Deck 8: Conformity: Influencing Behavior

Question 1

There have been great examples of social influence and terrible examples of social influence. As an example, what do the Heaven's Gate followers and the "Freedom Riders" in the American civil rights movement have in common? They

A) fell under the spell of strong, punitive, charismatic leaders.
B) were frustrated, and this frustration caused them to behave aggressively.
C) confronted extreme and confusing situations, and looked to others to decide how to behave.
D) lacked independence, and thus surrendered control to powerful others.

Answer 1

confronted extreme and confusing situations, and looked to others to decide how to behave.

Question 2

Reynald is participating in a research study where he is watching a dot of light in a dark room. In time it appears to move. Later, he finds out that it was really stationary. This phenomenon is

A) proof that people can start seeing things if left alone for too long.
B) known as the autokinetic effect.
C) also a test for schizophrenia.
D) widely used to make people conform.

Answer 2

known as the autokinetic effect.

Question 3

Khadija has conformed to others' behaviors or attitudes because she believes that their interpretations of an ambiguous situation are more accurate than hers. ________ has occurred.

A) Educated conformity
B) Normative social influence
C) Unintended social influence
D) Informational social influence

Answer 3

Informational social influence

Question 4

It's Libby's first day in college. When she approaches the professor to have an "add" form signed, she listens to other students to see if they address the professor as "Professor," "Dr.," "Mrs.," or by her first name, and then she does the same. This is an example of

A) situational uncertainty.
B) informational social influence.
C) normative social influence.
D) situational interdependence.

Question 5

According to your text, our construals of the concept "conformity" are shaped by

A) personality differences.
B) social psychologists.
C) our cultural self-image.
D) situational pressures.

Question 6

An important feature of informational social influence is that it often leads to

A) obedience.
B) private acceptance.
C) normative pressures.
D) public compliance.

Question 7

Rachel is attending Catholic mass for the first time with her best friend Maria. Rachel is unfamiliar with when to sit, when to kneel, or when to stand, and doesn't know when to respond to what the priest says and when to remain silent. When it is time for parishioners to receive Communion, Rachel looks quizzically to Maria, who silently shakes her head. Rachel remains seated while the rest of the congregation files toward the altar. This situation best exemplifies

A) a crisis of conversion.
B) normative social influence.
C) informational social influence.
D) the power of cultural norms.

Question 8

The authors of your text describe a series of horrible telephone hoaxes that were done a few years ago in which a caller falsely identified himself as a police officer and had restaurant managers perform unnecessary strip searches and other degrading acts on subordinates. The fact that the managers he called actually did what he instructed them to do illustrates that people very readily

A) give up personal freedoms in this post 9/11 world.
B) follow their stereotypes.
C) will obey someone they think is in authority.
D) seek opportunities to exploit those with less power.

Question 9

When "Freedom Riders" conformed with their group of fellow civil rights activists, they conformed by behaving ________, but when soldiers in the Vietnamese village of My Lai conformed, they behaved ________, illustrating that conformity itself it not always simply good or bad.

A) violently; nonviolently
B) emotionally; logically
C) peacefully; violently
D) as individuals; as a group

Question 10

Bob is from Michigan. He's familiar with cultural norms that emphasize

A) conformity.
B) cooperation.
C) individuality.
D) obedience to authority.

Question 11

Alejandro has changed his behavior because of the real or imagined presence of others. This is known as

A) conformity.
B) obedience.
C) interdependence.
D) cooperation.

Question 12

The United States has celebrated independence and rugged individualism from the time of its inception. This suggests that American attitudes toward conformity are

A) generally positive.
B) situation-specific.
C) generally negative.
D) interdependent.

Question 13

Your niece Caitlin is deathly afraid of glass elevators. You have just read Chapter 8, and have decided to use informational social influence to convince Caitlin that there is no need to be afraid to ride in glass elevators. How would you apply the concept of informational social influence in this situation?

A) Give Caitlin a big hug every time she is willing to approach a glass elevator.
B) Tell Caitlin that her friends will call her "scaredy-cat" if she doesn't get in the elevator.
C) Get Caitlin's friends to ride a glass elevator, and ask them to smile and wave to you both as they ascend.
D) Shove Caitlin into a glass elevator, push the "penthouse" button, and tell her not to cry.

