Deck 5: Self-Justification

Question 1

In discussing their findings, Darley and Batson suggest that the best explanation for why some subjects failed to stop and render assistance is because:

A) they were too preoccupied memorizing their speeches to even notice the victim.
B) they experienced a conflict between helping two different persons-the experimenter and the victim.
C) they were afraid that the victim was really a very dangerous street person who would harm them.
D) being shy, quiet individuals, as most seminarians are, they did not want to create a scene on the sidewalk, especially if the victim turned out to be drunk or disorderly.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following reasons was not cited by Darley and Batson as a contributing factor for the seminar students who failed to help the victim?

A) They were in a hurry.
B) They had conflicting goals.
C) They did not see the victim as similar to themselves.
D) They saw "religion as a quest."

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following best summarizes Aronson's view on human beings and rationality?

A) The world is evenly divided into rational and irrational people.
B) All people are capable of demonstrating rational and irrational behaviors in rapid succession.
C) Rationality is too relative to be judged in relation to human behaviors.
D) We are capable of rational and irrational behaviors, depending on the circumstances.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The responses of students from both campuses to a film of a roughly played football game between Dartmouth and Princeton indicated that _______ may be one important means of reducing dissonance.

A) vicarious expression of aggression
B) revenge-taking strategies
C) actual perceptual distortion
D) blaming the victim

Question 5

The research of Jones and Kohler demonstrated that people are generally more motivated to:

A) believe they are right, rather than to actually be right.
B) be right, rather than simply believe they are right.
C) have others believe they are right, rather than actually being right.
D) be rational, rather than simply subjective.

Question 6

After choosing between two equally attractive appliances, women in Jack Brehm's study rated the appliance they selected:

A) as more attractive than the one they rejected.
B) as less attractive than the one they rejected.
C) as equally attractive as the one they rejected.
D) as less attractive than a group of similar appliances they were not allowed to choose from.

Question 7

The main idea behind cognitive dissonance theory is that incompatible attitudes:

A) are easily extinguished.
B) are easy to change.
C) are unpleasant and motivate efforts to reduce it.
D) are very rare.

Question 8

Suppose you are ready to buy a new car. You have great difficulty choosing between Brand A and Brand B. Finally, you buy Brand A. According to dissonance theory, after you have driven the car for a few weeks, you will be most likely to emphasize:

A) the poor mileage you are getting in Brand A.
B) how convenient the Brand A car is to park and drive.
C) how pretty the Brand B car was.
D) how you should have taken more time to make this difficult decision.

Question 9

The combined results of rumor research conducted by Prasad and Sinha were that following a natural disaster, people who lived in the towns directly affected by the event were more likely to ________ the possibility of impending disaster, while those living in relatively undamaged, neighboring towns tended to ________ the possibility of impending disaster.

A) be prepared for; be unprepared for
B) be anxious about; be unconcerned about
C) downplay; exaggerate
D) think about; repress

Question 10

Cognitive dissonance is defined as a state of tension that occurs:

A) whenever a person is motivated to change his or her attitudes.
B) when a person thinks and acts irrationally.
C) when a person simultaneously holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent.
D) when a person is unaware of his or her conflicting cognitions.

Question 11

Only one of the two independent variables in the "Good Samaritan" experiment was found to be significantly related to whether and how much help was given. This variable was:

A) the content of the talk the subjects were to give.
B) how hurried the subjects were.
C) the type of religiosity exhibited by the subject.
D) the degree to which the victim seemed to be in need of help.

Question 12

Lord, Ross, and Lepper showed articles favoring and opposing capital punishment to groups of students who either opposed or were in favor of it. The results of this study showed that reading articles on both sides of the controversial issue:

A) brought the attitudes in the students closer together in a "middle" position.
B) actually increased the difference in attitudes between the two groups.
C) increased the self-esteem of members of both groups.
D) decreased the self-esteem of members of both groups.

Question 13

Aronson suggests that cognitive dissonance plays a large role in political elections because voters will generally:

A) listen carefully and openly to pre-election debates.
B) only donate money to the campaigns of honest politicians.
C) vote for the same candidate as their spouse.
D) alter their perception of a candidate to be consistent with their pre-conceived beliefs.

