Deck 3: The Core Elements of Social Cognition

Question 1

The fact that the same visual stimulus can be interpreted in multiple ways demonstrates that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.This is a reflection of the _____ view.

A)behaviorism
B)psychodynamic
C)Gestalt
D)social

Answer 1

Gestalt

Question 2

The result of having a hybrid brain is that two systems of thinking play a role in social cognition.These are the _____ systems.

A)experiential and semantic
B)cognitive and semantic
C)experiential and cognitive
D)semantic and implicit

Answer 2

experiential and cognitive

Question 3

"I'll have whatever she's having" best demonstrates:

A)the need for accurate knowledge.
B)the need for information quantity.
C)the need to confirm preexisting beliefs.
D)the need to reach closure quickly.

Answer 3

the need to reach closure quickly.

Question 4

Which aspect of our cognition is related to the limbic system?

A)the experiential system
B)the cognitive system
C)Gestalt perception
D)the self-concept

Question 5

Kenji is attempting to learn French.He is seated in a library with headphones on,listening to classical music,as he stares at a textbook and tries to memorize French words.In a single moment,a new song comes on that Kenji particularly enjoys,and he suddenly finds it easier to remember the French words he is looking at.In this moment,the French words are being processed by Kenji's _____,while the music is being processed by Kenji's _____.

A)cognitive system;experiential system
B)experiential system;cognitive system
C)schema;script
D)script;schema

Question 6

A theory that explains phenomena by positing two ways of processing information is referred to as a _____ theory.

A)dual process
B)Gestalt
C)motivated social cognitive
D)priming

Question 7

Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the perspective of the Gestalt view?

A)Metaphors play a prominent role in our social cognitive processes.
B)People rely on schemas to understand social reality.
C)In matters of perception,the whole image is just the sum of its parts.
D)People construct an understanding of reality through selective acts of perception.

Question 8

Jose is tired after a long day.Now he has to decide what to eat for dinner.Research suggests that Jose will probably:

A)eat whatever food is recommended to him first and seems "good enough."
B)find and eat the food that would be best for restoring his energy after his long day of activity.
C)eat a food that he always likes to eat,even if it means spending extra effort to get that food.
D)seek out and try a new food which he has never had before.

Question 9

People are motivated to validate their preexisting beliefs in all of the following EXCEPT which circumstance?

A)the sense of self-worth is at stake
B)beliefs are challenged by opposing information
C)beliefs have been made salient
D)there is time and the issue is important

Question 10

People who have a personal preference for clear and simple knowledge tend to seek:

A)accurate knowledge.
B)closure quickly.
C)confirmation of preexisting beliefs.
D)no closure at all.

Question 11

Katrina has long believed Eric Church is the best musician of all time.She just read a review that praised Eric Church for his musical genius.She is very confident in her perception,despite all the earlier reviews she had read that pointed out his limitations.Katrina is demonstrating the need:

A)to reach closure quickly.
B)to confirm preexisting beliefs.
C)for accuracy.
D)for validation.

Question 12

Which research perspective emerged in the 1970s to find out what specific mental processes are involved when we construct a meaningful understanding of the social world?

A)the social cognitive perspective
B)the Gestalt perspective
C)the metaphoric cognition perspective
D)the schema-based perspective

Question 13

Facilitated communication with individuals with autism was eventually discredited,as it became apparent that the thoughts of the alleged communicators were actually the thoughts of the facilitators.The facilitators were influencing the words typed by the individuals with autism,even though the facilitators had no awareness of this.What does this case tell us about the nature of social cognition?

A)People are capable of planting thoughts in the minds of others.
B)Social cognition always involves the direct interplay of two or more individuals.
C)People with autism and related cognitive issues are incapable of communication.
D)Nonconscious,experiential processes can play an important role in shaping behavior and cognition.

Question 14

For a person trying to make a decision,lay epistemology theory would identify the following as relevant influences EXCEPT which factor?