Question 14

The authors of your text suggest that there are two major motivations for people to conform,

A) not knowing what to do in a confusing situation and wishing to avoid ridicule and rejection.
B) not knowing what to do in a confusing situation and seeking clear direction from an authority figure.
C) wishing to avoid ridicule and rejection and hoping to attain power.
D) not knowing what to do in a confusing situation and hoping to attain power.

Question 15

Victor goes to a fancy French restaurant. There are utensils on the table that he's never even seen before, and more spoons and forks than he's ever seen on one table. Eager to dine in an appropriate and sophisticated way, Victor secretly watches other diners to see what they do. This is an example of

A) normative social influence.
B) situational interdependence.
C) informational social influence.
D) normative conformity.

Question 16

According to the authors of your text, what is the most plausible explanation as to why the U.S. soldiers followed their lieutenant's orders to massacre the citizens of the peaceful village of My Lai during the Vietnam War?

A) They were conforming in a confusing situation.
B) They were bloodthirsty assassins.
C) Soldiers tend to be more aggressive than the average person.
D) They were expressing implicit prejudice.

Question 17

Informational social influence occurs because

A) individuals have a need to belong and be liked.
B) social norms encourage cooperation.
C) others' behaviors serve as cues in ambiguous situations.
D) others can reward or punish us for nonconformity.

Question 18

You are a little confused about how to address your new boss. Even though you are told that your new supervisor's name is Charlie Rose, you have noticed that everyone at work calls him "Boss." You, too, decide to start calling your supervisor "Boss." This decision is a product of

A) compliance with authority.
B) normative social influence.
C) informational social influence.
D) private acceptance.

Question 19

Wendy's roommate is laying out her clothes for the first day of classes. Wendy wasn't sure what to wear but now has an idea and picks her outfit to be similar. This type of conformity arises from

A) normative social influence.
B) voluntary obedience.
C) unintentional social influence.
D) informational social influence.

Question 20

In which of the following cases is conformity due to information social influence least likely to occur?

A) A new camper arrives at camp and needs to figure out procedures in the cafeteria.
B) A person on the street is stumbling and it is not clear if he is hurt or drunk.
C) A repairman falls off a ladder and breaks his leg while working in the hospital.
D) An airplane hits major turbulence and it is a few minutes until the captain gets on the speaker to reassure the passengers.

Question 21

It could be argued that participants in Muzafer Sherif's (1936) study converged in their estimates of the amount of movement of a point of light because they were avoiding public embarrassment or social censure from other participants. Sherif demonstrated that this was unlikely when he found similar results

A) when participants completed the task with their friends.
B) two years later.
C) when participants later completed the task alone.
D) when participants completed an auditory task in groups.

Question 22

Elise is participating in research and is placed in a dark room and asked to estimate the movement of a dot of light projected on a screen. This is similar to research by Sherif that demonstrated the power of

A) normative social influence.
B) conversion.
C) informational social influence.
D) obedience to authority.

Question 23

Based on research by Goldstein and colleagues (2008), which of the following techniques would be most effective in getting hotel guests to reuse their bath towels?

A) putting a sign in every room stating "Help Save the Environment" with a cute endangered animal on it
B) having hotel clerks ask guests face-to-face to reuse towels
C) offering a free breakfast to guests who reused their towels two nights in a row
D) putting a sign in the room stating that that majority of guests in this room reuse the towel

Question 24

All of the following are examples of informational social influence except :

A) You are running a race, and you wait to check which of two roads the other runners follow.
B) You've just started work at a new job, and a fire alarm goes off. You watch your coworkers to see what to do.
C) You ask your advisor which classes you should take next semester.
D) You decide to lose weight, because the people you see on the covers of popular magazines are thinner than you are and you want people to like you more.

Question 25

Taking into account research on factors that increase informational social influence, which game contestant is most likely to yield to the informational social influence provided by teammates or the audience?