Question 14

According to a survey gauging people's reactions to scientific evidence that smoking cigarettes causes cancer:

A) smokers who were planning to quit believed the report even more than nonsmokers did.
B) smokers believed the report, but nonsmokers rejected it.
C) smokers were far less likely to believe the report than nonsmokers were.
D) smokers were likely to believe the report, but still refused to quit smoking.

Question 15

Joe is given the choice between two record albums he has already ranked as numbers 4 and 5 on a 1-10 scale. Joe chooses #4. Two weeks later when Joe is asked to rerank the ten albums, he reranks #4 as #2. This example is best predicted by:

A) cognitive dissonance theory.
B) reactance theory.
C) stereotyping.
D) the "just-world" hypothesis.

Question 16

The "Good Samaritan" experiment was designed to assess the influence of which of the following types of variables?

A) exogenous and endogenous
B) egoistic and altruistic
C) latent and manifest
D) situational and personality

Question 17

Jim has trouble deciding whether to buy a good-mileage, poor-maintenance MGB or a poor-mileage, easy-care Camaro. Finally, he buys the MGB. According to cognitive dissonance theory, he will probably spend most of his time concentrating on:

A) the good mileage he gets.
B) wondering when his car will break down.
C) the unimportance of good mileage.
D) the advantages of a low-maintenance car.

Question 18

From the results of the "Good Samaritan" experiment, Darley and Batson conclude that:

A) seminary students, as a group, are more hypocritical than the general population.
B) being in a hurry is inversely related to being religious, probably because hurried persons are very involved in worldly, material concerns and do not consider other-worldly, religious issues.
C) personality variables are strong predictors of whether or not a person offers assistance to someone in need.
D) situational variables affect whether or not a person offers assistance to someone in need.

Question 19

According to dissonance theory, we tend to experience dissonance after making an important decision because:

A) we often feel forced into choosing a particular alternative.
B) the rejected alternative seems more attractive than the chosen alternative.
C) the chosen alternative is seldom entirely positive, while the rejected alternatives are seldom entirely negative.
D) we hardly ever have enough time to make a good decision.

Question 20

Darley and Batson found that type of religiosity affected the kind of aid a subject offered to the victim. Specifically, they observed that:

A) "rigid" helping styles were prevalent among subjects who viewed religion as a "quest" for meaning in their personal and social worlds.
B) subjects who held orthodox religious beliefs tended to listen carefully to the victim's claims that he was really all right.
C) subjects who scored high on the "religion as quest" scale were more mindful of the victim's definitions of his own needs.
D) religiously orthodox subjects were cold and callous toward the victim.

Question 21

As part of a psychology experiment, Ed and Todd wrote essays saying that seat belts are unnecessary and laws requiring them should be abolished. From a questionnaire given several weeks before, it is known that both Ed and Todd are actually in favor of laws requiring seat belts. In the experiment, Ed is given a very small reward for writing the essay, while Todd is given a large reward for writing the essay. If their attitudes are subsequently measured, what is the most likely result?

A) Todd will favor seat belts more than before; Ed will be more opposed.
B) Todd's attitude about seat belts will not change; Ed's will become stronger that seat belts are unnecessary.
C) Todd's attitude about seat belts will not change; Ed's will become stronger that seat belts are necessary.
D) Todd will favor seat belts more than before; Ed's attitudes will not change.

Question 22

According to Mills's study of cheating among sixth-graders, students ________ after having resisted the temptation to cheat on an exam.

A) developed more tolerant attitudes toward cheating
B) adopted harsher attitudes toward cheating
C) were more tempted to cheat in the future
D) actually performed better on later exams

Question 23

Freedman and Fraser, in their door-to-door study in which housewives were asked to sign a petition or put an ugly sign in their yard, found that subjects who agreed to a ________ request first were ________ likely to comply with another request.

A) small; more
B) large; less
C) small; less
D) large; more

Question 24

The foot-in-the-door technique is a method of:

A) encouraging people to do a small favor after they've refused to comply with a larger request.
B) encouraging people to do a favor for us after we have granted them a small request.
C) encouraging people to do a larger favor after they've agreed to an initially small request.
D) using increasingly larger rewards to encourage people to comply with increasingly larger requests.

