Deck 5: Social Cognition

Question 1

People generally prefer to conserve effort by relying on automatic modes of thought (rather than conscious modes of thought) whenever they can. That is, people tend to ____.

A) rely on base rates
B) avoid using scripts
C) make upward comparisons rather than downward comparisons
D) be cognitive misers

Answer 1

be cognitive misers

Question 2

Jarvis very much wants to convince his friends that it would be good to take the day off studying and go to a concert in a nearby city. He points out the importance of taking occasional breaks from studying and recharging. He also notes that he has a friend who can get them good tickets at a reduced price. By spinning his argument and focusing on positives, Jarvis is relying on ____ to make his friends more likely to agree.

A) priming
B) framing
C) suppression
D) heuristics

Answer 2

framing

Question 3

Research indicates that the topic people think about most is ____.

A) other people
B) sex
C) work
D) money

Answer 3

other people

Question 4

Claudio is not especially surprised when he gets a low grade on a research paper since he and his partner are going through a particular difficult period in their relationship and he did not work on it as diligently as he would have otherwise. Claudio is attributing his grade to ____ factors.

A) internal, stable
B) external, stable
C) internal, unstable
D) external, unstable

Question 5

The term "cognitive miser" was coined to refer to ____.

A) people's general reluctance to do much extra thinking
B) people's general reluctance to share their ideas with other people
C) people's tendency to give themselves the benefit of the doubt in ambiguous situations
D) people's tendency to blame negative experiences on other people (or on other external circumstances)

Question 6

Before the rise of social cognition, the field of social psychology was dominated by ____.

A) the doctrine of behaviorism
B) the doctrine of humanism
C) Freudian theory
D) neo-Freudian theory

Question 7

Current theory and research suggests that the power and size of the human cerebral cortex may have evolved largely in order to ____.

A) dominate other species
B) influence other people
C) obtain food
D) fend off predators

Question 8

Three-year-old children tend to think that the Stroop test is really easy, as compared to six-year-old children, 12-year-old children, or adults. This is because, in general, three-year-olds ____.

A) do not have fully formed schemas
B) do not know how to read
C) have not made lasting associations between colors and particular objects
D) are less likely to rely on automatic processing

Question 9

The opposite of a cognitive miser would be someone who ____.

A) does not care what other people think
B) tends to share his or her ideas freely with others
C) carefully and rationally thinks about each and every decision
D) rarely compares himself or herself with peers

Question 10

The text introduces revolutionary research in social cognition by Mercier and Sperber (2011), who studied ____.

A) the tendency for people to argue, in the sense of trying to influence others to their point of view
B) the tendency for people to comply with authority figures even when they know that what they are doing is wrong
C) the tendency for people to feel anonymous when they participate in large, tight-knit groups
D) male-female differences in the content of same-gender relationships

Question 11

A well-known test used in psychological research plays on the distinction between automatic and controlled processing. The test requires people to look at the written names of several colors ("green," "red," "blue," etc.)-names which are in all cases written in "non-matching" colors of ink (e.g., the word "green" might be written in red ink, while the word "red" might be written in yellow ink)-and to identify, as quickly as possible, the color in which each word is written. This test is known as the ____.

A) Stroop test
B) Myers-Briggs test
C) Rorschach Inkblots
D) Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Question 12

Researchers have found that people tend to ____ as little as possible.

A) make use of schemas
B) make use of knowledge structures
C) engage in conscious processing
D) engage in automatic, nonconscious processing

Question 13

Social cognition refers to a movement within social psychology that focuses on ____.

A) how individuals think about social relationships and about other people
B) group thinking and group decision-making
C) cross-cultural differences in how people think and problem-solve
D) conformity, obedience, and crowd mentalities

Question 14

Eleven-year-old Summer has an autism spectrum disorder. To help her prepare for new experiences, her family relies on specially developed stories about the situations. For example, when Summer has an upcoming appointment with the dentist, her family reads her books about a girl who visits the dentist. The stories help Summer know what to expect and how she should behave. These stories are often referred to as social ____.

