Deck 8: Social Cognition

Question 1

Stereotypes about older adults are

A)positive.
B)negative.
C)both positive and negative.
D)irrelevant because people take other factors into consideration when forming impressions of older persons.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Using the Young-Old Implicit Attitudes test, researchers discovered that

A)younger individuals were more likely to use patronizing talk toward older people.
B)younger people were faster to respond to young-pleasant and old-unpleasant trials rather than young- unpleasant and old-pleasant trials.
C)older people were faster to respond to young-unpleasant and old-pleasant trials.
D)all subjects, regardless of age, were faster to respond to young-pleasant and old-unpleasant trials rather than young-unpleasant and old-pleasant trials.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The results of Bargh and colleagues and Hummert and colleagues reveal that

A)causal attributions of older adults are more likely to be dispositional in nature.
B)negative stereotypes are activated when we are unaware of them.
C)patronizing speech is common among nursing home workers.
D)personal control is related to memory performance.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Viewing older people's forgetting of where they parked their cars at the mall as more serious than younger people's forgetting of where they parked their cars reflects a(n)

A)correspondence bias.
B)stereotype threat.
C)negativity bias.
D)age-based double standard.

Question 5

The activation of an automatic, unconscious stereotype is known as

A)implicit social beliefs.
B)implicit stereotyping.
C)implicit attributions.
D)explicit stereotyping.

Question 6

When presented with examples of older and younger adults who are forgetful or not forgetful, both younger and older adults

A)judge the older forgetful person more harshly.
B)were more likely to have confidence in younger people, both forgetful and not forgetful.
C)were more likely to have confidence in younger and older people who were not forgetful.
D)showed an age-based double standard.

Question 7

One way in which implicit stereotypes are often observed is in how

A)people communicate with each other.
B)people think of each other.
C)people rate other peoples' behaviors toward older adults.
D)threatened a person feels.

Question 8

Older adults produce age stereotypes than younger adults.

A)more
B)fewer
C)similar
D)different

Question 9

Bargh and colleagues have found that subliminal messages about older persons made young adults walk down a hall slower.This is evidence for

A)implicit social beliefs.
B)implicit stereotyping.
C)implicit attributions.
D)explicit stereotyping.

Question 10

Alice has misplaced her keys (which rarely happens), but her grandchildren are worried that something might be wrong with her, even though her granddaughter has done the same thing three times this week.The above is an example of

A)an age-based double standard.
B)an age-based stereotype.
C)the beginning signs of Alzheimer's disease.
D)senility.

Question 11

When Tina talks to her mother ,she talks slowly while exaggerating the intonation of her voice.This is an example of

A)stereotyped speech.
B)age-based language.
C)patronizing speech.
D)infantile speech.

Question 12

Socially shared beliefs about characteristics and behaviors of a particular social group are called

A)assumptions.
B)biases.
C)evaluative adjectives.
D)stereotypes.

Question 13

When older adults' forgetfulness is rated as more serious than memory failures of younger adults, this is known as

A)an age-based double standard.
B)an age-based stereotype.
C)age-based attribution.
D)dispositional stereotype.

Question 14

Stereotypes help us understand why people behave as they do, and they can help guide our behavior.However, they

A)are always negative.
B)are sometimes applied in ways that underestimate the potential of the person we are observing.
C)are resistant to change.
D)always overestimate the abilities of older persons.

Question 15

Social psychologists suggest that the reason stereotypes are automatically activated is that they become and are thus spontaneously activated when we encounter a member or members of a stereotyped group.

A)increasingly complicated
B)increasingly negative
C)impossible to change
D)overlearned

Question 16

No area is more susceptible to negative stereotyped attributions of aging than

A)physical decline.
B)memory competence.
C)hearing impairment.
D)sexual behavior.

Question 17

Images of older adults as slow, forgetful, and easily confused are based on

A)negative stereotypes.
B)negative attributions.
C)negative correlations.
D)biased research findings.

Question 18

Hummert and colleagues found that, when primed with the subliminal message "old," adults responded faster to the word "ugly," and when primed with the subliminal message "young," adults responded faster to the word "pretty." This is evidence for

A)implicit social beliefs.
B)implicit stereotyping.
C)implicit attributions.
D)explicit stereotyping.

Question 19

Which research technique overcomes the challenges associated with implicit aging stereotyping?

A)Young-Old Implicit Attitudes test
B)hypnosis
C)functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
D)There is no technique that can overcome this, as by definition, these stereotypes are implicit and, therefore, inaccessible.