Question 25

A local store advertises a great sale on a certain computer. When you get to the store, the salesperson informs you that they are all out of that particular model, but that they have another model that is "even better" than the sale model for "only" $500 more. This sales technique is known as:

A) foot-in-the-door.
B) bait-and-hook.
C) lowballing.
D) switching.

Question 26

Dissonance effects are greatest when:

A) people feel personally responsible for their actions and their actions have serious negative consequences.
B) people feel personally responsible for their actions and they have low self-esteem.
C) the person's actions have serious negative consequences whether the person feels responsible or not.
D) the person's actions have serious negative consequences and the person has low self-esteem.

Question 27

Bill and Mary are concerned because they feel their 13-year-old son spends too much time playing video games. One day, they came across a magazine article describing the positive and negative effects of video games on child development. After reading the article, Bill and Mary decided to show it to their son. According to dissonance theory, what would be the most likely impact of reading the article?

A) Bill and Mary would stop worrying, now that they knew that video games had positive effects.
B) Bill and Mary would be more convinced than ever that video games are a bad influence on their son.
C) Their son would be more convinced than ever that video games were a bad influence on him.
D) Bill and Mary, as well as their son, would develop a more balanced view of video games.

Question 28

Suppose Bob and Tom are asked to rate the attractiveness of a group of young women about their same age and a group of women about the same age as their mothers. Bob is engaged to be married, whereas Tom is dating many women. Generalizing from an experiment conducted by Simpson and his colleagues, you should expect that, in comparison to Tom, Bob would see the younger women as ________ attractive and the older women as ________ attractive.

A) less; equally
B) more; equally
C) equally; more
D) equally; less

Question 29

If you recall the experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram, it is clear that cognitive dissonance theory played a large role in subjects' willingness to shock the helpless "learners." Which of the following statements might best predict higher levels of dissonance in the subjects?

A) Subjects appeared to feel calmer when the "learner" was in the room.
B) Subjects were relieved of any responsibility by the experimenter.
C) Subjects felt personally responsible for their actions.
D) Subjects were paid a large sum of money to participate.

Question 30

All other things being equal, cognitive dissonance following a decision is greatest when:

A) the decision was not engaged in freely, but was coerced.
B) the consequences of the decision were not foreseeable.
C) the decision-maker has low self-esteem.
D) the decision is irrevocable.

Question 31

In a study done in which males watched erotic videos of heterosexual and homosexual sexual activity, which group showed the greatest amount of arousal to the male homosexual video?

A) males who stated neutral attitudes toward homosexuality
B) males who stated positive attitudes toward homosexuality
C) females who stated positive attitudes toward homosexuality
D) males who stated negative attitudes toward homosexuality

Question 32

If a religion teaches that the prophet was tempted but did not succumb to the temptation, dissonance theory would predict that the religion would also teach that the prophet would:

A) become more lenient and accepting toward sinners.
B) become more self-righteous and punitive toward sinners.
C) avoid information that would prove his followers had sinned.
D) make a public commitment to great personal sacrifice.

Question 33

Aronson argues that the key to understanding whether dissonance will be aroused is whether the subject:

A) is aware of his original attitude.
B) feels his behavior violates his self-concept.
C) has time to think about his actions or must act spontaneously.
D) hurt another person.

Question 34

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) performed an experiment in which subjects were asked to lie to a "fellow student" for either $1 or $20. For subjects in the $1 condition, dissonance was created by the cognitions "I am an ethical person" and "I have told a lie." Based on the results of this study, which of the following statements best expresses how subjects probably reduced this dissonance?

A) "I did not really tell a lie-what I said is quite true."
B) "Though I told that person a lie and I know it, what she doesn't know won't hurt her."
C) "Lying is a terrible thing."
D) "I guess I'm not really a very ethical person at all."

Question 35

Carole has two boyfriends, Tim and Craig, whom she likes very much. Both of them really like her, too. She has decided, however, that dating both of them is making her life too complicated. After careful consideration, she decides to stop seeing Tim and to continue dating Craig. According to dissonance theory, which of the following is most likely to happen as a result of her decision?

A) She and Tim will continue to be good friends.
B) Tim will develop an intense dislike for Craig.
C) Craig will seem more attractive than ever.
D) Tim will seem more attractive, making Carole regret her decision.