A) Joaquin, playing a television game show, who answers a question whose answer he is uncertain of
B) Tatsuo, playing a television game show, who answers a question whose answer seems obvious to him
C) Marcus, playing a game with his younger cousins, when he is unsure of the answer
D) Yuriko, playing a game with her family, who answers a question whose answer she knows

Question 26

When participants were first placed in a dark room alone and asked to estimate the apparent movement of a point of light, individuals were consistent in their own estimates, and these estimates differed greatly from participant to participant. When participants made the same estimates in a group setting, their estimates converged. According to Muzafer Sherif (1936), why did this happen? Conformity occurs when people

A) feel anonymous in a group.
B) feel uncomfortable and insecure.
C) can use others' behaviors as cues for what's right.
D) can use anonymity to control others.

Question 27

When it is important to provide a correct answer and the stakes are high, people are more likely to

A) rely on informational social influence.
B) use their independent judgment.
C) think quietly to themselves, and not seek other peoples' opinions.
D) want to decide alone.

Question 28

You have been hired to help design a campaign to get people to conserve energy. Based on the research by Nolan and colleagues (2008), what is the most effective way to convince people to conserve?

A) emphasize the money they would save
B) explain the benefits to society
C) explain that they are protecting the environment
D) tell them that their neighbors are doing it

Question 29

In a recent study about how to promote energy conservation, Nolan and colleagues (2008) found that simply telling people that their neighbors conserve energy was a more effective means of reducing energy consumption than telling them other reasons why they should conserve. Why did this message work the best?

A) Participants experienced cognitive dissonance.
B) Participants engaged in counterfactual thinking.
C) Participants were affected by informational social influence.
D) Participants were persuaded by fear-appeals.

Question 30

Which of the following phenomena is most likely to result in private acceptance of an idea or behavior?

A) normative social influence
B) contagion
C) informational social influence
D) mass psychogenic illness

Question 31

Noor is in a study similar to Baron et al. (1996). She has been asked to select the person she saw in a series of photos. If she's told that her decision is not very important, she will

A) conform more than when the decision is very important.
B) not conform at all.
C) conform less than when the decision is very important.
D) conform about as much as when the decision is important.

Question 32

According to research presented in the text (Baron et al., 1996), participants were asked to select perpetrators after a lineup in conditions of high ambiguity; the perpetrator wore different clothing in the lineup than in the original photo, and the slides were shown very quickly. Recall also that some participants were told that the task was one that was being designed for use by the police department and were offered $20 if they were the most accurate, while others were told that it was just a laboratory task under development. This study demonstrated that

A) the more important it was to the participants to be accurate, the more they conformed to other group members' answers.
B) the more important it was to participants to be accurate, the less they conformed to other group members' answers.
C) when the task was more important, people conformed more but their self-esteem decreased.
D) people were more resistant to influence in this study than in the Sherif study because of the greater degree of mundane realism.

Question 33

Informational social influence is most likely to play a significant role in which of the following situations?

A) members of a jury trying to reach a verdict in a murder trial
B) family members sitting around the living room trying to guess answers to a TV game show
C) fraternity members encouraging each other to "chug-a-lug"
D) two art students viewing a museum exhibit and discussing their preferences for different works

Question 34

People are especially likely to conform due to informational social influence

A) when the task is intellectual or academic.
B) more in private than in public.
C) when the situation is a crisis.
D) the more flexible and yielding the other people are.

Question 35

In the past ten years, the popular American holiday, Halloween, was "imported" to France by retailers hoping to increase revenues. Essentially, the French learned the traditions such as trick-or-treating and wearing costumes from Americans. This is an example of ________ on an international scale.

A) normative social influence
B) the autokinetic effect
C) informational social influence
D) mass psychogenic illness

Question 36

Believing that others are right is to ________ as conforming without believing is to ________.

A) public compliance; private acceptance
B) private acceptance; autokinetic effect
C) private acceptance: public compliance
D) public compliance; autokinetic effect

Question 37

Based on the studies conducted by Nolan and colleagues (2008) and Goldstein and colleagues (2008), which approach seems to be most effective at motivating people to behave in ways that are more environmentally friendly?

A) operant conditioning
B) informational social influence
C) cognitive dissonance
D) guilt and fear appeals

Question 38

Why would Muzafer Sherif, a social psychologist, choose the autokinetic effect (a perceptual illusion) to study social conformity? He wanted

A) to construct a situation that was ambiguous.
B) participants to feel pressure to obey his instructions.
C) to use a dark room to foster a sense of cohesion in the group.
D) to study the influence of perceptions on social behavior.