Question 20

John Bargh and colleagues' study of implicit stereotyping (1996) found that subliminally priming young people with the image of an elderly person caused them to

A)answer questions more slowly in interviews.
B)write more slowly on questionnaires.
C)walk down the hall more slowly after the experiment.
D)be more forgetful during the experiment.

Question 21

The likelihood that information in memory will be used to guide social judgments is related to

A)how easily the information can be accessed.
B)one's social context base.
C)how quickly the information is processed.
D)one's implicit memory.

Question 22

When older adults take their time to form social judgments, they process information similarly to younger adults.But what happens when older adults have to make social judgments and are given a time limit?

A)They make better, more informed decisions than younger adults.
B)They have difficulty remembering the information they need to make their social judgments.
C)They become confused.
D)They show a positivity bias.

Question 23

Generational differences are apparent when people make social judgments.For example, when considering the social rule "you can't stop true love," results from a research study showed a relationship.

A)X-shaped
B)U-shaped
C)Y-shaped
D)random

Question 24

Studies have shown that older adults are more susceptible to false information.Neuroimaging techniques reveal this may be related to damage or age-related changes in

A)short-term memory.
B)negativity bias.
C)the prefrontal cortex.
D)the hippocampus.

Question 25

When people develop explanations of behavior, this is known as a

A)situational attribution.
B)causal attribution.
C)causation.
D)dispositional attribution.

Question 26

is an important factor in understanding how older adults process and access social information.

A)Processing resources
B)Memory
C)General intelligence
D)Social belief

Question 27

When you are determining where particular pieces of information originated, you make a(n)

A)social context judgment.
B)source judgment.
C)implicit source judgment.
D)impression formation.

Question 28

Older adults consistently of why negative events occur more often than younger adults.

A)change their appraisal
B)hold to their initial judgments or conclusions
C)forget the reasons
D)use global attributions

Question 29

Before you are told the details about a car accident your friend was in, you are told that the other person involved in the accident was an older man who is hard of hearing.Whether this information will influence your interpretation of the events is related to your

A)social context effect.
B)implicit priming.
C)implicit theories.
D)impression formation.

Question 30

When older adults were told they were going to take a memory test, they performed more poorly than younger adults on a task.However, when they were told the task emphasized learning new information, they performed similarly to younger adults.This provides an example of

A)negative personal control.
B)internal attributions.
C)implicit social beliefs.
D)stereotype threat.

Question 31

When you draw upon your prior experiences at restaurants to guide your behavior at a new restaurant, you are using your

A)knowledge base.
B)social context base.
C)social knowledge.
D)implicit memory

Question 32

In one recent study, had the most positive view of successful aging.

A)children
B)adolescents
C)middle-aged individuals
D)the oldest adults

Question 33

Which theory argues that when confronted with age-related stereotypes, older adults are likely to incorporate these into their self-perceptions?

A)perceived competence theory
B)stereotype threat theory
C)labeling theory
D)resilience theory

Question 34

Deciding that you did poorly on an exam because you did not study is called a(n)

A)effort attribution.
B)causal attribution.
C)causation effect.
D)situational attribution.

Question 35

If older adults are primed with negative aging stereotypes, and their subsequent performance on memory tests is worse than older adults who were primed with positive aging stereotypes, then we can conclude that older persons are vulnerable to

A)bias in memory testing.
B)stereotype threat.
C)activation of implicit beliefs.
D)learned helplessness.

Question 36

Even though older and younger adults may believe it is wrong to live together before marriage, older adults may be more rigid or adamant in this belief.This is evidence of age differences in

A)stereotyping.
B)sexual norms.
C)social beliefs.
D)levels of religiosity.

Question 37

The influence of negative aging stereotypes on performance

A)has been found only in studies of memory.
B)has been found in studies of memory, balance, and cardiovascular response.
C)has been found only in the United States.
D)was found only in the oldest adults.

Question 38

When confronted with a new situation, you draw upon prior experiences.This is known as your

A)knowledge base.
B)social context base.
C)social knowledge.
D)implicit memory.

Question 39

Older adults are more likely to pay attention to and seek out emotional information than younger adults.This might help explain why older adults have a bias.

A)positivity
B)negativity
C)first impression
D)age

Question 40

Adults of different generations invoke the social rule "marriage is more important than career" more so with increasing age.This is evidence of

A)cohort effects of how different generations were socialized with respect to the social rules of marriage.
B)differences in religiosity across time with respect to the rules of marriage.
C)stereotype threat's impact on views of marriage.
D)changing morals regarding sexual behavior.