Question 36

Bettors at a race track who were asked how confident they were about their chances of winning:

A) were more confident the more money they bet.
B) were more confident right after having placed their bets.
C) were less confident right after having placed their bets.
D) were equally confident both before and after placing their bets.

Question 37

In a study discussed in the text, students were paid either $20 or $1 for telling collaborative subjects that a dull task was actually interesting. Which group showed greater attitude change in actually rating the task as interesting?

A) the group that told the lie for $1
B) the group that told the lie for $20
C) the group that refused to tell the lie for $1
D) the group that refused to tell the lie for $20

Question 38

The amount of dissonance produced when a person engages in an attitude-discrepant act is greatest when the rewards are:

A) much greater than would be needed to induce the act in question.
B) so small that the act fails to occur.
C) secondary reinforcers.
D) just sufficient to induce the act.

Question 39

Suppose you wanted to convince someone who is opposed to marijuana that it should be legalized. According to cognitive dissonance theory, what would be the best way to change that person's attitude?

A) Give him or her a substantial reward to openly endorse the legalization of marijuana.
B) Provide that person with as many convincing arguments and facts as possible in favor of marijuana until he or she changes his or her attitude.
C) Offer the person a small reward to openly endorse legalization, but one just large enough to get him or her to endorse it.
D) Create the illusion that everyone else favors legalization, so that disagreeing will make the individual feel uncomfortable.

Question 40

According to dissonance theory, as the external justifications for performing an act decrease, the need to find internal justifications for performing the act tends to:

A) decrease.
B) increase.
C) remain the same.
D) decrease rapidly, followed by a gradual increase.

Question 41

In Freedman's study, children who were given mild threats of punishment for playing with a robot toy:

A) were more likely to play with the toy than those who received severe threats.
B) refused to play with the toy even after Freedman had left and several weeks had passed.
C) refused to play with the toy while Freedman was present but began playing with it as soon as he left.
D) played with the toy, but liked it less than the children who received severe threats.

Question 42

Conway and Ross had students participate in a useless study skills workshop for three weeks. At the end of the workshop the students' performance in their class work had not improved from what it had been at the start of the program. These students would likely experience:

A) a low level of dissonance since they would not expect improvement from such a short program.
B) a high level of dissonance given all the work they put into the workshop.
C) a delayed effect where improvement would happen during the next semester.
D) an increase in self-esteem for having met the goal of completing the program.

Question 43

George bought his 6-year-old grandson, Pete, a set of paints for his birthday. Hoping to encourage the little artist, George told him he would give him $1 for every painting he made, which Pete thinks is a lot of money. According to Deci's research on the effects of rewards, which of the following is most likely to happen as a result of George's offer?

A) Pete will love painting and will want to grow up to become an artist.
B) George will have to start paying Pete more and more money, to justify his original decision to pay Pete.
C) Pete will see painting as a way to make money, not as something enjoyable in itself.
D) Pete will refuse to paint, due to feelings of reactance.

Question 44

Imagine that someone asked you to do something you found very distasteful-such as eating a handful of sugar-coated beetles. For the sake of argument, let's say that you complied and ate the beetles. According to dissonance theory, under which of the following conditions would you be most likely to find the experience of eating beetles enjoyable?

A) when your best friend offered you a large reward for eating them
B) when a person you disliked offered you a large reward for eating them
C) when your best friend offered you a small reward for eating them
D) when a person you disliked offered you a small reward for eating them

Question 45

Deci discovered that if you are rewarded for performing a fun and interesting puzzle:

A) the puzzle becomes easier to solve than if you are not rewarded.
B) the puzzle becomes harder to solve than if you are not rewarded.
C) you become less likely to play with it later, when you are not rewarded.
D) you grow more likely to play with it later, when you are not rewarded.

Question 46

Why is it, according to dissonance theory, that we evaluate favorably those goals we've had to suffer for?

A) The goals themselves are valuable; otherwise we wouldn't go to all that time and trouble.
B) Deep down, people really like to work hard for what they get.
C) We are motivated to justify the time and effort we've spent.
D) Reaching the goal ends our suffering and, thus, is rewarding.

