Deck 4: Mass Communication, Propaganda, and Persuasion

Question 1

Suppose you are ready to buy your textbooks for your first semester in college. You are unsure as to how much these books will cost, and when your bill is rung up at the register, the total is $200. According to the contrast effect, you will more likely think that the books are a bargain if the person ahead of you in line:

A) pays $150 for her books.
B) pays $200 for her books.
C) pays $400 for her books.
D) finds a mistake in her bill.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which of the following was an unexpected manifestation of tension that Milgram and his associates observed in some subjects?

A) drop in their blood pressure
B) nervous laughter
C) sadistic comments
D) Some subjects tore up the money they received for participating in the experiment, which Milgram interpreted as an act of defiance toward the authority of the experimenter.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Using what you know about the Charlie's Angels experiment by Kenrick and Gutierres, if you were a young woman and were about to go out with a male blind date, you should hope that he has just been watching a movie that starred:

A) attractive men.
B) unattractive men.
C) attractive women.
D) unattractive women.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The term "cognitive miser" refers to our tendency:

A) to meticulously count up all the pros and cons of a particular decision.
B) to expect others to do our thinking for us.
C) to take shortcuts in processing complex information to simplify complex information.
D) to put self-interest over the interests of others when processing information.

Question 5

Suppose you notice that Fred becomes very embarrassed when the subject of knives comes up. In fact, he is the only person you have ever seen react in this way when you talk about knives, and he has never before expressed any concern about knives. According to Kelley, Fred's behavior is very high in:

A) consistency.
B) consensus.
C) distinctiveness.
D) reactance.

Question 6

In an experiment by Kenrick and Gutierres, male college students were asked to evaluate a potential blind date before or after watching the television show Charlie's Angels (which features three glamorous actresses). Compared to subjects who rated the blind date before watching the show, those who gave their ratings after the show:

A) found her more attractive, due to the halo effect.
B) found her less attractive, due to the contrast effect.
C) found her equally attractive, due to the consensus effect.
D) found her less attractive, but only if they themselves were highly attractive-due to the availability heuristic.

Question 7

In Milgram's study, the primary dependent variable was:

A) how profusely the subject sweated, stuttered, and trembled when he continued to administer shocks to the "learner."
B) the maximum shock a subject administered before refusing to continue in the experiment.
C) the number of times the experimenter had to prod the subject to continue to administer the shocks.
D) how painful the subject considered the shocks to be to the learner, as measured on a 14-point scale.

Question 8

Which of the following was not used as an experimental "prod" by the experimenter to encourage the participant to continue administering shocks?

A) Please continue, or please go on.
B) The experiment requires that you continue.
C) It is absolutely essential that you continue.
D) You have no other choice, you must go on.
E) If you cannot go on, you may trade places with the learner.

Question 9

The effects of category priming on social judgment are illustrated by the tendency:

A) for "gain" information to be more influential than "loss" information.
B) for "loss" information to be more influential than "gain" information.
C) for the public to see as most important those social and political issues that receive the most media coverage.
D) for people to base their first impressions of another person on inaccurate information.

Question 10

Heath and her colleagues asked a group of physicians to imagine themselves being exposed to the AIDS virus while working. A similar group of physicians received no such instruction. Heath's major result was that, compared to physicians who had not imagined exposure to AIDS, those who had imagined being exposed were more likely to:

A) actually get AIDS.
B) believe they were at a higher risk for getting AIDS.
C) be extra careful with procedures that posed an AIDS risk.
D) refuse to treat AIDS patients and those infected with HIV.

Question 11

Jane is trying to decide whether she should marry Jim. She sits down with a piece of paper and makes a list of all the positive aspects about marrying Jim, and then a list of all the negative aspects. After looking at both lists, she can see that the good things outweigh the bad. So, she calls Jim up and says, "OK, let's set a date for the wedding!" Jane's way of making up her mind is an example of:

A) felicific calculus.
B) using "distinctiveness" information in making a decision.
C) decisional framing.
D) the contrast effect.

