT likely to produce a contrast effect?