Question 47

Suppose you are responsible for planning the initiation of new members to a group to which you belong. Generalizing from Aronson and Mills's study on the effects of initiation on liking of the group, you would do well to make the initiation process:

A) difficult or unpleasant.
B) easy and pleasant.
C) closely resemble the activities of the group.
D) very different from the regular activities in which the group engages.

Question 48

Suppose you conduct an experiment in which a child is placed in a room with a highly attractive toy. Generalizing from Freedman's research, you could diminish the child's attraction to the toy by:

A) using a mild threat of punishment for playing with the toy.
B) using a severe threat of punishment for playing with the toy.
C) using no threat of punishment for playing with the toy.
D) using a mild promise of reward for playing with the toy.

Question 49

How does cognitive dissonance explain a husband beating up his wife while he still sees himself as a decent human being?

A) It cannot explain these evil acts, which are punishable by law.
B) It explains that the husband learned this violence from his dad.
C) He convinces himself that his wife deserved the beating from her evil actions.
D) He knows when stress builds in his life something has to give.

Question 50

Sapolsky describes a medical event in Switzerland where rich, high-powered individuals believed they were slowing down their aging process. Which of the following explains their beliefs?

A) foot-in-the-door
B) cognitive consonance
C) justification of effort
D) cognitive dissonance

Question 51

Suppose you meet two graduates from the same college. Both Sasha and A'amer graduated and had virtually identical GPAs in the same major. However, you notice that Sasha talks much more positively about his experience at the school and says he regularly donates to the annual alumni fund. Given what you know about dissonance theory, you would expect that Sasha _______ while A'amer _________.

A) did not have to work very hard while in college; worked very hard
B) did not join a fraternity; joined a fraternity
C) worked very hard to earn his degree; did not work very hard
D) was on a full-ride academic fellowship; worked many part time jobs to pay tuition

Question 52

According to cognitive dissonance theory, if Abby wanted her roommate Rachel to pick up her clothes instead of leaving them on the floor, Abby would get the most behavioral change if she:

A) severely punished Rachel when she threw her clothes down.
B) used a very mild punishment that was enough to get Rachel to pick up her clothes.
C) used a very mild punishment that was not enough to get Rachel to pick up her clothes.
D) did not use any punishment whatsoever.

Question 53

Which of the following conclusions is supported by Aronson and Mills's experiment in which subjects underwent either a severe or a mild initiation in order to join a boring discussion group?

A) The more you like something, the harder you will work for it.
B) The less you like something, the harder you will work for it.
C) The harder you work for something, the more you will like it.
D) The harder you work for something, the less you will like it.

Question 54

Dissonance reduction processes can make:

A) us like a person we hurt, in order to compensate the person for our mistake.
B) us dislike a person we hurt, in order to justify hurting the person.
C) us dislike a person we do a favor for, because we come to resent doing the favor.
D) people with high self-esteem cheat more, because they feel less guilty.

Question 55

Conway and Ross had students participate in a useless study skills workshop for three weeks. At the end of the workshop the students' performance in their class work had not improved from what it had been at the start of the program. These students experienced a high level of dissonance. Conway and Ross found that participants reduced their dissonance by:

A) adjusting their self-concept downward so that failure in the program was consistent.
B) misremembering their original starting skill level as lower than it actually had been.
C) misremembering their instructors as being more warm and caring than they actually had been.
D) derogating their instructors, the program, and even the experimenters.

Question 56

According to cognitive dissonance theory, a disadvantage of the use of large rewards is:

A) the intrinsic value of the rewarded behavior may be reduced.
B) work may be turned into play.
C) people will assume that their behaviors have an internal source.
D) people will eventually grow tired of the rewards and will refuse to perform the behavior.

Question 57

Ginny is asked to give a speech in favor of requiring all students to take two years of a foreign language, although her personal position is for no such requirement. Under which of the following circumstances would you expect her attitude to undergo the most change in favor of the requirement?

A) She agrees and is paid $1,000.
B) She agrees and is paid $10.
C) She decides not to give the speech, even though she is offered $1,000.
D) She decides not to give the speech, even though she is offered $10.