A)the extent to which a relevant preexisting belief that we hold is activated in the situation
B)whether a person has a general preference for clear and simple knowledge
C)the cognitive impairments and advantages that people may have at different developmental stages
D)whether a person is exhausted or unable to focus in a situation

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT emphasized by lay epistemology theory?

A)the need for accurate knowledge
B)the need for information quantity
C)the need to confirm preexisting beliefs
D)the need to reach closure quickly

Question 16

Kruglanski's theory of lay epistemology addresses which basic problem of social cognition?

A)how people form overall impressions of the scenes they encounter
B)the overabundant quantity of information that people are confronted with day to day
C)the relationship between perception,motivation,and processes in the brain
D)the role that memory plays in our perception of novel objects

Question 17

The theory of lay epistemology deals with:

A)the relationship between perception and motivation.
B)the role that memory plays in perception.
C)impression formation.
D)motivational influences to reach a decision.

Question 18

The _____ is an unconscious,intuitive,and automatic mode of thinking,while the ____ is a conscious,rational,and controlled mode of thinking.

A)semantic association;experiential association
B)experiential association;semantic association
C)cognitive system;experiential system
D)experiential system;cognitive system

Question 19

A major challenge for individuals to make sense of the social world is the ____of information.

A)quality
B)quantity
C)type
D)accuracy

Question 20

Amartya is interviewing several candidates for a position at his firm.If he makes the right hiring decision,the firm will prosper,his superiors will look favorably on him,and Amartya will likely receive a promotion.However,if he makes a poor choice,the firm will suffer,and Amartya may even be demoted.When evaluating candidates for the position,Amartya will be primarily motivated by a need:

A)for accurate knowledge.
B)for information quantity.
C)to confirm preexisting beliefs.
D)for structure and meaning.

Question 21

Implicit attitudes are more related to the _____,while explicit attitudes are more related to the _____.

A)schema mode;impression mode
B)cognitive system;experiential system
C)experiential system;cognitive system
D)impression mode;schema mode

Question 22

In order to determine what role the experiential system and automatic behaviors might play in a given process,researchers have used which of the following methods?

A)asking people explicitly how they feel about the process at a deep level
B)studying the process while the cognitive system is "blocked"-for example by asking participants to simultaneously memorize a long list of numbers
C)giving participants arousal-inducing drugs without telling them that they have done so,and then observing how they react to the process
D)asking participants to look at visual illusions and arrays,such as figure-and-ground images,after they have completed the process

Question 23

If a behavior is automatized,this means that the:

A)behavior is so complicated it automatically engages all cognitive processes simultaneously.
B)person performing the behavior can do so without devoting attention to it.
C)behavior is a component of a stereotype.
D)behavior is primarily controlled by the cognitive system of thought.

Question 24

In a classic study by Tversky and Kahneman (1981)on people's choices when presented with statistically identical treatment options,what was the conclusion regarding people's heuristic processing?

A)People's choices are dramatically changed when they are thinking about possible losses versus possible gains.
B)People always prefer treatments which they believe are going to be the most effective.
C)When it comes to considering life-and-death issues,people weigh all the options carefully and try to make rational decisions.
D)When people are presented with statistically identical options,they ultimately choose randomly between the options.

Question 25

Which of the following statements does NOT describe a way in which the unconscious is smart?

A)The unconscious generates creative ideas.
B)Memories consolidate during sleep.
C)People are only able to form and express attitudes in the unconscious.
D)Intuition can facilitate smart decisions.

Question 26

Mental shortcuts that aid in our decision-making are called:

A)heuristics.
B)attributions.
C)categories.
D)scripts.

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT true?

A)When we are explicitly undecided about an issue,implicit attitudes predict our later explicit preferences.
B)When we are explicitly undecided about an issue,our explicit attitudes predict our later implicit preferences.
C)There is similarity among some attitudes when assessed implicitly or explicitly.
D)Our implicit and explicit attitudes are more likely to align when we feel strongly about a particular issue.