Question 12

Judy decides to withdraw from her psychology class because she believes she must drop one of the classes she is taking, and the psychology class is the most boring and meets at 8:00 a.m., a time of day during which she would rather sleep. Judy's behavior is best thought of as an example of:

A) the halo effect.
B) felicific calculus.
C) the actor-observer bias.
D) the fundamental attribution error.

Question 13

According to this article, several features of the Milgram experiment help to account for the high levels of obedience displayed by the subjects. Which of the following is not one of those features?

A) Subjects believed the experiment would increase scientific knowledge on an important subject.
B) The subjects felt a sense of obligation and commitment to continue the experiment, even after they began to feel uncomfortable administering high-voltage shocks.
C) The assumption that any pain the subject was causing to the "learner" was only temporary and not dangerous.
D) The experiment allowed subjects to discuss their actions among themselves, so that they could come to a consensus that it was right to continue to follow the experimenter's orders.

Question 14

Harold Kelley's view of social cognition is that people attempt to function as:

A) cost accountants.
B) cost-benefit analysts.
C) amateur social psychologists.
D) naïve scientist.

Question 15

Jill is in the market to buy a used car. She visits a car lot and tells the salesperson she is looking for something under $4,000. The salesperson first shows her a car that has very high mileage, a dented fender, and needs a new clutch. The asking price is $3,700. Shocked, Jill wonders, "Who on earth would pay that much for this piece of junk?" The salesperson then shows her a much nicer car- in fact, one that she thinks would suit her needs perfectly. Jill really needs to get a car as soon as possible, so she decides to buy it right then and there-even though it costs $4,800. Jill's decision has been influenced by:

A) the representativeness heuristic.
B) the availability heuristic.
C) the context effect.
D) the contrast effect.

Question 16

Aronson argues that recently activated or frequently activated concepts are more likely to readily come to mind and thus be used in interpreting social events. This phenomenon is called:

A) context effects.
B) reactance.
C) heuristics.
D) priming.

Question 17

The idea of a bias blindspot, advocated by Pronin, suggests we:

A) are not as aware of our cognitive biases because they are unconscious and unintended.
B) are not as aware of our bias toward the blind as we are to other biases we have.
C) are not aware of our most fundamental bias since it sits in the center like the blindspot on our retina.
D) can overcome our biases if we try to be blind to the differences we see in others around us.
E) know our own motives but we cannot see the bias in others since we are blind to their motives.

Question 18

According to Kelley, people look for which of the following kinds of information in explaining behavior?

A) continuity, consensus, and distinctiveness
B) contiguity, consensus, and distinctiveness
C) consistency, consensus, and distinctiveness
D) consistency, covariation, and distinctiveness

Question 19

The major reason why Milgram conducted his experiments on obedience was:

A) he received a large research grant from the federal government to investigate how citizens might be made more loyal and obedient.
B) to understand how a large number of people could be a part of the millions of murders that took place during the Holocaust from 1933 to 1945.
C) to discover whether anti-social persons were more cruel than pro-social persons.
D) to analyze the psychological and physiological responses to stress of persons who possess "authoritarian" personality traits.

Question 20

Iyengar and colleagues conducted a study in which subjects watched specially edited news programs for a week. Generalizing from their results, if you wanted to have college students focus on the issue that tuition is too expensive, you would:

A) run articles in each issue of the college newspaper, thereby keeping the issue in front of the students.
B) present the tuition issue in a high-fear campaign.
C) present the issue only in one or two early issues, thereby depending on the primacy effect.
D) link tuition-setting to corruption in the President's office, thereby using the halo effect.

Question 21

John is described as being introverted, shy, logical, hard-working, not much fun, very intelligent, and having a weird sense of humor. These characteristics match your stereotype of accountants. If you are asked whether John is more likely to be an accountant or a salesman, you are very sure he must be an accountant. This result is predicted from:

A) the contrast effect.
B) the primacy effect.
C) the attitude heuristic.
D) the representative heuristic.

Question 22

Suppose you see Mary do very poorly on a classroom test. From this you conclude that Mary is not only stupid, but also has few friends, a poor personality, a difficult family life, and a hard time in everything she does. You have committed an error called:

A) the primacy effect.
B) the context effect.
C) the halo effect.
D) the attitude heuristic.