Question 58

In a study by Davis and Jones, subjects volunteered to insult a "fellow student" by telling him he was a shallow, untrustworthy, and dull person. How did these subjects justify their hurtful behavior toward the other student, who had done nothing to deserve criticism?

A) by agreeing to help the other student with a difficult task
B) by finding the other student less attractive than before they had insulted him
C) by convincing themselves that they had been forced to deliver the insults
D) by promising themselves they would never again perform such an unkind act

Question 59

Suppose the fund-raising chairperson of a non-profit organization tells you he has heard of a new fund-raising approach in which, when people are asked for contributions, they are also told, "any amount you contribute will be appreciated, even a penny will help." Being a student of social psychology you should respond that if he uses this technique, he can expect that:

A) more people will give and the average size of the gifts will not decrease.
B) more people will give, but the gifts will be smaller.
C) fewer people will give, but the gifts will be larger.
D) fewer people will give, and the gifts will be smaller.

Question 60

Khrushcev, the premier of the Soviet Union in the 1960s, did away with a political rival, Beria, by encouraging others in the powerful presidium that Beria was a danger to them. Assuming that Khrushcev thought of himself as a good person with high self-esteem, dissonance theory suggests he would:

A) remember Beria fondly and not deserving such treatment.
B) consider the members of the presidium as cruel and monstrous.
C) misremember Beria as cruel and monstrous.
D) think that Beria was simply a victim of the situational pressures when power changes hands.

Question 61

Cohen et al. found that African-American children who have classroom assignments at the start of the school year that focused on __________ received significantly higher grades.

A) personal strength and values
B) thinking about academic success
C) not cheating
D) equality

Question 62

Salmivalli et al. suggest that narcissistic self-esteem is not really self-esteem at all but is:

A) a form of self-perception that is explained best by social situational cue.
B) generated from the frustration inherent in cognitive dissonance.
C) a form of self-aggrandizing based on feelings of insecurity.
D) a blend of all of these factors.

Question 63

According to Axsom and Cooper, what may well be the critical factor in therapy that accomplishes the recovery of the person?

A) the empathy of the therapist
B) whether or not the person enters the therapy under a doctor's care
C) how much effort the person expends in the therapeutic process
D) the particular type of therapy that is delivered

Question 64

In Axsom and Cooper's study of weight reduction, they found that women in the ________ effort condition reported significant weight loss at ________.

A) low; 4 weeks but not at 12 months
B) low; 12 months but not at 6 weeks
C) high; 4 weeks but not at 12 months
D) high; 12 months but not at 4 weeks

Question 65

In a study by Mettee and Aronson, subjects whose self-esteem had been temporarily lowered were more likely to cheat at a card game than subjects whose self-esteem was temporarily increased. According to Aronson, the results of this study suggest that:

A) low self-esteem reinforces the belief that cheating is worth the risk of getting caught.
B) high self-esteem reinforces the belief that cheating is worth the risk of getting caught.
C) behaving in an immoral fashion is more dissonance-arousing for people with high self-esteem than for those with low self-esteem.
D) behaving in an immoral fashion is less dissonance-arousing for people with high self-esteem than for those with low self-esteem.

Question 66

Zanna and Cooper conducted an experiment in which subjects received a pill and were told different effects of the pill. Some were told that the pill would arouse them and make them tense. Some were told it would do nothing. And some were told that it would relax them. They all wrote counter-attitudinal essays to create dissonance. Which group changed their attitude the most?

A) It was a tie between the relaxed and aroused groups.
B) It was the aroused group.
C) It was the group who were told the pill would do nothing.
D) It was the relaxed group.

Question 67

Suppose you had volunteered to be in an experiment in which you believe you have just given painful electric shocks to another person. According to cognitive dissonance theory, you would:

A) estimate that the shocks were more painful than they actually were.
B) have a lower opinion of the victims after the experiment than before.
C) have a higher opinion of the subjects after the experiment than before.
D) experience a temporary increase in your self-esteem.

Question 68

In comparison to people with low self-esteem, cognitive dissonance theory suggests that persons of high self-esteem are ________ likely to experience dissonance if they hurt someone and they are ________ likely to derogate a victim whom they have hurt.