Question 28

An automatic association of an object or person as good or bad,based on prior experience,is referred to as a(n):

A)implicit attitude.
B)explicit attitude.
C)script.
D)category.

Question 29

_____ attitudes are those that people are consciously aware of through the cognitive system,while _____ attitudes are automatic associations based on previous learning through the experiential system.

A)Positive;negative
B)Negative;positive
C)Implicit;explicit
D)Explicit;implicit

Question 30

All of the following are true about the experiential system EXCEPT which statement?

A)It can be used to make rapid "good enough" judgments.
B)It uses heuristics.
C)It is intuitive.
D)It involves slow processing.

Question 31

Which task might be used to examine the speed with which people are able to associate pleasant and positive words with examples of members of a stigmatized group?

A)a somatic marker card-playing task
B)an implicit association test
C)a priming task
D)a metaphor priming procedure

Question 32

What does the research on attitudes suggest?

A)It is not possible to have implicit and explicit attitudes toward objects that are different in valence (or direction)from each other.
B)It is possible for people to have opposite implicit and explicit attitudes (in terms of valence and direction)toward the same object.
C)People's implicit and explicit attitudes toward objects are never correlated with each other.
D)Some people have only implicit attitudes toward a certain object,while others only have an explicit attitude toward it.

Question 33

When unexpected circumstances threaten routine behaviors,which of the following conditions need NOT be met in order for the cognitive system to override the experiential system?

A)synthesis between the cognitive and experiential systems so the two can work in unison
B)ability to override the automatic behaviors of the experiential system in the situation
C)awareness that the automatic behaviors of the experiential system are currently inadequate
D)motivation to exert higher-level control over the behavior

Question 34

For which of the following pairs of items was the strongest correlation found between people's explicit and implicit attitudes?

A)rich people-poor people
B)vegetables-meat
C)Democrats-Republicans
D)cats-dogs

Question 35

The implicit association test measures the extent to which:

A)people mentally associate behaviors.
B)people mentally associate concepts.
C)people make impressions on others.
D)people use heuristics.

Question 36

What is the primary function of an implicit association test?

A)determining a person's "unconscious intelligence"
B)exploring people's network of cognitive associations by asking them to name one word after another,without conscious reflection
C)determining the extent to which people tend to think more implicitly,as opposed to explicitly
D)determining the extent to which people mentally associate two concepts,even outside of conscious awareness

Question 37

Heuristics are defined as:

A)aspects of logic utilized in carefully formulated judgments.
B)mental shortcuts used automatically for making decisions.
C)mental structures stored in memory,based on prior experience.
D)impressions that individuals have of important people.

Question 38

What is the process of consolidating memories?

A)People filter their memories through schemas and confirmation biases.
B)By explicitly discussing their memories with others,people often transfer their memories from the experiential system to the cognitive system.
C)During sleep,the unconscious organizes and solidifies what has been learned in recent waking hours and days.
D)Eventually,all short-term memories become long-term memories.

Question 39

Wes is an American Indian.If you ask him,he will tell you that he likes European Americans-indeed,many of his closest friends are of European American background.However,if Wes is alone at night,walking on the street,he is more likely to startle if a European American approaches him than if an American Indian approaches him.This suggests that Wes has a:

A)positive implicit attitude toward European Americans.
B)negative explicit attitude toward European Americans.
C)negative explicit attitude and a negative implicit attitude toward European Americans.
D)positive explicit attitude and a negative implicit attitude toward European Americans.

Question 40

In one study,researchers found that participants thought they were more likely to draw a red marble from a jar with 10 red marbles and 90 other-colored marbles,rather than a jar with 1 red marble and 9 other-colored marbles,even though technically this is not true.This study BEST illustrates the pervasiveness of what aspect of social cognition?

A)impressions
B)scripts
C)the cognitive system
D)heuristics

Question 41

In studies where participants complete a gambling task where they could continually choose between low-risk and high-risk card decks,what was found among patients who have experienced ventromedial brain damage (and therefore lower arousal)?