Question 23

A politician running for re-election is suspected of having misused campaign funds during the last election. Based on the "dilution effect," he or she can reduce the impact of this negative public image by:

A) appearing in ads designed to defend his or her good character.
B) appearing in ads that include irrelevant information- such as a story about his or her childhood.
C) appearing in ads that cast doubt on the honesty of his or her opponent.
D) appearing in ads with film or TV celebrities who believe in his or her innocence and will say so on camera.

Question 24

Suppose Pat believes that President Clinton was a wonderful President and Mike believes he had gross deficiencies. Both are asked to assess the truth of these two statements: A. President Clinton has had many lurid affairs with a wide variety of women, including several members of his staff.
B) President Clinton, although admitting to an extramarital affair early in his life, has since that time remained a faithful husband.
Based on the attitude heuristic, we would predict that Pat would believe ________ to be true and Mike would believe ________ to be true.

A) statement A; statement B
B) statement B; statement A
C) neither A nor B; neither A nor B
D) None of these answers since the attitude heuristic does not apply to this example.

Question 25

After watching a news report of a plane crash, people are more likely to overestimate the frequency of plane crashes in general. This error in judgment is due to:

A) the representative heuristic.
B) the availability heuristic.
C) the false consensus effect.
D) confirmation bias.

Question 26

The representative heuristic helps to explain why, in some instances, we tend to base our judgments of other people on:

A) a careful consideration of their individual characteristics.
B) their actual behavior, even when it conflicts with their personalities.
C) how well they have treated us, or others, in the past.
D) stereotypes regarding their gender, race, appearance and other personal qualities.

Question 27

You and a friend are visiting a new city and would like to splurge and go out for a fine meal. You look at the restaurant listings in the newspaper and find one that is very expensive. Your friend says, "Let's go for it. With prices like that, we're bound to have an incredible dining experience." In making her decision, your friend most likely was guided by:

A) the priming effect.
B) the representative heuristic.
C) the contrast effect.
D) the primacy effect.

Question 28

The halo effect occurs when:

A) we like a person whose attitudes are similar to our own.
B) we gain a favorable impression of a person who reminds us of someone we already know and like.
C) a favorable or unfavorable impression of someone biases our future expectations and inferences about that person.
D) we like a person whose actions make us look good.

Question 29

Elizabeth, a literature major, believes that the author James Joyce was the most brilliant writer since Shakespeare. A friend asks her if Joyce had positive attitudes about women, or whether he was very sexist. Elizabeth has no knowledge whatsoever about Joyce's private life. Based on the attitude heuristic, which of the following responses would Elizabeth be likely to give?

A) "He was probably a real sexist-most men of his time were."
B) "I'm not sure. When I read his biography, I'll let you know."
C) "If he was sexist, he was probably only conforming to the norms of his time."
D) "No-he couldn't have been a sexist. I'm sure of it."

Question 30

The tendency to overestimate the percentage of other people who agree with us on a given issue is referred to as:

A) the conformity bias.
B) the representativeness heuristic.
C) the hindsight bias.
D) the false-consensus effect.

Question 31

Suppose you are planning to take a class from a professor about whom you know nothing. Just before class starts, a friend of yours describes the professor as inflexible, wordy, an easy grader, and kind to students. If the primacy effect is operating, you are most likely to think of the professor as:

A) inflexible.
B) wordy.
C) an easy grader.
D) kind to students.

Question 32

The false-consensus effect implies that we:

A) overestimate the number of people who agree with us.
B) underestimate the number of people who agree with us.
C) rely too heavily on the primacy effect.
D) don't rely heavily enough on the primacy effect.

Question 33

The attention decrement explanation attempts to explain the basis for which of the following?

A) the primacy effect
B) the illusory correlation
C) the hindsight bias
D) the contrast effect

Question 34

John, a car salesman, is trying to persuade a customer to trade in his gas-guzzling, 8-cylinder car for a new 6-cylinder model. So he says to his customer, "Think of all the extra money you'll have if you buy this fuel-efficient model!" According to Kahneman and Tversky, John's sales pitch would be much improved if he had said:

A) "Not only is this model fuel efficient-it has a great safety record, too!"
B) "Look at this article by Consumer Report. No other model in its class gets this kind of mileage on the freeway!"
C) "Think of all the money you're losing on that gas-guzzler-dollar bills are flying right out of the exhaust pipe every time you drive!"
D) "Buying this fuel-efficient model is a good way to show your concern for the environment!"