Question 41

How do perceptions of control over health change over time?

A)Sense of control over one's health increases over the life span.
B)Sense of control over health increased for women and decreased for men across the life span.
C)There were no changes in sense of control over one's health up until the 70s.As one transitions into the mid 70s and 80s, sense of control declines.
D)Sense of control varies considerably by individual and is not tied to age.

Question 42

The need for results in a desire for predictability, being uncomfortable with ambiguity, and a preference for quick and decisive answers.

A)personal control
B)closure
C)emotional selectivity
D)ego integrity

Question 43

Blanchard-Fields and colleagues found that when participants were presented with different situations with positive or negative outcomes, older adults were more likely to make about the main character.

A)situational attributions
B)causal attributions
C)interactive attributions
D)dispositional attributions

Question 44

When people develop explanations of behavior based on things inside themselves or others, this is know as a

A)situational attribution.
B)causal attribution.
C)causation.
D)dispositional attribution.

Question 45

Personal control is thought to play a role in

A)memory tasks.
B)stress.
C)health.
D)all of these.

Question 46

Brandtstädter proposes that a positive view of self in later life requires

A)accomodations.
B)immunizing mechanisms.
C)assimilative activities.
D)all of these.

Question 47

The fact that young adults tend to rely more on dispositional information and ignore compelling situational information is an example of

A)correspondence bias.
B)causal attribution.
C)implicit bias.
D)explicit bias.

Question 48

When people develop explanations of behavior based on things outside the person's control, this is known as a(n)

A)situational attribution.
B)inherent attribution.
C)causation.
D)dispositional attribution.

Question 49

"I didn't do well on that exam because the teacher is unfair" is an example of a

A)situational attribution.
B)causal attribution.
C)causation.
D)dispositional attribution.

Question 50

The positivity effect can be defined as

A)when older adults achieve wisdom with increasing age.
B)when having one chronic disease increases the likelihood that one will experience additional chronic diseases.
C)when older adults avoid negative information and focus on positive information.
D)the tendency to experience more positive emotions with increasing age.

Question 51

Researchers argue that changes in with aging, such as declines in working memory, may lead to an increase in a need for closure with age.

A)personal control
B)possible selves
C)emotional selectivity
D)processing resources

Question 52

Which of the following psychological constructs refers to the belief that one's performance in a situation depends on something that one personally does?

A)personal control
B)locus of control
C)personal locus of control
D)external locus of control

Question 53

One day you walk past your Adult Development and Aging professor and say "Hi," but your instructor does not respond.You decide that she is rude, but what you failed to notice is that she was in deep conversation with the chair of her department and other faculty and did not hear you.This is an example of a

A)correspondence bias.
B)causal attribution.
C)implicit bias.
D)explicit bias.

Question 54

"John is such a good person" is an example of a

A)situational attribution.
B)environmental attribution.
C)causation.
D)dispositional attribution.

Question 55

Taken together, the body of research on personal control indicates it may serve as a for one's well- being in the face of declining health and other losses associated with the oldest adults.

A)proxy or measure
B)protective factor
C)stress factor
D)motivator

Question 56

How we approach problems is known as our

A)personal control.
B)cognitive style.
C)attributional style.
D)processing goal.

Question 57

Deciding that you did poorly on an exam because you did not study is which type of attribution

A)effort attribution.
B)personality attribution.
C)dispositional attribution
D)situational attribution.

Question 58

The explanations that people create to account for behavior vary depending on

A)the type of situation.
B)the age of the person.
C)the strength of the social beliefs and whether they have been violated.
D)all of these.

Question 59

Selective optimization with compensation (SOC) is an important theoretical model that suggests that development occurs as we continually update our to match our appraisal of our .

A)personal goals; available resources
B)perceptions; expectations
C)skills; abilities
D)abilities; personal goals

Question 60

In a cross-cultural study comparing Chinese and American adults, which group showed the greatest correspondence bias?

A)older Americans
B)older Chinese
C)younger Americans
D)younger Chinese

Question 61

The results of Adams and colleagues' study of adults' storytelling illustrate the importance of considering

A)social context when examining age-related performance.
B)processing demands when examining age-related performance.
C)causal attributions when examining age-related performance.
D)gender when examining age-related performance.

