Exam 2: Social Cognition: How We Think About the Social World

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?

Describe the study in which German judges were asked to make a decision about appropriate sentences for wrong-doers.After reading about the case,judges received either harsh or more lenient recommendations from either a journalist,a random roll of the dice,or a seasoned prosecutor.What did the study show? What key heuristic did it powerfully (and worryingly)illustrate? What reason can you give for why the recommendations were so powerful?

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?

When individuals mentally compare their current outcomes with more favorable possible outcomes,they are engaging in ________.

The fact that experienced courtroom judges allowed judgments from either journalists,or even random sources,to significantly influence their opinions can be explained by ________.

If you were a convicted defendant facing sentencing for your crime,based on anchoring and adjustment research,what would you want the judge to do before she sentenced you?

Magical thinking ________.

The term "cognitive load" refers to ________.

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 ________________.

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 ________.

Research examining the representativeness heuristic has demonstrated that there may be cultural differences when people are asked to consider causal factors.What are these differences and how might they impact international negotiations on global issues?

On September 11,2001,the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked by terrorists.Suppose,on that day,Pedro said to his friend,"I can't believe it! For a long time I thought there'd be a serious attack on the United States,and it just happened!" The principle of magical thinking that this would illustrate is ________.

Social thought is not always completely rational because ________.

Increasing the accessibility of a schema by exposing an individual to a specific stimulus is known as ________.

In a study,participants who were allowed to "express the influence of a prime," during a first task,were ________ by that prime during a second similar task.

________ results when the demands on our cognitive system are greater than its capacity.

Which of the following individuals is exhibiting behaviors or thoughts consistent with priming?

The tendency displayed by many people to expect things to turn out well in the long run is known as ________.

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?

Explain the distinction between how a prime might trigger schema-consistent behavior and how a prime might trigger a preparation to interact which a person from a particular group.How did Cesario,Plaks,and Higgins (2006)examine this experimentally?