Question 35

The tendency for neutral or irrelevant information to weaken a judgment or impression is referred to as:

A) the priming effect.
B) the dilution effect.
C) the primacy effect.
D) the halo effect.

Question 36

You are a college professor grading the exams of students in your class. Student A and Student B both got 25 correct out of a total of 40 multiple-choice questions. However, Student A got the first 15 items correct, but missed 10 out of the last 25 items. Student B, on the other hand, got the first 15 items wrong, but had correct answers for the last 25 questions. According to research by Jones and his colleagues, what kind of impression would you be likely to have of these students?

A) Student A is smarter than Student B.
B) Student B is smarter than Student A.
C) Student A and Student B are equally intelligent.
D) Student A became overconfident while taking the exam, while Student B started off insecure but gained confidence over time.

Question 37

Which of the following explanations have been offered to account for research findings on the primacy effect in impression formation?

A) The latter items on a list receive more attention and, thus, have more impact on judgment.
B) The first items on a list create an initial impression that is then used to interpret subsequent information.
C) The first items on a list have a "priming effect" on subsequent items.
D) The latter items on the list are more easily remembered than the first items.

Question 38

Asch's study on the primacy effect on impression formation indicates that:

A) positive information is more influential than negative information in determining overall impressions of another person.
B) negative information is more influential than positive information in determining overall impressions of another person.
C) first impressions are usually more accurate than impressions based on later information.
D) information received first is more influential than later information in determining overall impressions of another person.

Question 39

One way that we make sense out of the vast and dizzying array of information that comes our way is through the use of heuristics, which are:

A) simple, but often only approximate, rules or strategies for solving problems.
B) simple, but highly accurate, rules or strategies for solving problems.
C) complex, but often only approximate, rules or strategies for solving problems.
D) complex, but highly accurate, rules or strategies for solving problems.

Question 40

Aronson reports the results of an experiment in which people who were asked to insulate their homes were given information either about how much money they would save, if they insulated, or lose, if they didn't insulate. Based on results of this study, if you were trying to sell insulation, you would be wise to:

A) emphasize how much is saved by insulating.
B) emphasize how much is lost by not insulating.
C) emphasize both savings and losses, based on the halo effect.
D) emphasize neither savings or losses, since money is not something people are reluctant to discuss.

Question 41

One of the most common ways of categorizing people is to divide the world up into two groups-the in-group (one's own group) and the out-group. This tendency leads to:

A) the perception that one's own group is "better" and more deserving than the out-group.
B) the perception that greater similarity exists among members of the out-group, than among members of one's own group.
C) a primacy effect when dealing with in-group members and a recency effect when dealing with out-group members.
D) a primacy effect when dealing with out-group members and a recency effect when dealing with in-group members.

Question 42

Loftus conducted a study in which subjects saw a film clip of a car accident. Some subjects were asked about how the cars "hit" each other and others were asked about how they "smashed into" each other. The main result of this study was that subjects who were asked about how the cars "hit" were more likely to:

A) refuse to answer.
B) estimate a lower rate of speed for the cars.
C) rely extensively on stereotypes.
D) experience cognitive dissonance.

Question 43

According to Greenwald, a positive feature of cognitive conservatism is that:

A) it keeps inaccurate information from influencing our realistic and well-established categories for understanding the world.
B) it helps us to make decisions in a rational and efficient manner.
C) it allows us to perceive the social world as a stable, coherent place.
D) it helps us to remain open to new information that will enhance our functioning in the world.

Question 44

The main point of the Ross, McFarland, and Fletcher article that studied attitudes about bathing and teeth brushing was that:

A) attitudes we hold can influence how we remember our own behavior.
B) we generally see ourselves as having better attitudes but worse behaviors than our friends.
C) we generally see ourselves as having worse attitudes but better behaviors than our friends.
D) people can be persuaded to bathe and brush their teeth if they can be convinced that bathing and teeth brushing are beneficial to them.