A)They are equally likely to choose between low- and high-risk decks.
B)They learn over time to choose the low-risk deck.
C)They continually choose the high-risk deck.
D)They choose the high-risk deck only in those instances where their arousal level actually increases.

Question 42

The _____ is the idea that people experience certain bodily changes as emotions,and they come to associate those changes with positive or negative contexts,which helps guide their decision-making process.

A)emotion script
B)somatic marker hypothesis
C)assimilation effect
D)implicit association test

Question 43

In one set of studies related to the somatic marker hypothesis,participants with and without brain injury are asked to choose draws from high- and low-risk decks of cards.Eventually,most participants without brain injury learn to stop drawing from a risky deck.What else is found in these studies?

A)About one third of participants with brain injury consistently draw from the low-risk deck throughout the study.
B)About one third of normal participants are unable to explain why they chose cards from one deck more or less than from another.
C)Participants become very angry when they are forced to abandon the high-risk deck.
D)The arousal levels of all participants are consistently low throughout the study.

Question 44

Orit has knowledge of what her birthday party tonight is going to be like.She expects to receive presents,see her friends,and eat good food.What is the term for Orit's knowledge of the events that will happen at her birthday party?

A)impression
B)script
C)stereotype
D)category

Question 45

A mental construct where people place things that are similar to each other is called a:

A)schema.
B)category.
C)script.
D)heuristic.

Question 46

What does research on the somatic marker hypothesis tell us about the nature of the unconscious?

A)Emotions are only an impediment to rational judgments.
B)People who cannot make social decisions are incapable of feeling emotion.
C)Emotions are conscious rather than unconscious phenomena.
D)Unconscious,emotional evaluations are necessary for good social judgment.

Question 47

Our self-concept is defined as:

A)a schema we have about ourselves.
B)the category of person into which we place ourselves.
C)the impression we have of our own body.
D)a human ability to recognize that other people are all unique selves.

Question 48

A schema that people have about themselves is called a:

A)heuristic.
B)impression.
C)stereotype.
D)self-concept.

Question 49

Schemas that we have for particular individuals are called _____,while schemas that he have about whole groups of people are called _____.

A)categories;scripts
B)scripts;categories
C)stereotypes;impressions
D)impressions;stereotypes

Question 50

A mouse and a gorilla are quite different,yet both are animals.The fact that both are animals represents a:

A)schema.
B)category.
C)script.
D)impression.

Question 51

A _____ is a mental structure that is stored in human memory and is based on prior knowledge.

A)schema
B)category
C)script
D)impression

Question 52

Toshiro has just met a friend of a friend,named Shino.Shino is a lawyer.Because of Toshiro's past experience with lawyers,he immediately assumes that Shino must be very intelligent and a hard worker.In this example,lawyer is a _____ and Toshiro's assumptions about Shino are part of a(n)_____.

A)schema;category
B)category;schema
C)script;impression
D)impression;script

Question 53

As you sit in class and look at your psychology professor,you begin to think of all the traits that are generally associated with college professors and think about other college professors that you have had in the past.This is an example of a(n):

A)impression.
B)category.
C)schema.
D)heuristic.

Question 54

Ricardo watches a scene in the street on his way home from work.An older woman is about to be hit by a car because she has fallen over into the street and can't get back up again.She sees a man walking on the sidewalk nearby and yells to him for help.The man quickly helps her out of the way,and she avoids the danger.Afterward the older woman tries to thank the man,but he shrugs his shoulders and wanders off.Ricardo has the impression-although he can't be sure-that if the woman hadn't cried for help,the man wouldn't have done anything.Research suggests that when Ricardo retells this story to another person,the other person will:

A)become angry with Ricardo.
B)misremember the story as being about an older woman helping a man.
C)have a more negative impression of the man than Ricardo.
D)have a more positive impression of the man than Ricardo.

Question 55

Which of the following is NOT a likely source of the information contained in our schemas about events and groups of people?

