Exam 3: Social Cognition: How We Think About the Social World

Reasoning based on the ease with which we can bring something to mind involves the use of the ________ heuristic.

Miyamoto and colleagues conducted a study in which participants viewed either photos of U.S. city scenes or Japanese city scenes, then were asked to detect differences between two similar pictures. They found that participants who viewed Japanese city scenes were more likely to detect changes in

People tend to have ________ emotional reactions the ________ it is to "mentally undo" an outcome.

Recall that Harold Kelley (1950) told some college students that their guest lecturer was a warm person, and others that he was a cold person. The visitor then lectured for twenty minutes, and behaved in a very cocky, arrogant way during the lecture. All students viewed the lecturer as arrogant, but differed in their assessments of how humorous he was. These results suggest that schemas are

When Becky meets her new roommate, she sees that she has her hair dyed blue and has decorated her side of the room with lots of handmade ceramic pots and paintings. She then assumes that her roommate has multiple piercings and listens to punk rock. She has used the ________ heuristic in making this assumption.

Physicians often say "When you hear hoofbeats behind you, think horses, not zebras." In terms of this chapter, this idea most closely resembles

Based on the study by Harold Kelley (1950) presented in your text, if you were to describe yourself to a blind date as being witty, how would she be most likely to view a slightly sarcastic comment you make?

In a 1932 study, a Bantu herdsman readily recalled the details of a cattle transaction, but the Scotsman had to look up his written record of the event. According to your text, what can best explain this difference in memory ability?

An environment that promotes getting along well with others, being connected to one another, and seeing the larger context of social situations is most likely to promote _______ thinking.

In general, when people first encounter a novel situation, they tend to

You stayed up all night cramming for this examination and didn't do as well as you had hoped. "If only I had started studying sooner and gotten a good night's rest, I'd have done much better," you think to yourself. You have just engaged in

Tiffany has a hard time trusting other people her age because she believes they are irresponsible. Accordingly, when she makes dinner plans with one friend, she also makes backup plans with someone else, and she goes to one or the other. Her friends soon in turn begin to "blow off" their arrangements since it is not clear whether or not Tiffany will show up. Tiffany has created

In a controlled experiment, Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) informed grade school teachers that some of their students (called "bloomers") would show great academic improvement in the upcoming year. In reality, the "bloomers" were chosen randomly by the researchers, and were no smarter than any of the other students. Which of the following best describes the results of this study? At the end of the year,

Your roommate questions how charitable you really are. She says to you, "Give me just one example of the last time you gave money to a homeless person." Odds are that her challenge will convince you that you really are a generous person. Based on research by Schwarz and his colleagues (1991), why is that?

With regard to the use of base rate information, the evidence suggests that people

When you meet your new roommate for the first time, he is wearing glasses, listening to classical music, and reading a copy of the New Yorker Review of Books. You think, "Well, maybe rooming with an intellectual this year will be good for me." You instantly categorized your roommate as an intellectual on the basis of your

Research has demonstrated that metaphors about the body and social judgments influence how we think and the decisions we make. If that is true, the next time you are feeling lonely and as if the world is a cold, heartless place, what should you do and why?

New professors often have to concentrate very hard to give a lecture, and monitor themselves carefully to make sure they're not talking too fast and that they are using appropriate and clear examples. More seasoned professors do not have to concentrate as much, and can talk clearly and engagingly, and keep an eye on students all at the same time. This example represents the transition from ________ thinking to ________ thinking as professors gain experience.

Korsakov's syndrome is a neurological disorder that makes sufferers unable to form new memories. The world is disorienting and incoherent to patients with this disorder, so they often confabulate and invent fictions to make the world less scary and confusing. A social psychologist might say that these patients

Jennifer was walking along the street when she saw a man run out of a convenience store clutching on to a bag. The owner of the store runs out and shouts for the man to stop and come back. Jennifer immediately assumes that there has been a robbery, not that the man was in a hurry and forgot his change. How did she fill in this gap in her knowledge of the situation?