Question 45

In a study by Darley and Gross, in which subjects were exposed to different stories about a fourth grader named Hannah, the effects of stereotype on social judgment were apparent when:

A) Hannah was depicted as coming from a poor background.
B) Hannah's performance on an achievement test was ambiguous, and she was also depicted as coming from a poor background.
C) Hannah's performance on an achievement test indicated low ability.
D) Hannah was depicted as not trying hard to achieve.

Question 46

Although Alex had no idea who would win a particular football game, after the game was over he claimed to have been "99% certain" that the winning team would be victorious. Alex's behavior is best thought of as an example of:

A) the hindsight bias.
B) priming.
C) the representativeness heuristic.
D) a context effect.

Question 47

Jones and Harris asked participants to read essays written by two political science students. Half of the participants were told the students freely chose to write in favor of Castro, while the other half were told that the students were instructed to write in favor of Castro. When asked if the essays reflected the true attitudes of the students, the participants said that what the students wrote reflected the true attitudes of:

A) the student who freely chose but not the student who was instructed to write in favor of Castro.
B) the student that was instructed but not the student who freely chose to write in favor of Castro.
C) neither the student who freely chose nor the student who was instructed to write in favor of Castro.
D) both the student who freely chose and the student who was instructed to write in favor of Castro.

Question 48

Self-schema refers to:

A) the tendency to develop goal-directed plans that guide behavior.
B) the tendency to see others as we see ourselves.
C) the tendency to create false memories.
D) the tendency to organize our personal history into an integrated whole.

Question 49

In Tajfel's research (in which subjects are randomly assigned to Group X or Group W) subjects who are total strangers, but who share the same meaningless label, tend to:

A) express greater liking for, and allocate more rewards to, others in their own group.
B) compete against members of their own group-as a form of "sibling rivalry."
C) perceive greater similarity among members of their own group than among members of the other group.
D) fabricate elaborate reasons to explain why they feel a sense of "belonging" to their own group.

Question 50

The confirmation bias refers to the human tendency:

A) to believe that other people share our views.
B) to verify our initial knowledge, hypotheses, and beliefs.
C) to perceive persons or events that are similar on one dimension as being similar in all other dimensions.
D) to find "loss" information more compelling than "gain" information.

Question 51

LaPiere conducted a study in the 1930s in which he wrote to restaurants and hotels to ask if they would allow Chinese people to eat or sleep there. He later visited these same establishments with Chinese friends and observed whether or not the friends were served. His results showed that about ________ percent of the places said they would not serve Chinese and that in reality ________ percent of them actually refused to serve the Chinese.

A) 90; less than 1
B) less than 1; 90
C) 50; 50
D) 60; 40

Question 52

In informal surveys, people consistently over-estimate the extent to which lesbians are likely to contract the AIDS virus-when, in fact, lesbians have the lowest rate of HIV infection, compared to male homosexuals and heterosexual men and women. This example illustrates:

A) the false consensus effect.
B) illusory correlation.
C) in-group favoritism.
D) the attitude heuristic.

Question 53

One condition under which attitudes are a fairly good predictor of behavior is when:

A) we hold positive attitudes toward the particular behavior.
B) we want to look good in the eyes of others.
C) the attitude relevant to a given behavior is highly accessible.
D) we are under strong pressure to conform to the behavior of others.

Question 54

Research by Loftus on eye-witness testimony has revealed that:

A) "leading" questions can distort both a witness's memory and his or her judgments of the facts in a given case.
B) conformity pressures created in the courtroom lead witnesses to say whatever they think is expected of them.
C) "leading questions" are confusing to witnesses, which makes them change their testimony.
D) the courtroom atmosphere makes witnesses nervous, which leads to memory deficits and distorted testimonies.

Question 55

Under which of the following conditions are we least likely to use heuristics in making decisions about social events?

A) when we are overloaded with information
B) when the decisions are not very important
C) when we have little information to use in making the decision
D) when we have plenty of time to make the decision

Question 56

Tom explains his wife's success in her job as being the result of her intelligence and determination, thus explaining her behavior in terms of her traits that are like the behavior. The text would consider Tom's explanation to be an example of:

A) hindsight bias.
B) correspondent inference.
C) priming.
D) a contrast effect.

