Exam 13: Behaviour in a Social Context

As part of an experiment, a person is asked to write an essay advocating an opinion that is opposite to her own. She is given no financial incentive to do this and after completing the essay, the experimenters find that her prior attitude has shifted towards the one advocated in the essay she just wrote. The opinions of other participants in the study who received a financial incentive ($20) for writing a counterattitudinal essay did not show similar shifts. This example best demonstrates the phenomenon called

Malvine has always campaigned for clean air and water, often doorbelling for candidates running for political office on a clean environment platform. She is dismayed to learn that her favourite restaurant is polluting the fresh water stream that runs behind it but she continues to eat lunch there twice a week. She later cancels her membership in an environmental group, saying that the group is too radical. Which of the following psychological processes is evident here?

Alan and Allison have been married ten years. According to research by Gottman and his colleagues, which of the following ways of dealing with their anger is likely to help keep their marriage happy?

Asch demonstrated that a substantial percentage of participants conformed to obviously inaccurate line judgements made by several confederates. Follow-up interviews with the participants revealed that

If I wanted to predict your buying behaviour for a new cereal product (wheat flakes), which of the questions should I ask?

Tamara is anxious when she arrives for her first day in a new office. She mentally rehearses introducing herself, so when someone asks "Where are you from?" Tamara accidentally replies, "I'm Tamara." Later that afternoon, Tamara overhears someone say, "The new girl doesn't seem that smart." Because she knows she's extremely smart, Tamara isn't upset, but she is embarrassed. Her coworker has

The illusion of unanimity and self-censorship are most relevant to which of the following?

Alvaro and Randall both feel strongly about global warming. Alvaro believes that it is an imminent danger; Randall believes its exaggerated hype. Both have been invited to present their views to an audience of students who are majoring in the biological sciences. Alvaro arrives in jeans and a flannel shirt. He knows he isn't particularly attractive and he is at least twice the age of most of the students, but he hopes they will be able to relate to his dress style. Randall is only a few years older than the students; he arrives in a jacket and tie and has clearly taken care with his appearance. Based on this information alone, who are the students more likely to view as credible?

The text makes an important distinction between ___________, which refers to a negative attitude toward people based on their membership in a group, and ___________, which is concerned with actually treating people unfairly based on their group membership.

Jennifer has just signed up for Match in order to find a date. All things being equal, she is likely to choose

If you wanted to increase the level of obedience in a standard Milgram experiment, which of the following would you do?

When presented with Stanley Milgram's experimental design, a group of experts and lay people estimated that approximately 1% of the participants would be completely obedient, but the results from his study indicated that ______ of his male and female participants obeyed the experimenter until the conclusion of the experiment.

Theodore answers his door one day to find a young man asking for donations for a local animal shelter. The man asks Theodore if he can put him down for a $10 donation. Theodore is happy to donate $10 to such a worthy cause and gives him the $10. The next day, Theodore receives a "thank you" call from the animal shelter and a request that he donate 10 hours a week of his time volunteering at the shelter. The animal shelter has used which of the following persuasion techniques on Theodore?

Social facilitation refers to

Describe the central and peripheral routes to persuasion. For whom is the central route more likely to be effective?

The tendency for members of a group to suspend critical thinking because they are striving for agreement is specifically called

Let's say that you are a novice chess player. According to the theory of social facilitation, if an audience watches you play, you should

Identify two causes of group polarization.

All of the following were mentioned by Harold Kelley as factors that determine the attributions we make, EXCEPT ________.

Cognitive dissonance is more likely to occur when a person feels that her actions are coerced and when the counterattitudinal behaviour __________ her sense of self-worth.