A) cognitions
B) attributions
C) schemas
D) scripts

Question 15

The false consensus effect, the illusory correlation, and the first instinct fallacy are all examples of topics in ____ research.

A) attribution theory
B) social cognition
C) motivation
D) prejudice

Question 16

Jackson has a lot to do this weekend, but as he is getting started, an old friend contacted him. They get together for what turns out to be a two-hour breakfast. When talk turns to seeing an early movie, Jackson figured he might as well since he had already blown most of the morning. Jackson is experiencing the ____ effect.

A) counterfactual
B) self-serving
C) counterregulation
D) actor/observer

Question 17

Otilia is furious when she gets back an exam that she thought she should have aced. Instead, she receives a low C, and attributes it to a water main repair involving heavy construction equipment going on less than 10 yards from the open classroom windows. Otilia's explanation relies on ____ factors.

A) internal, stable
B) external, stable
C) internal, unstable
D) external, unstable

Question 18

The field of social cognition first emerged in the ____ as ____.

A) 1920s; a discipline that predated and helped to spur the development of cognitive psychology
B) 1920s; a discipline that predated and helped to spur the development of, social psychology
C) 1970s; a movement within social psychology
D) 1970s; a discipline that is replacing social psychology

Question 19

Rosaura has a definite idea of what an apartment is like. It is a small walk-up on the fifth floor, the kitchen is better suited to take-out meals than dinner parties, and the views are limited to alleys and the windows of other apartments. As a result, when she moves to a small city and is apartment hunting, she shocks the rental agent by repeatedly commenting about how big the rooms are, how spacious and well-equipped the kitchens are, how nice the views are, and how convenient the elevators are in getting to a third floor apartment. Rosaura's apartment ____ has been violated by the apartments she is viewing.

A) cognition
B) attribution
C) schema
D) script

Question 20

The Stroop test is a psychological test that highlights the ____.

A) distinction between automatic thinking and deliberate thinking
B) tendency for ironic processes to occur in the wake of attempted thought suppressions
C) fact that thinking is guided by three different types of goals
D) tendency for people to make the fundamental attribution error

Question 21

The unconscious mind would struggle most with the meaning of which of the following?

A) dead enemy
B) happy children
C) sad tears
D) loving home

Question 22

People are faster to classify the target word "flower" when it is preceded by the word "plant" than when it is preceded by the word "elephant." This effect is due to ____.

A) attribution
B) priming
C) simulation
D) counterregulation

Question 23

When you go to a restaurant, you know that there is a certain sequence of things that you need to do: (a) wait to be seated, (b) order, (c) eat, and then (d) pay. In other words, you have a ____ for what needs to be done at restaurants.

A) frame
B) heuristic
C) schema
D) script

Question 24

People who have severe brain damage sometimes approach objects in the world as if they are seeing them for the first time. That is, instead of seeing a "chair," for example, these people see "a wooden object with four legs." Similarly, instead of seeing two dogs, such people might see "a small tan animal with fur and a large brown object with its tongue hanging out." One might conclude that people with this kind of brain damage ____.

A) do not have schemas
B) have inaccurate schemas
C) do not use heuristics
D) have inaccurate heuristics

Question 25

Polina is three years old. She is just beginning to understand concepts such as "dog," "cat," "chair," and "sofa," and to understand how these concepts differ from one another. In other words, she is just beginning ____.

A) to employ framing
B) to use heuristics
C) to develop schemas
D) to develop scripts

Question 26

Suppose that you have a certain idea about what a tropical island should be like: It should be a tourist destination, have palm trees, enjoy a warm climate, and contain plenty of bars that serve cocktails with paper umbrellas. Your general understanding of what a tropical island is all about is most clearly an example of a____.

A) script
B) schema
C) heuristic
D) counterfactual

Question 27

What will people most likely do when they encounter information that is at odds with an existing schema?