A)gossip and rumors
B)film and television
C)future ways in which people and events might deviate from our expectations
D)mass media biases

Question 56

In a study,researchers asked participants to either provide their gut feelings about their current romantic relationships or to discuss at length after conscious reflection whether their relationships were good for them.The researchers then tried to use this information to predict the success of these relationships.What did the researchers find was the best predictor of relationship success?

A)people's gut feelings
B)people's more rational assessments
C)neither gut feelings nor rational assessments predicted relationship success
D)a combination of gut feelings and rational assessments

Question 57

What does current research suggest about the relationship between unconscious processes and decision-making?

A)People who are in prison are more likely to have made decisions based on unconscious processes.
B)The unconscious is incapable of making decisions because no concrete thoughts can be formed in the unconscious.
C)Relying on the unconscious to make decisions always results in irrational and detrimental behavior.
D)Impressions and feelings that we have on an unconscious level often carry important information about the best decision in a situation.

Question 58

Research suggests that when individuals are faced with making complex decisions,they are best made by:

A)automatic processing.
B)conscious processing.
C)integrating conscious and unconscious processing.
D)intuition alone.

Question 59

Adnan is trying to make a decision about which cancer treatment to pursue.His mother tells him that he should listen to his doctor carefully,get a second opinion,and then weigh all his options.His father tells him that he should not pay attention to all the details and simply go with his gut.What does current research on medical decision-making suggest?

A)Adnan should weigh all the possibilities and engage in conscious processing before making a decision.
B)If Adnan listens to his intuition,it might integrate unconscious and conscious processes and result in a good decision.
C)If Adnan has never had cancer before,then the best option would be to get a second opinion before making a decision.
D)If Adnan only listens to his intuition,he is guaranteed to make a bad decision.

Question 60

All of the following are true about schemas,EXCEPT which statement?

A)Schemas are manipulated to highlight particular pieces of knowledge.
B)Schemas are fixed after sufficient knowledge is gained.
C)Schemas help people interpret their social world.
D)Schemas represent knowledge of others and ourselves.

Question 61

In a classic study by Higgins and colleagues (1977),participants were first asked to complete a task which primed them with different kinds of words.Next,they evaluated a person that they had never met before,who tended to engage in risky behavior.What were the findings?

A)Participants primed with words like "adventurous" had a negative impression of the person.
B)Participants primed with words like "reckless" had a positive impression of the person.
C)Participants primed with words like "reckless" had a negative impression of the person.
D)Participants primed with words like "reckless" had a negative impression of the person,while those primed with words like "adventurous" had a positive impression.

Question 62

Galina rarely thinks about her grandmother.However,whenever Galina sees a fresh-baked muffin,she thinks about her grandmother's house.For Galina,muffins and her grandmother's house are:

A)in the same associative network.
B)chronically accessible schemas.
C)part of a single "buying a muffin" script.
D)commonly salient.

Question 63

Schemas that are easily brought to mind due to personal importance are called _____ schemas.

A)experiential
B)associative
C)chronically accessible
D)salient

Question 64

Activating particular associations in memory through an environmental stimulus is called:

A)triggering.
B)initiating.
C)priming.
D)stimulating.

Question 65

Janet loves children's movies about princesses.One day she watches a children's movie about a princess,and shortly afterward she is introduced to a friend of a friend,a rich woman named Tamara.What does research on priming suggest will occur?

A)Janet will have a negative impression of Tamara.
B)Janet will have a positive impression of Tamara.
C)Janet will have a mixed impression of Tamara.
D)Janet will be unable to make up her mind about Tamara.

Question 66

In one study on the effects of schema accessibility,students were asked to evaluate a student who smiled while receiving a compliment from the professor.What were the findings of the study?

A)Prior priming with words related to arrogance led participants to rate the student as more conceited.
B)Participants for whom conceitedness was chronically accessible rated the student as more conceited.
C)Priming with arrogance-related words increased ratings of the student as conceited,but most especially among students with high chronic accessibility of conceitedness.
D)Participants were most likely to rate the student as conceited if they already had negative attitudes toward the student.