Question 57

Which of the following word or phrase comes closest in meaning to "category?"

A) stereotype
B) heuristic
C) halo effect
D) illusory correlation

Question 58

In Loftus's study on eyewitness testimony, subjects who were asked about cars "smashing" into each other erroneously reported, one week after seeing a video of the collision, that they had seen:

A) blood on both drivers.
B) empty alcohol bottles in the car that caused the crash.
C) one driver talking on a cellular phone prior to the crash.
D) broken glass at the accident scene.

Question 59

Which of the following is a good example of self-fulfilling prophecy?

A) This student loves to be around attractive people because he feels good.
B) This student has a broken arm and cannot write well.
C) This student has no health insurance because his parents are part of the working poor.
D) This student comes from a poor neighborhood. The teacher assumes he is not smart and consequently the child does poorly.

Question 60

According to most cognitive psychologists:

A) it would be wrong to accuse a family member of sexual abuse based solely on recovered memories.
B) repeated instances of long-term, childhood traumatic events are usually not forgotten.
C) there is no scientific evidence of a specific link between child sexual abuse and family characteristics listed in self-help books.
D) all of these answers are correct.

Question 61

One of the major determinants of whether an attitude will guide behavior is:

A) how easily the attitude comes to mind.
B) how difficult the attitude comes to mind.
C) how much others agree with our belief.
D) how much cognitive dissonance it causes.

Question 62

In Storms' research on the actor-observer bias, participants observed two people interact. They found the actor made ___________ attributions while the observer made __________ attributions. However, when they watched a video of the same interaction from a different angle that reversed the perspectives so that the actor was now the observer, the ________.

A) situational; dispositional; original attributions switched.
B) dispositional; situational; original attributions switched.
C) situational; dispositional; original attributions strengthened.
D) dispositional; situational; original attributions weakened.

Question 63

The actor-observer bias involves the tendency for actors to attribute their own actions to ________ and to attribute the actions of other people to those peoples' ________.

A) situational factors; personal dispositions
B) personal dispositions; situational factors
C) positive heuristics; negative heuristics
D) negative heuristics; positive heuristics

Question 64

Some theorists have proposed that people are rational thinkers and decision-makers, while others believe social cognition is often subject to biases and other distorting influences. Compare and contrast some of the central ideas that characterize these two perspectives, indicating which you find more convincing. What conditions are necessary for human cognition to operate on a thoroughly rational basis? How common are these conditions in everyday life?

Question 65

When Fazio and Williams manipulated the frequency with which participants accessed an attitude by having them repeat it again and again, they found that:

A) the attitude was more predictive of later behavior.
B) the attitude was less predictive of later behavior.
C) the participant was more likely to express hostility toward the candidate five months later.
D) the participant was less likely to express hostility toward the candidate, the inoculation had worked.

Question 66

The general human tendency to overestimate the importance of personality or dispositional factors when explaining the causes of social behavior is called:

A) the halo effect.
B) the hindsight bias.
C) the fundamental attribution error.
D) the actor-observer bias.

Question 67

In the "Barry Manilow" shirt study, Gilovich asked students to go to a party wearing embarrassing T-shirts. The participants estimated that ________ of the people would notice, but only ________ actually noticed.

A) 20%; 50%
B) 50%; 50%
C) 50%; 20%
D) 100%; 20%

Question 68

Rifka takes two tests for which she studies equally hard. She gets an A on one and a D on the other. She explains that she got the A because she is "smart" in that subject and got the D because the test was unfair and too difficult. Rifka's explanation is best thought of as an example of:

A) the contrast effect.
B) the actor-observer bias.
C) the fundamental attribution error.
D) the self-serving bias.

Question 69

In the "Barry Manilow" shirt study, Gilovich asked students to go to a party wearing embarrassing T-shirts. The participants estimated that 50% of the people would notice, but only 20% actually noticed. The results of this study support the idea that:

A) we generally think people are watching us more than they are actually watching.
B) people liked Barry Manilow more than the experimenters estimated.
C) attitude change can happen even when external justification is high.
D) attributions of embarrassment are difficult to manipulate experimentally.