A) They will simply rely on the information (and ignore their schema).
B) They will automatically incorporate that information into their existing schema.
C) They will tend to engage in more deliberate thought about the topic at hand.
D) They will automatically create a new schema altogether.

Question 28

The Stroop test can be thought of as a demonstration of ____.

A) the duplex mind
B) the tendency for nature to say "go" and culture to say "stop"
C) the tendency for people to "put people first"
D) the idea that the human brain evolved to effectively relate to other people

Question 29

Which of the following is the best example of a schema?

A) You tend to assume that just because someone is Asian, that person must be good at mathematics.
B) You believe that it is bad luck to step on the cracks when walking on the sidewalk.
C) You know how to behave when you go out to dinner with your friend and her parents.
D) You have a general sense of what cats are like, how they behave, and how they are different from other animals.

Question 30

When William James spoke of "wakening the associations," he was referring to ____.

A) knowledge structures
B) priming
C) framing
D) simulation

Question 31

Schemas and scripts are both examples of ____.

A) intentions
B) knowledge structures
C) heuristics
D) counterfactuals

Question 32

Social psychologists use the term ____ to refer to a process by which a given stimulus activates mental pathways, thereby enhancing their accessibility.

A) priming
B) framing
C) schematizing
D) attribution

Question 33

If you have a schema about graduate students, then ____.

A) you probably tend to think about graduate students much more than the average person
B) you have a general sense of what they are like, what they do, and how they are different from other people
C) you probably have a tendency to separate the world into "graduate students" and "non-graduate students"
D) you are very likely to become a graduate student in the future

Question 34

Within the field of social cognition, the term "priming" refers to ____.

A) modeling a behavior for someone else
B) activating a concept in the mind
C) imitating a behavior
D) engaging in a behavior without conscious awareness

Question 35

Compared to deliberate thinking, automatic thinking involves a greater level of ____.

A) effort
B) efficiency
C) control
D) intention

Question 36

Within the field of social cognition, scripts can be thought of as ____.

A) more elaborate, or complex, versions of schemas
B) schemas about events
C) preliminary versions of schemas
D) finalized versions of schemas

Question 37

A knowledge structure that contains information about a concept and its relationship to other concepts (e.g., a structure that contains information about judges and how judges relate to lawyers, criminals, the general public, and so forth) is known as a ____.

A) script
B) schema
C) heuristic
D) map

Question 38

When most people think of the concept "sleeping," they also tend to think about concepts like "dreaming," "being tired," and "yawning." That is, when they think about "sleeping," related concepts are ____.

A) framed
B) scripted
C) counterregulated
D) primed

Question 39

In theory, it would be possible for a child to have a script of ____.

A) one of his or her parents
B) himself or herself
C) what is involved in going to a restaurant
D) the advantages of cell phones over land lines

Question 40

Whenever you smell coconut oil, you tend to think about your recent vacation in the Bahamas (where you and your friends used lots of coconut suntan oil). This also makes you think about all of the fun and crazy things you did on your trip. That is, the smell of coconut oil ____ memories of your trip.

A) frames
B) primes
C) contaminates
D) simulates

Question 41

The paradoxical effects of thought suppression have been linked to psychological disorders, especially ____.

A) schizophrenia and schizoaffective personality disorder
B) phobias, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder
C) bipolar disorder and hypomania
D) histrionic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder

Question 42

Dr. Canne wants to encourage Kirk to lose weight. He tells Kirk, "If you don't start working out soon, you are going to die young and leave your children without a father!" Dr. Canne is using a(n) ____.

A) prime
B) script
C) gain-framed appeal
D) loss-framed appeal

Question 43

Suppose that Dorothy and Tim are out to lunch together, and both are on restricted-calorie diets. Which of the following would be the best example of counterregulation?