A) more; more
B) less; less
C) more; less
D) less; more

Question 69

Aaron Kay and his colleagues gave different articles, before the 2000 U.S. presidential election, to people showing in one set that Al Gore was most likely to win and in another set that George W. Bush was most likely to win. The subjects rated:

A) the candidates most desirable if the article depicted his as most likely to be president.
B) the candidates the same as before receiving the article information.
C) Bush higher if they were Republicans and Gore higher if they were Democrats.
D) the race as too close to call and would look to Florida to decide it.

Question 70

According to dissonance theory, the people living nearest to the Three Mile Island nuclear plant during the crisis should:

A) perceive the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's reassuring statements as more credible because they were committed to staying.
B) perceive the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's reassuring statements as more credible because they were in favor of nuclear power.
C) perceive the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's reassuring statements as less credible, because they had the most to lose.
D) spread around the most frightening rumors, because they had the greatest reason to be scared.

Question 71

Salmivalli et al. would argue that schoolyard bullies:

A) have high narcissistic self-esteem.
B) have high self-esteem coupled with high authoritarianism.
C) are not more aggressive than the average person.
D) have paper thin self-esteem as a result of long standing insecurities.

Question 72

Pallak and Pittman argued that the fact that people are more distracted during a complex task when experiencing dissonance, just like hunger or thirst, is support for:

A) cognitive dissonance theory.
B) self-perception theory.
C) the frustration reduction hypothesis.
D) a catharsis explanation.

Question 73

Baumeister, Bushman, and Campbell found that students who were _______ were more likely to aggress against another student who criticized their essay.

A) high in narcissism and self-esteem
B) high in self-esteem
C) high in authoritarianism
D) high in narcissism and low in self-esteem

Question 74

Participants in the Elliot and Devine study reported being more agitated and uncomfortable when experiencing dissonance. This finding is:

A) support for Bem and self-perception theory.
B) support for Aronson and cognitive dissonance theory.
C) partial support for both theories.
D) clear proof for cognitive dissonance theory.

Question 75

Lucas believes that, because women take longer to learn mechanical skills at his factory, they have less mechanical aptitude, and therefore he is justified in not hiring any women. Lucas's belief system is best thought of as an example of:

A) the inoculation effect.
B) the self-fulfilling prophecy.
C) the initiation effect.
D) the "turn about is fair play" effect.

Question 76

Zimbardo's experiment on the effects of dissonance arousal on pain, in which subjects received a series of intense electric shocks under different conditions, found that:

A) subjects felt less pain when they were allowed to deliver the shocks to themselves, rather than receiving them from the experimenter.
B) subjects felt more pain when they were allowed to deliver the shocks to themselves, rather than receiving them from the experimenter.
C) subjects felt less pain when they volunteered to receive the shocks.
D) subjects felt less pain when they received a large reward for receiving the shocks.

Question 77

Brehm put hungry subjects in a state of high or low dissonance. According to his results, subjects in the high-dissonance condition said they were ________ hungry and actually ate ________ food than those in the high dissonance condition.

A) more; less
B) more; more
C) less; more
D) less; less

Question 78

Darrin Lehman and Shelley Taylor studied college students who lived in Los Angeles, the site of an impending earthquake. In their interviews with students, they found that:

A) a majority of those polled had made 3 to 4 specific preparations for a major earthquake.
B) most students polled were not from Los Angeles and thus were unaware of the risk that an earthquake could occur.
C) even well-educated people respond to the threat of catastrophe by doing nothing to prepare for it.
D) most people simply did not believe that a major earthquake would occur in their lifetime.

Question 79

How did Aronson and Mettee manipulate self-esteem in their article on self-esteem and dishonest behavior?

A) They selected subjects who rated themselves as either high or low on a standardized test of self-esteem.
B) They gave subjects false feedback about their personalities based on results of a personality test they had taken.
C) They made the cheating task much more tempting for those subjects in the low self-esteem condition.
D) They told people in the low self-esteem condition that others found them to be physically unattractive.

Question 80

Self-perception theory (Bem) proposes that we can explain the same changes that dissonance theory predicts without an internal state of discomfort. Therefore, what guides our explanations of our behavior is:

A) an instinctual urge to conform to social norms.
B) an appetitive motivation similar to hunger or thirst.
C) the behavior itself.
D) negative reinforcement.