Question 39

In the nineteenth century, audience members who knew the opera intimately served as "claques," or experts who signaled others in the audience when to applaud, or as "bisseurs," who signaled when to call for encores. These experts served as a source of ________ for less sophisticated audience members.

A) informational social influence
B) contagion
C) normative social influence
D) public compliance

Question 40

Even though Gerald isn't religious, when he attends church on Christmas with his family, he donates money when ushers pass around a collection basket because everyone else puts something in. It is likely that Gerald is

A) experiencing a high level of cognitive dissonance.
B) privately accepting religion.
C) being persuaded via the peripheral route.
D) publicly complying.

Question 41

Mass psychogenic illness shows the power of

A) informational social influence.
B) normative social influence.
C) compliance.
D) the immune system.

Question 42

Le Bon (1895) documented that emotions and behaviors can spread rapidly through a crowd, an effect known as

A) mass psychogenic illness.
B) contagion.
C) persuasion.
D) normative social influence.

Question 43

The members of a local police precinct just had to be evacuated because a number of people reported nausea, blurry vision, and numb hands. It was determined that it was a case of mass psychogenic illness. These types of illnesses tend to begin with people who are

A) leaders in their communities.
B) hypochondriacs.
C) physically debilitated.
D) under stress.

Question 44

What do the following situations share in common: a million listeners of Orson Welles's broadcast of War of the Worlds become panic-stricken, believing it is a real event; a case of mass psychogenic illness occurs in Tennessee; people in the Middle Ages became "infected" with dancing manias. All are examples of

A) cognitive dissonance.
B) obedience to authority.
C) normative social influence.
D) informational social influence.

Question 45

In a situation such as the War of the Worlds broadcast, where the situation is highly ambiguous, once people begin to believe they know what is happening, they tend to

A) relax.
B) reinterpret potentially disconfirming evidence in line with their definition of the situation.
C) stop interacting with each other, as information is no longer needed.
D) become motivated to achieve acceptance by others.

Question 46

________ conformity is to the desire to be right as ________ conformity is to the desire to be liked.

A) Normative; informational
B) Mindless; normative
C) Informational; mindless
D) Informational; normative

Question 47

During the Middle Ages, victims of the imaginary illness "dancing manias" lost all inhibitions and whirled wildly through the streets. During the twentieth century, modern Americans fell prey to the misdeeds of a "phantom anesthetist" who entered homes and gassed the inhabitants. According to your text, how is mass psychogenic illness most different today from how it was in the Middle Ages?

A) In the past, symptoms were religious in nature; today they are technological.
B) In the past, normative social influence contributed to contagion; today, informational social influences contribute.
C) Today there is greater consensus than in the past about the so-called "sources" of such illnesses.
D) Today, the modern mass media accelerate the rate of "infection."

Question 48

When it comes to informational social influence processes, we are more likely to conform with experts' ideas and behaviors than with nonexperts' because

A) social norms dictate that experts should be obeyed.
B) expertise is associated with social status and power.
C) experts are viewed as more credible sources of information.
D) experts convey clearer expectations of obedience.

Question 49

When Orson Welles broadcast War of the Worlds, a fictitious program about a hostile Martian takeover of Earth, many people who heard the program eventually believed the takeover was a real threat and panicked. The power of ________ was a major cause of this widespread panic.

A) fear-arousing communications
B) informational social influence
C) mass psychogenic illness
D) normative social influence

Question 50

According to the authors of your text, mass psychogenic illness is more easily spread now because of

A) chronic use of antibiotics.
B) access to mass media.
C) urban living.
D) use of ineffective coping strategies.

Question 51

How did researchers know that the 1998 case of mass psychogenic illness at a Tennessee high school (described in the text) was due to social influence?

A) Clinical interviews indicated the psychological origin of the illness.
B) The spread of illness was correlated with the extent of interaction of individuals.
C) The spread of illness was correlated with media reporting of the illness.
D) No physical cause for the illness could be found.

Question 52

Not all members of the radio audience of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast panicked immediately. Indeed, some didn't panic until they looked out of the window and saw empty streets; others didn't panic until they saw streets full of traffic. It was after checking out the situation that these citizens decided that the Martians had indeed invaded Earth. This example illustrates that contagion

A) can result when cultural norms reinforce people's most likely responses.
B) is especially likely when people are motivated to make independent decisions.
C) can result when people look to others for the interpretation of ambiguous situations .
D) occurs primarily because humans are by nature irrational creatures.