A) Dorothy notices that Tim has ordered a cheeseburger (and broken his diet), and therefore she feels that she has "permission" to break her diet too. She then goes ahead and orders a cheeseburger for herself.
B) After ordering a cheeseburger for lunch, Dorothy thinks to herself, "well, my diet is already blown for the day; I might as well order a dessert too." She then goes ahead and orders a deluxe chocolate milkshake.
C) Dorothy orders a cheeseburger and milkshake for lunch, and thus blows her diet for the day. When Tim starts to order a similar lunch, though, Dorothy chastises him and tells him that he should try to eat a less fattening lunch.
D) After ordering a cheeseburger and milkshake for lunch, and thus blowing her diet for the day, Dorothy feels remorseful and decides to go to the gym and skip dinner that night.

Question 44

As a child, the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy was once challenged by his older brother to remain standing in a corner until he could stop thinking of a white bear. That is, he was challenged to engage in ____.

A) ironic processing
B) thought suppression
C) the confirmation bias
D) magical thinking

Question 45

A prime is a ____.

A) stimulus that activates further processing of the same or related stimuli
B) way in which an argument is positioned
C) causal explanation for your own behavior
D) causal explanation for someone else's behavior

Question 46

When people want to suppress a thought, the automatic mind works to ____.

A) keep a lookout for anything that might remind them of the unwanted thought
B) redirect attention away from the unpleasant thought
C) "numb" the mind so that people do not think any thoughts
D) "cover up" the unwanted thought with other, competing thoughts

Question 47

Hilda is on a low carbohydrate diet, which restricts her from eating foods such as white bread, potato chips, and pretzels. The more Hilda thinks about the fact that she cannot eat such foods, however, the more desperately she begins to crave them. Social psychologists refer to this kind of pattern as a(n) ____.

A) oxymoronic attribution
B) ironic process
C) false activation
D) mental paradox

Question 48

Yesi and her boyfriend have just broken up, and Yesi has been deeply upset about the breakup for several days. She is trying to take her mind off of her ex-boyfriend, though, and to focus her attention on other things instead. However, if this attempted thought suppression results in ironic processing, then Yesi will most likely end up ____.

A) wanting to get back together with her boyfriend
B) being more angry with her boyfriend than she was before
C) thinking about her boyfriend even more than she was before
D) dating someone she doesn't really like that much "on the rebound"

Question 49

Priming people with money can ____.

A) make people focus on similarities instead of differences
B) make people mimic the people with which they interact
C) make people focus on differences instead of similarities
D) makes people conform to stereotypes

Question 50

Counterregulation is best described as the ____ effect.

A) "what the heck"
B) "I am monitoring myself better than you are"
C) "monkey says monkey do"
D) "I knew it all along"

Question 51

You have just spent the afternoon volunteering in the post-anesthesia recovery unit at the local hospital, helping patients with a variety of ailments. Even though you are not actually ill, as you walk home from the hospital you do so with a slight limp, and begin coughing lightly. What phenomenon is most likely to be responsible for this?

A) attribution
B) priming
C) framing
D) scripting

Question 52

Which statement best illustrates a gain-framed appeal?

A) Working out daily will help you maintain good health.
B) Failure to work out daily will risk health consequences.
C) People who don't work out enough tend to struggle with their weight.
D) If you don't work out, you might lose muscle mass.

Question 53

Yogurt that is "low fat" can be described as "95% fat free" or as "5% fatty." That is, it can be ____ in different ways.

A) framed
B) primed
C) scripted
D) simulated

Question 54

When people want to suppress a thought, the deliberate mind works to ____.

A) keep a lookout for anything that might remind them of the unwanted thought
B) redirect attention away from the unpleasant thought
C) "numb" the mind so that people do not think any thoughts
D) "cover up" the unwanted thought with other, competing thoughts

Question 55

A gain-framed appeal focuses on framing something in ____ terms.

A) negative
B) positive
C) neutral
D) truthful

Question 56

As discussed in the textbook, research participants who read a story about a character named "Donald"-a character who engages in skydiving, demolition derby driving, and other similar activities-tend to think that Donald is especially reckless when they have been ____.