Question 62

Dixon and colleagues found that when older adults worked together to recall a story

A)they confused each other.
B)their performance was better than as individuals working alone.
C)they each remembered different aspects of the story.
D)they only remembered certain aspects of the story and completely forgot other aspects.

Question 63

In the theory of personal control developed by Heckhausen, Wrosch, and Schulz, control is viewed as

A)a motivational system that regulates human behavior.
B)the give and take of mechanisms that regulate human behavior.
C)minimizing the impact of failures in performance.
D)none of these.

Question 64

When older adults were asked to learn a story so they could retell it later to a group of young children, their stories

A)were less detailed than younger adults.
B)were similar to that of younger adults.
C)contained a number of errors.
D)were more detailed than younger adults.

Question 65

The preservation and stabilization of a positive view of the self in later life involves

A)immunizing activities.
B)accommodations.
C)assimilative activities.
D)all of these.

Question 66

According to Brandtstädter, a person who engages in activities to alleviate declines is said to be engaging in

A)primary control.
B)accommodations.
C)assimilative activities.
D)emotion-focused coping.

Question 67

Sixty-eight-year-old twins Mary and Tina are trying to solve a crossword puzzle by working together.This is an example of

A)metacognition.
B)mnemonics.
C)collaborative cognition.
D)external strategy.

Question 68

According to Brandtstädter, a person who readjusts his/her goals to lessen the impact of declines is said to be engaging in

A)primary control.
B)secondary control.
C)assimilative activities.
D)accommodations.

Question 69

In the theory of personal control developed by Heckhausen, Wrosch, and Schulz, changing one's goals is referred to as

A)primary control.
B)secondary control.
C)possible selves.
D)problem-focused coping mechanism.

Question 70

An 82-year-old woman decides she is not able to safely drive on the highways anymore.She decides highway driving is not necessary because she can get to most locations by taking smaller back roads.According to Heckhausen, Wrosch, and Schulz, this is an example of

A)primary control.
B)secondary control.
C)possible selves.
D)problem-focused coping mechanisms.

Question 71

A 35-year-old man loses his job and is now actively searching for a new job.According to Heckhausen, Wrosch, and Schulz, this is an example of

A)primary control.
B)secondary control.
C)possible selves.
D)problem-focused coping mechanisms.

Question 72

The theory of personal control developed by Heckhausen, Wrosch, and Schulz proposes that as people get older, they are more likely to exert control in their lives by using

A)primary control strategies in which they change their environment.
B)secondary control strategies in which they change their goals.
C)possible selves in which they try to remember their past behaviors.
D)problem-focused coping mechanisms.

Question 73

Given the research, the most apt conclusion to draw regarding personal control is that

A)personal control increases with age.
B)personal control decreases with age.
C)personal control is multidimensional and complex.
D)personal control is highly stable across domains.

Question 74

According to Brandtstädter, a person who uses all sorts of memory aids (such as an iPhone calendar) because they pride themselves on not forgetting appointments is said to be engaging in

A)primary control.
B)secondary control.
C)assimilative activities.
D)emotion-focused coping.

Question 75

When two or more people work together to solve a problem or task, they are engaging in

A)primary control.
B)collaborative cognition.
C)metacognition.
D)problem-focused coping.

Question 76

John has added five minutes to his goal running time after he began noticing it is taking him longer to finish his morning run.According to Brandtstädter, John is said to be engaging in

A)primary control.
B)secondary control.
C)assimilative activities.
D)accommodative activities.

Question 77

The results of Dixon and Gould (1998) on married couples and collaborative cognition illustrates

A)older couples perform better than singles but not as well as young married couples.
B)older couples perform worse than younger couples.
C)older couples perform as well as younger couples.
D)older couples performed as well as younger singles.

Question 78

In the theory of personal control developed by Heckhausen, Wrosch, and Schulz, changing the environment to achieve one's goals is referred to as

A)primary control.
B)secondary control.
C)possible selves.
D)problem-focused coping mechanisms.

Question 79

Katharine has forgotten a few appointments.However, she doesn't think it's her fault, and she blames her assistant for forgetting to remind her.According to Brandtstädter, Katharine is engaging in

A)immunizing mechanisms.
B)secondary control.
C)assimilative activities.
D)accommodations

Question 80

According to Brandtstädter, a person who ignores evidence of declines or blames it on something else is said to be engaging in

A)immunizing mechanisms.
B)secondary control.
C)assimilative activities.
D)accommodative activities.