Deck 2: Conformity

Question 1

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 Reports. 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!"

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The human mind's two thinking systems are:

A) controlled processing and explicit processing
B) automatic processing and implicit processing
C) controlled processing and automatic processing
D) unconscious processing and involuntary processing

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The size of an animal's neocortex is associated with:

A) its ability to produce offspring
B) its muscle mass
C) the size of its social/community group
D) physical coordination

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The confirmation bias refers to the human tendency:

A) to believe that other people share our views
B) to verify our preexisting 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 5

The belief that we are more objective and less biased than most other people is called:

A) confirmation bias
B) blind spot bias
C) naive realism
D) fundamental attribution error

Question 6

The cloak of invisibility illusion is:

A) a form of egocentric bias
B) a magical item that can help us evade unwanted attention
C) a belief that others pay more attention watching us than we pay to them
D) a form of the negativity bias

Question 7

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
D) to put self-interest over the interests of others when processing information

Question 8

Bentham's and Franklin's notion of comparing the pros/pleasures to the cons/pain when making a decision (e.g., car purchase) often will fail because:

A) we have God's eye
B) we do not have the time to collect and then consider all the information
C) we are completely rational decision makers
D) of the fundamental attribution error

Question 9

Paul Bloom and his associates found that babies as young as three months of age who watched a brief puppet show later reached out to the puppet that was helpful rather than hostile. This research suggests that:

A) puppet shows are especially attention getting for young children
B) children can learn morals from inanimate objects
C) we come preprogrammed with moral intuitions
D) the young child missed the point of the show that older children understood

Question 10

Believing that our subjective interpretation of reality IS reality is called:

A) naive realism
B) conditional realism
C) confirmation bias
D) blind spot bias

Question 11

Evolutionary psychology suggests that our current brains contain the:

A) traits and tendencies that were successful for our hunter-gatherer ancestors
B) ineffective remnants from our hunter-gatherer past
C) ability to not need others and to work independently
D) ability to grow and shrink in physical size as needed

Question 12

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 about how much money they would 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 13

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 her support. Susan's feeling is best thought of as an example of:

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

Question 14

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 are 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 the "Barnum Effect"
C) has made Jim fall prey to the effects of illusory correlation
D) probably indicates nothing true about Jim

Question 15

We have a two-step process of processing information: a quick initial interpretation of the situation and then a more careful deliberate consideration of the collected information. Which step is more open to possible errors due to fatigue or distraction?

A) The first
B) The second
C) Both steps are equally affected by fatigue and distraction
D) Neither step is affected by these two occurrences

Question 16

Our brain size appears to set to a limit of about _______ people with whom we can have stable and meaningful relationships.

A) 10
B) 50
C) 150
D) 300

Question 17

The best metaphor for the relationship between nature and nurture when explaining how our minds work is:

A) an oil painting
B) a computer
C) a blank slate
D) a sketch

Question 18

Human universals (e.g., shared facial expression, music, and a preference for kin over strangers):

A) lead individuals to feel isolated in society
B) enable us to increase the size of our cooperative group beyond 150
C) make living in groups more difficult
D) facilitate our ability to live in groups

Question 19

According to the research of Tomas Gilovich and his associates, a bias called the spotlight effect will lead you believe:

A) that everyone would perform better when called on in class
B) that others would admire you beyond your actual talents
C) that everyone noticed you had a Band-Aid across your nose
D) that you can be successful in the shadows of groups

Question 20

The area of study of how people come to believe what they do; how they explain, remember, predict, make decisions, and evaluate themselves and others; and why these processes are so frequently produce errors is called:

A) cognitive psychology
B) social psychology
C) social cognition
D) social neuroscience

Question 21

Eisenberger and Liberman's "Cyberball" study, where students thought they were playing a game of three-way catch on a video screen with other students, demonstrates:

A) that social pain increases blood flow in newer rather than older brain regions
B) that social pain of rejection activates the same regions of the brain as physical pain
C) that pain increases in a linear fashion with the number of people in the group
D) that social pain has an important and unique location in the brain