A) primed with words like "dangerous" and "risky"
B) primed with words like "fun" and "adventurous"
C) asked to avoid the fundamental attribution error
D) asked to avoid the ultimate attribution error

Question 57

Kelly runs by the bank to check her balance and get cash before visiting her grandparents. Normally when she visits her grandparents, she walks with them slowly, at their pace. Today, though, after her earlier visit to the bank, she finds herself walking faster than them. This is because the visit to the bank probably produced a(n) ____.

A) dissimilarity mindset
B) availability bias
C) anchoring bias
D) similarity mindset

Question 58

Which of the following is the best example of ironic processing interfering with attempted thought suppression?

A) You are trying not to think about the fact that you made a fool of yourself at a party last weekend, but the thought pops into your head every few hours.
B) You are trying not to think about the fact that you made a fool of yourself at a party last weekend, but the more you try not to think about it, the more the thought keeps popping into your head.
C) The more you think about the fact that you made a fool of yourself at a party last weekend, the more mortifying and embarrassing the event seems.
D) The more you think about the fact that you made a fool of yourself at a party last weekend, the less embarrassing it seems.

Question 59

A loss-framed appeal focuses on the ____.

A) upside of a behavior's consequences
B) downside of a behavior's consequences
C) most accurate portrayal of a behavior's consequences
D) priming of thoughts

Question 60

In Bargh, Chen, and Burrows (1996), participants who were in the "rude" priming condition were more likely to ____.

A) wait patiently for the experimenter to speak to them
B) interrupt the experimenter to get instructions
C) view the experimenter as conceited and aloof
D) view the experimenter as modest and warm

Question 61

Research indicates that ____ and ____ are two main motivations underlying the self-serving bias.

A) self-enhancement; self-presentation
B) self-enhancement; consistency
C) self-presentation; social comparison
D) consistency; social comparison

Question 62

People tend to attribute their own behaviors to situational factors, but to attribute others' behaviors to dispositional factors. This pattern is known as the ____.

A) fundamental attribution error
B) heuristic effect
C) self-serving bias
D) actor-observer effect

Question 63

According to research on the actor-observer effect, people have a tendency to make relatively more ____ for their own behaviors but relatively more ____ for others' behaviors.

A) internal attributions; external attributions
B) external attributions; internal attributions
C) stable attributions; unstable attributions
D) unstable attributions; stable attributions

Question 64

When people make internal, stable attributions for others' successes or failures, these attributions tend to concern questions of ____.

A) ability or talent
B) effort or hard work
C) ease or difficulty of the task
D) luck or chance

Question 65

Why did the clown park his car in a red zone, where he might get a ticket? If you assume it is because his car happened to break down right then and there, in the red zone, then you have made a(n) ____.

A) internal attribution
B) external attribution
C) common sense assumption
D) correspondence bias assumption

Question 66

How does the fundamental attribution error (FAE) differ from the actor-observer effect (AOE)?

A) They make opposite predictions.
B) They make similar predictions, but the FAE focuses on attributions that we make about others, while the AOE concerns attributions that we make about ourselves.
C) They make similar predictions, but the FAE focuses on attributions that we make about ourselves, while the AOE concerns attributions that we make about others.
D) They make similar predictions, but the FAE focuses on attributions that we make about others, while the AOE concerns attributions that we make about others AND attributions that we make about ourselves.

Question 67

Mr. X thinks that Barack Obama became president of the U.S. because-even though he is not that brilliant or talented-he made a real effort to campaign well in 2008. But Mr. Y thinks that Barack Obama only became president because he was "in the right place at the right time," and had good luck. Social psychologists would say that Mr. X is making ____ attributions for Obama's success, while Mr. Y is making ____ attributions.

A) internal and unstable; external and unstable
B) external and unstable; external and stable
C) internal and stable; external and unstable
D) external and unstable; external and stable.

Question 68

Richard is a piano major and enters two music competitions in the same month. He places first in one of the competitions, but doesn't place at all in the other. If Richard is like most people, he will probably ____.