Question 53

People are motivated to impose clear definitions on ambiguous situations. All of the following processes except ________ are used to resolve ambiguity of information.

A) schematic processing
B) making attributions
C) informational social influence
D) dissonance reduction

Question 54

Consider the following (edited) excerpt from a James Thurber New Yorker piece: "Suddenly someone began to run. It may be that he had simply remembered... an engagement to meet his wife, for which he was now frightfully late. Whatever it was, he ran east on Broad Street. Somebody else began to run, perhaps a newsboy in high spirits.... Another man broke into a trot.... A loud mumble gradually crystallized into the dread word 'dam.' 'The dam has broke!' The fear was put into words by a little old lady in an electric car, or by a traffic cop, or by a small boy: Nobody knows who.... Two thousand people were abruptly in full flight.…" This literary excerpt illustrates the phenomenon known as

A) conversion.
B) mass psychogenic panic.
C) collective psychosis.
D) contagion.

Question 55

Many U.S. troops present at My Lai later reported that they were frightened and confused about whether people in the villages were really enemy soldiers. Others reported that they didn't know whether the rifle-fire they heard was from enemy guns or from the guns of fellow troops. Still, frightened and bewildered, many of them began setting fire to huts and shooting old men, women, and children. This tragic example illustrates that informational influence is most likely to occur when

A) authorities model the appropriate behavior.
B) situations are interpreted as a crisis.
C) we look to experts for cues.
D) charismatic leaders provide a new definition of reality.

Question 56

When Steven goes to his fraternity meeting, all of the following factors will increase the impact of informational social influence on him except the

A) ambiguity of the situation.
B) importance of the group.
C) extent to which a situation is a crisis.
D) expertise of others.

Question 57

The major downside risk of informational social influence is that the more ________ the situation is, the more we rely on others who are no more likely to be knowledgeable or accurate than we ourselves are, leading us each to adopt others' mistakes and misinterpretations.

A) clearly defined
B) superficial
C) familiar
D) ambiguous

Question 58

First-year college students may be more susceptible than seniors to informational social influence because

A) they want to be liked by a group.
B) there is a charismatic leader in the group.
C) they have no allies in their group.
D) the situations they encounter are ambiguous.

Question 59

Priscilla is on her way to a concert and has gotten lost. Which of the following people, based on information from your text about informational social influence, would she be most likely to ask for directions?

A) a tourist from out of town
B) the largest group of people she can find
C) a police officer
D) a homeless person

Question 60

In which of the following does the role of informational rather than normative social influence most predominate?

A) fraternity hazing
B) cult mass suicides
C) mass psychogenic illnesses
D) the rise in eating disorders

Question 61

The authors of your text report instances of teens "surfing" on the tops of electric trains in Brazil, and on cars in the U.S. and Australia. Which of the following best explains such dangerous behavior?

A) the power of normative social influence
B) the power of informational social influence
C) These teens have "excitement seeking" personalities.
D) These are usually delinquent teens using this activity for gang initiations.

Question 62

Recall that Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) asked participants to estimate the lengths of lines. In response to the incorrect answers of others, some participants actually denied what their eyes saw. These studies provide evidence of

A) normative social influence.
B) informational social influence.
C) private acceptance.
D) contagion.

Question 63

Imagine that you are attending a new high school and would like to make friends. On the first day of school, you observe that all of the students in your homeroom are crumpling paper into balls and throwing them on the floor. You begin to do the same. You have conformed to the group's behavior due to

A) informational social influence.
B) mass psychogenic illness.
C) normative social influence.
D) obedience to authority.

Question 64

Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) conducted a series of studies in which participants were asked to estimate the lengths of lines that clearly differed in length. Participants then heard the other group members give correct estimations for some trials, and blatantly incorrect estimations for others. When confederates in the study gave an incorrect response, how did participants respond?

A) They refused to provide an obviously incorrect answer.
B) They tried to correct the confederates' mistakes and persuade them to make the correct choice.
C) They tended to conform on at least one of the trials.
D) They refused to answer, or "passed" their turn.

