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

Tyson has looked at all of his syllabi and has written in his calendar to begin his term paper five days before it is due in class. In the past, Tyson has never finished a term paper in less than ten days. But this time, he thinks it will be different because he is now smarter and more experienced. Tyson is making what kind of error in thinking?

Instead of considering every single brand and variety of pasta sauce at the grocery store, most people make quick decisions about which one to purchase. This is an example of how people use __________.

How do we decide which schema to use in processing an ambiguous stimulus?

Iain is from Australia, where people drive on the left-hand side of the road. When he moved to the United States, his accident rate was higher than that of any of his friends. Why might this be?

You are taking a university course with a combined graduate and undergraduate enrollment. You know that there are many more undergraduate than graduate students enrolled in this course. There is a woman who looks to be about thirty sitting next to you. If you use only the base rate to guess her student status, you would guess that she is a(n) __________ student because __________.

In a study described in the textbook, participants memorized either the word "reckless" or the word "adventurous" before reading an ambiguous passage in which Donald is described as engaging in a number of recreational activities (e.g., driving in a demolition derby, white-water rafting) where he risks injury and even death. This method was used to study the concept of __________.

The textbook discusses facilitated communication, a technique that has been touted as allowing communication-impaired people to express themselves via a keyboard operated with the help of a facilitator. In fact, the technique __________.

The text discusses several instances where relying on automatic thinking can lead to negative consequences. Identify and discuss one instance where using controlled thinking could be problematic.

Based on the information in this chapter, when we meet someone new, we are likely to __________.

Counterfactual reasoning__________.

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?

You wrongly assume that because of Marcia's short hair, unshaved legs, and liberal views she is a political activist. Your (incorrect) assumption was based on the __________.

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

Self-fulfilling prophecies most often are a result of __________.

Which of the following is NOT true about the difference between automatic and controlled thinking? Automatic thinking tends to be __________, whereas controlled thinking tends to be __________.

Ahkem is considering buying a new car. He has narrowed his choices down to two models. On a sheet of paper, he begins writing down the positive characteristics of each car and the negative characteristics of each car. He will be using this list to help guide his final decision. In this example, Ahkem is using __________.

According to the authors of your text, people raised in which of the following countries would be most likely to have a holistic thinking style?

According to the perspective presented in the chapter, a person who grew up in a home with an alcoholic parent who sees a man acting in a somewhat strange manner may be __________ likely to interpret this behavior as due to alcohol because of __________.

Imagine it is the end of a long day and you are hot and ready to head home. If the research on the connection between physical sensations and the judgments they affect is correct, which of the following about social influence is most likely to occur?

__________ thinking is nonconscious, effortless, and unintentional, whereas __________ thinking is conscious, effortful, and intentional.