Question 67

An associative network is defined as a:

A)set of ideas that a group generates when first tackling a difficult problem.
B)set of scripts that constitute a global schema.
C)group of individuals with whom a person interacts on a daily basis.
D)model for how pieces of information are linked together and stored in memory.

Question 68

When people tell someone else a story about an event they observed,they often sharpen it by _____ and level it by _____.

A)leaving out many details;emphasizing the main events
B)emphasizing the main events;leaving out many details
C)changing the characteristics of the main characters;retaining the setting of the story
D)retaining the setting of the story;changing the characteristics of the main characters

Question 69

_____ are mental links between concepts that one has experienced close together in space and time,while _____ are mental links between concepts having similar meaning.

A)Needs for specific closure;needs for nonspecific closure
B)Semantic associations;experiential associations
C)Experiential associations;semantic associations
D)Needs for nonspecific closure;needs for specific closure

Question 70

_____ is a schema's tendency to be active in one's mind,coloring perception,while _____ occurs when something in the environment activates a schema.

A)Priming;salience
B)Salience;priming
C)Script;associative network
D)Associative network;script

Question 71

To retrieve a memory of the movie you are supposed to see tomorrow with your friend,you need to activate a linkage with movies you have already seen and with the types of movies your friend likes.This process is known as:

A)scripting.
B)priming.
C)associating.
D)triggering.

Question 72

After Hurricane Katrina,pictures were shown in news outlets of people swimming through floodwaters with bags of food.The media tended to describe white people in such images as having _____ and black people as having _____.

A)found food in stores;looted food from stores
B)evacuated to the floodwaters;wandered into the floodwaters
C)wandered into the floodwaters;evacuated to the floodwaters
D)looted food from stores;found food in stores

Question 73

Samira is planning a hiking trip.She quickly brings the idea of travel into her thoughts and thinks about planning for her trip.This is MOST clearly an example of:

A)salience.
B)accessibility.
C)association.
D)schema.

Question 74

In a classic study by Allport and Postman (1947),participants were shown an image of a white man on a street car,waving a razor at a black man.Then the scene was described by one participant to another and so on until it had been described six times.What were the findings of the study?

A)In over half the trials,by the last telling of the story,the participant was claiming a black man held a razor.
B)In over half the trials,by the last telling of the story,the participant was not relaying any information about a razor.
C)In the majority of trials,people were able to recount the story essentially accurately.
D)In the majority of trials,people had gotten confused about the setting in which the story was taking place.

Question 75

If a person encounters a clown in the street,this will likely increase the _____ of her schema for being happy.

A)script
B)salience
C)associative network
D)impression

Question 76

Which of the following does NOT play a role in how accessible certain schemas are?

A)a person's personality
B)priming
C)the immediate environment
D)a person's gender

Question 77

All of the following are true of the storytelling bias EXCEPT which statement?

A)The listener of the story tends to form a realistic impression of the person or event.
B)The storyteller tends to tell a simplified version of the story.
C)Stereotypes can play a role in the recall of information.
D)The listener of the story tends to form an extreme impression of the person or event.

Question 78

The ease with which people can bring an idea into consciousness is referred to as:

A)salience.
B)schema.
C)accessibility.
D)association.

Question 79

Research has demonstrated all of the following in mainstream media reporting EXCEPT which major bias?

A)portraying men,women,and ethnic groups in stereotyped ways
B)showing a disproportionate amount of violence
C)portraying romantic relationships and love in simplified ways
D)focusing on stories about children more than stories about adults

Question 80

Joram has a chronically accessible schema for generosity.When he reads a biography of Albert Einstein,Joram is MOST likely to:

A)worry about whether he himself (Joram)is a generous person.
B)evaluate Einstein largely based on the extent of his generosity.
C)give the book away to a charitable organization after he is done reading it.
D)be unable to notice instances of generous behavior throughout the book.