Question 65

The concept of social norms refers to

A) the most common beliefs, values, or behavior in a group of people.
B) implicit or explicit rules a group has for acceptable beliefs, values, or behavior.
C) social sanctions a group provides in response to deviant behavior.
D) social practices designed to promote cooperation in a group.

Question 66

Itsuki, a Japanese teenager, has withdrawn from all social interaction. He is referred to as a hikikomori. The most likely reason for his withdrawal is as a result of

A) academic failure.
B) being from a dishonored family.
C) being an illegitimate child.
D) being bullied severely.

Question 67

Leslie keeps getting harassing, put-down messages on her phone and Facebook page from a group of kids at her school. Leslie is being

A) ostracized.
B) socially normed.
C) cyberbullied.
D) e-dissed.

Question 68

Which type of conformity is most at odds with our cultural ethos of individualism and independence and most closely matches the negative stereotypes of those who conform as being "weaklings"?

A) nonconformity
B) informational conformity
C) normative conformity
D) anti-conformity

Question 69

When people conform in attitudes or behaviors in order to be accepted and liked by others, social psychologists say that ________ has occurred.

A) contagion
B) informational social influence
C) social approval
D) normative social influence

Question 70

In Japan, some teens become hikikomori, often after being victims of severe bullying. Someone who is hikikomori can be described as

A) withdrawn from all social interaction.
B) gregarious and outgoing.
C) schizophrenic and paranoid.
D) extremely aggressive towards others.

Question 71

Going along with the crowd (e.g., swallowing goldfish, smoking pot, train-surfing) because of a fear of social exclusion is an example of

A) normative social influence.
B) informational social influence.
C) social impact.
D) social dominance.

Question 72

In a series of experiments, why did Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) ask participants to judge the lengths of lines that were clearly different from one another? Asch

A) wanted to study conformity in ambiguous situations.
B) believed that people would conform in their judgments.
C) wanted to study conformity in unambiguous situations.
D) believed that Muzafer Sherif's experiments were fatally flawed.

Question 73

Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) embarked on a series of studies in which participants were asked to estimate the lengths of lines that clearly differed in length. Asch originally undertook these experiments to

A) systematically replicate the earlier "autokinetic effect" studies of Muzafer Sherif, using different ambiguous stimuli.
B) demonstrate that in ambiguous situations, people would rather be "liked" than "right."
C) show that in unambiguous situations, people will behave in reasonable, rational ways.
D) challenge the prevailing view that humans are inherently motivated to be accurate in their perceptions.

Question 74

Informational social influence is to ________ as normative social influence is to ________.

A) public compliance; private acceptance
B) private acceptance; public compliance
C) conversion; private acceptance
D) conformity; conversion

Question 75

Which of the following is an example of a social norm in mainstream U.S. culture?

A) bowing to your parents as a greeting
B) using your turn signal to indicate which direction you will be turning
C) reading a book
D) asking a homeless person for help finding an address

Question 76

Deviant behavior is usually met with rejection. For example, in Japan, deviants in school tend to be shunned and harassed by their entire class or school. Such treatment is particularly psychologically damaging in Japan because the culture

A) demands perfection.
B) emphasizes cohesion and group harmony.
C) frowns upon conformity.
D) emphasizes good grades.

Question 77

When you and your friends greet each other, it's customary for you to give each other a special, complicated handshake. This handshake can be considered the ________ for greeting each other in your group.

A) hikikomori
B) autokinetic effect
C) social norm
D) disjunctive norm

Question 78

Pierre joins the other concertgoers in giving the symphony a standing ovation, even though he thought the performance was merely adequate. The next morning, Pierre confides to his girlfriend that the performance was "satisfactory, but not overwhelming." In joining the standing ovation, Pierre displayed what kind of conformity?

A) private acceptance
B) mindless conformity
C) public compliance
D) social deviance

Question 79

In essence, normative social influence arises from humans' fundamental

A) selfishness, which must be kept in check.
B) need for companionship, affection, and acceptance.
C) need for accurate perceptions and beliefs about a confusing world.
D) desire to submit to knowledgeable authorities.

Question 80

Bill has been deprived of human contact for long periods of time. He will tend to experience

A) insanity.
B) stress and trauma.
C) contentment.
D) increased desire to help others.