Question 22

Explanatory style is a habitual pattern of explaining successes and failures. People who have optimistic style typically attribute unfortunate events to:

A) internal, permanent factors
B) fate and something outside their control
C) external and situational factors
D) being dispositional and unchangeable

Question 23

The fact that social pain and physical pain activate the same regions of the brain indicates that:

A) group acceptance and membership status are important to human survival
B) we can tolerate these two types of pain quite well
C) humans find interacting in groups painful
D) humans are not sophisticated in their ability to manage social situations

Question 24

In an experiment, male college students were asked to evaluate a potential blind date before or after watching a television show that featured three glamorous actresses. Compared to subjects who rated a 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 25

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 26

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 27

Social identity theory states that our most important group membership feeds our sense of belonging and self-worth and shapes our thinking about people who are a part of that group and those who are not a part of that group. This theory would predict that we would:

A) have a difficult time distinguishing between the faces of people not in our group
B) have little in-group bias because we could see subtle differences in our own group
C) identify most strongly with people with whom we share the fewest traits
D) see all members of our in-group to be identical

Question 28

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) naive scientists

Question 29

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 context 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

Question 30

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 31

The Dartmouth-Princeton football game study found that:

A) Dartmouth students saw many more violations than Princeton students
B) trying to be fair an objective can nullify in-group bias
C) group membership can lead to biased perception of social situations
D) Princeton students were more likely to say their players were victims than Dartmouth students

Question 32

In Rosenthal and Jacobson's "bloomers" study, the children who had been randomly assigned the label of "bloomers":

A) showed no improvement over the year
B) had a slight drop in their IQ scores by the end of the year
C) made significantly larger gains than the children not labeled as bloomers
D) improved just as much as the other students in the class

Question 33

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) fundamental attribution error

Question 34

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 and a dented fender and that 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 35

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

A) I failed the test, but I worked really worked hard studying.
B) I failed the test, but I'm smart. The teacher had it in for me.
C) I failed the test, but I'm smart. The test was unfair.
D) I failed the test, so I'm stupid, and there is no reason to study. I failed the second test; see, I told you I'm stupid.

Question 36

The default mode network is a set of interacting brain regions that are LEAST active when:

A) our minds wander
B) we are not directed on a task
C) we are thinking about the outside world
D) we are working on a specific task

Question 37

Sloman and Fernbach argue that we "think in groups" rather than as rational individuals. This idea is consistent with the concept of _______ presented by Aronson.

A) the fundamental attribution error
B) a tribal mind
C) central social motives
D) controlled processing

Question 38

Which of the following is NOT a central social motive as described by Aronson?

A) Belonging
B) Loss aversion
C) Control
D) A need to matter

Question 39

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 40

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

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

Question 41

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 42

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 43

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 44

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 45

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 46

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 halo effect, which of the following responses would Elizabeth be likely to give?

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 an 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 47

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 48

Research by Loftus on eyewitness 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 49

John is described as introverted, shy, logical, hardworking, 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 50

If you were a young woman and were about to go out with a man on a 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

Question 51

Suppose you see Mary do very poorly on a classroom test. From this you conclude that Mary not only is 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 52

We are LEAST likely to use heuristics:

A) when we let our emotions and wishful thinking get in the way
B) when we are overloaded with information
C) when we don't have time to think
D) when logically evaluate the information we gather

Question 53

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, etc.

Question 54

Research on social cognition indicates that human memory:

A) is a literal translation of past events
B) is reconstructed from bits of information that we recall as well as our expectations about what should have been
C) functions according to the "cognitive miser" principle
D) operates very much like a computer program

Question 55

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 56

Suppose you are planning to take a class with 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 57

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

Question 58

In a study by Aronson and Jones, students solved anagrams. Some students started extremely well but their performance declined, while other students started slowly but then improved. The total scores correct between the students were identical. The results indicated that coaches who were motivated to improve the students' performance:

A) rated the slow starters as more intelligent
B) rated the fast starters as more intelligent
C) had less success with the fast starters than with the slow starters
D) were no better at improving the number correctly solved problems than the other coaches who maximized their performers' scores

Question 59

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 60

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