A) make internal attributions in both cases
B) make external attributions in both cases
C) make an internal attribution for placing first, but an external attribution for not placing at all
D) make an internal attribution for not placing at all, but an external attribution for placing first

Question 69

One of your professors has apparently just lost his job. Suppose that the campus newspaper publishes an article about it, invoking external, stable attributions. Which of the following might be the headline of the article?

A) "Unlucky Series of Misunderstandings Leads to Professor Being Fired"
B) "Another Great Professor Let Go as a Result of Budget Cuts"
C) "Inappropriate Conduct Causes Professor's Demise"
D) "When Professors Get Lazy, Consequences Can Be Extreme"

Question 70

An attribution is a(n) ____.

A) knowledge structure
B) causal explanation
C) type of heuristic
D) expectation

Question 71

Raquel buys stock in two different companies. She makes $2000 from one of these investments, but loses $3000 on the other one. If you ask Raquel about her stocks, she makes self-serving attributions, saying, "I was very clever to invest in that first company, but I just had bad luck losing so much money with the other one." In other words, ____.

A) she makes internal attributions in both cases
B) she makes external attributions in both cases
C) she makes an internal attribution for the $2000 earnings, but an external attribution for the $3000 loss
D) she makes an internal attribution for the $3000 loss, but an external attribution for the $2000 earnings

Question 72

Jorge just received an A+ on a physics exam. If you make an external attribution for this event, what might you thinking?

A) "So what! The exam was really easy. I would have gotten an A+ too."
B) "Well, I'm still not that impressed. All Jorge ever does is study. If I studied all the time I would get grades like that too."
C) "Jorge must have some sort of natural gift for physics; he is really smart!"
D) "Jorge is probably really good at physics, but I bet he does really badly in all of his other classes."

Question 73

Across many different contexts and settings, people prefer to attribute their successes to ability and effort but tend to attribute their failures to bad luck or task difficulty. This is known as ____.

A) the self-serving bias
B) correspondence bias
C) a fundamental attribution
D) the heuristic effect

Question 74

Confucius just fell down a flight of stairs. One of his disciples makes an internal attribution for the fall. What might this disciple be thinking?

A) "Someone probably pushed Confucius!"
B) "The stairs were probably very slippery!"
C) "Confucius is so clumsy!"
D) "I would have fallen if I were in his position!"

Question 75

Attribution theory is most concerned with how people ____.

A) make decisions among a set of choices
B) form scripts and schemas
C) explain the events in their lives
D) make predictions about future events

Question 76

The so-called "self-serving bias" refers to the tendency for people to ____.

A) take credit for their successes but deny blame for their failures
B) remember cases in which they succeeded but forget cases in which they failed
C) notice when they are better than others at things, but fail to notice when they are worse than others at things
D) think that their personal skills, traits, and characteristics are more valuable and desirable than they really are

Question 77

Your friend Roger has recently been promoted at work to senior vice president. If you made an internal, unstable attribution for Roger's promotion, what might you be thinking?

A) "Roger probably worked really hard to get that promotion!"
B) "Roger is just brilliant; everything he touches turns to gold!"
C) "Well, there is nothing that special about Roger; anyone with his background could have gotten that position."
D) "There is nothing that special about Roger at all; I think the promotion was a fluke; he seems to have gotten plain lucky!"

Question 78

Research on ____ is concerned with the causal explanations people give for their own and others' behaviors, and for events in general.

A) heuristics
B) schemas
C) attribution
D) self-regulation

Question 79

When people make external, unstable attributions for others' successes or failures, these attributions tend to concern questions of ____.

A) ability or talent
B) effort or hard work
C) ease or difficulty of the task
D) luck or chance

Question 80

Fritz Heider analyzed what he called "common sense psychology"-the ways in which people explain everyday events. He suggested that most people explain everyday events in terms of either ____ factors.

A) stable or unstable
B) internal or external
C) global or specific
D) convergent or divergent