Question 70

Which of the following is not a research result presented in The Social Animal as support for the idea that people are prone to make self-serving explanations of their own behavior?

A) Students attribute success on their exams to personal effort or ability but attribute poor exam scores to an unfair test or bad luck.
B) Gamblers attribute success to skill, and loss to a fluke.
C) Married people overestimate the amount of housework they contribute so that if each person's contributions were added up, they would add up to more than 100%.
D) People working in two-person teams on a skill task accept responsibility for success but also accept personal responsibility for the failure of the team.

Question 71

What did Paul Herr discover in his research on accessibility of hostility?

A) If subjects worked a seek and search puzzle with gentle names, they rated the target person later as hostile because the picture they saw was of an ugly person.
B) If subjects worked a seek and search puzzle with hostile names, they later played very competitively in a game.
C) If subjects worked a seek and search puzzle with gentle names, they lost interest and got bored with the game.
D) If subjects worked a seek and search puzzle with hostile names, they were silent in a group activity because they had too much hostile energy to speak.

Question 72

Julie sees a stranger do poorly on a test. She automatically assumes that the stranger is stupid. She has committed an error best thought of as:

A) a context effect.
B) an attitude heuristic.
C) a representative heuristic.
D) the fundamental attribution error.

Question 73

Although Susan was only peripherally involved in getting her friend elected as the president of the senior class, she felt her friend could never have won without Susan's support. Susan's feeling is best thought of as an example of:

A) egocentric thought.
B) the fundamental attribution error.
C) the hindsight bias.
D) the actor-observer bias.

Question 74

Fazio and Williams found that voters who were asked to evaluate two presidential candidates within a very short amount of time were:

A) less likely to vote five months later for the candidate they favored.
B) more likely to vote five months later for the candidate they favored.
C) less likely to vote in the election five months later.
D) more easily influenced by the media campaigns of the opposing candidates five months later.

Question 75

Jim is concerned about his future, so he visits a psychic who tells him: "You are a person who can succeed in life. You have many talents that could be developed-ones that could bring you great prosperity. Sometimes you're afraid of taking risks, but you can spot a good opportunity when you see one." Jim leaves the psychic's office convinced that he has what it takes to be a success in life. The psychic's message:

A) is an example of decision-framing on the part of the psychic.
B) is an example of a "Barnum statement."
C) has made Jim fall prey to the effects of illusory correlation.
D) probably indicates nothing true about Jim.

Question 76

The strength of the association between an object and its evaluation is called:

A) attitude accessibility.
B) a correlation.
C) the representative heuristic.
D) cognitive miserliness.

Question 77

According to research by Carol Dweck, people who believe that intelligence is fixed will often:

A) choose an easier task option.
B) give up when a task is too hard.
C) choke on hard tests.
D) report a higher score than actually earned.
E) all of these answers are true.

Question 78

Which type of thinking is illustrated when Mark described his friend's choice of girlfriend and major in terms of his friend's personal qualities and interests but explained his own choices based upon the qualities of the major and girlfriend?

A) egocentric thought
B) the attitude heuristic
C) the hindsight bias
D) the actor-observer bias

Question 79

In the "quiz show" study conducted by Ross, Amabile, and Steinmetz, subjects were randomly assigned to serve as "questioners" or "contestants." Observers who watched the simulated quiz show tended to perceive the "questioners" as more knowledgeable than the "contestants." The observers committed the error of:

A) assigning favorable characteristics to high-status persons as compared to low-status persons.
B) equating intelligence with verbal skills.
C) making situational attributions for behavior, rather than dispositional ones.
D) underestimating the impact of social roles in explaining behavior.

Question 80

In the "Lottery ticket" study (Langer), half of participants were given lottery tickets with randomly selected numbers and half were allowed to choose their numbers. Before they found out whether they had a winning ticket, the participants were given a chance to resell their tickets. The people who selected their numbers:

A) would not resell their tickets.
B) were willing to sell them but at four times the purchase price.
C) were willing to trade them in for another ticket as long as they could pick the numbers again.
D) wanted to trade tickets among themselves.