Deck 3: Social Cognition: Understanding Ourselves and Others

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT a cognitive simplification strategy?

A) expectation confirmation
B) anchoring and adjusting
C) downward social comparison
D) dispositional inferences

Answer 1

downward social comparison

Question 2

Suppose you are told that your new roommate is a member of the chess club.How is this expectation likely to influence you?

A) You are likely to interpret ambiguous behaviors in ways that will change this expectation.
B) You are likely to seek information that disconfirms this expectation.
C) You are likely to remember behaviors that are consistent with this expectation.
D) You are likely to use the anchoring and adjustment heuristic.

Answer 2

You are likely to remember behaviors that are consistent with this expectation.

Question 3

Imagine that a woman in front of you in the supermarket line starts screaming at the person at the register.The spontaneous Western explanation for her behavior would likely be that

A) the woman has a personality issue or character flaw.
B) the woman is in an unpleasant situation or environment.
C) there's some interaction between her personality and the situation that's causing her behavior.
D) the woman is having a completely random interaction with the person at the register.

Answer 3

the woman has a personality issue or character flaw.

Question 4

What does it mean when we say that people are motivated tacticians?

A) People adopt different styles of thinking to achieve different goals.
B) People frequently succumb to the self-serving bias.
C) People think about how to beat others in competitive situations.
D) People display memory biases on a regular basis.

Question 5

Karina is going to negotiate with a lawyer who has a reputation for being aggressive and hostile.To prevent herself from being taken advantage of,Karina enters the negotiation with a hard position and cold interpersonal style.As a natural response to Karina's behavior,the other lawyer is aggressive and hostile in the negotiation.This process is an example of

A) the self-serving bias.
B) the correspondence bias.
C) the self-fulfilling prophecy.
D) the representativeness heuristic.

Question 6

All of the following are core processes of social cognition EXCEPT

A) interpretation.
B) attention.
C) memory.
D) expectancy confirmation.

Question 7

Which of the following statements is true about human expectations?

A) Expectations are very flexible and easily changed.
B) Expectations are very resistant to change.
C) Expectations are very likely to be disconfirmed, especially in complex situations.
D) Expectations are more likely to be confirmed when people are in a sad mood than when they are in a happy mood.

Question 8

Social cognition is defined as the way that

A) people congregate into groups.
B) people think about and make sense of themselves and those around them.
C) people think collectively rather than individually.
D) people pass information and attitudes along informal lines of communication.

Question 9

Because people need to make effective decisions even when they don't have a lot of mental resources,they are likely to do all BUT which of the following?

A) seek information that is opposite to their expectations
B) use the representativeness heuristic
C) use the availability heuristic
D) make expectation-consistent judgments

Question 10

Which of the following examples best fits with the definition of social cognition?

A) a person hitting another person
B) singing in front of a group of people
C) wondering why your date didn't show up last night
D) helping a child to cross the street

Question 11

When are self-fulfilling prophecies more likely to occur?

A) when the targets of false expectations attempt to change those expectations
B) when those holding false expectations control the social encounter
C) when the representativeness heuristic is activated
D) when the correspondence bias is activated

Question 12

Participants in a study by Jones and Harris were shown essays ostensibly written by students on a debate team.Which of the following possible results best demonstrates the correspondence bias? Participants thought that the author of the essay,

A) who was required to write an anti-Castro essay, had positive attitudes toward Castro.
B) who was required to write a pro-Castro essay, had positive attitudes toward Castro.
C) who freely chose to write an anti-Castro essay, had neutral attitudes toward Castro.
D) who freely chose to write an anti-Castro essay, had positive attitudes toward Castro.

Question 13

Thousands of U.S.banks went out of business in the 1930s as a result of customers withdrawing their deposits because they feared that the banks were running out of money.This is an example of

A) the misapplication of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic.
B) the correspondence bias.
C) a self-fulfilling prophecy.
D) attributional ambiguity.

Question 14

Expectations tend to be resistant to change for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

A) people pay extra attention to information that confirms their expectations.
B) people are flexible and adaptive in their thinking.
C) people interpret ambiguous information in ways that support their expectations.
D) people remember well information that is consistent with their expectations.

Question 15

Expectancy confirmation is discussed in the text as most closely linked to the goal of

A) conserving mental effort.
B) managing self-image.
C) accuracy.
D) appearing competent.

Question 16

Social cognition is most closely linked to

A) thinking.
B) feeling.
C) communicating.
D) affiliating.

Question 17

In recent years,many books have been published about media bias.Liberals have published books proclaiming a conservative bias in the media,whereas conservatives have published books proclaiming a liberal bias in the media.The most likely social cognitive explanation for this occurrence is that

A) either one side or the other is deliberately misrepresenting the facts.
B) a self-fulfilling prophecy may exist on both sides.
C) different people often interpret the same events differently.
D) dispositional inferences are made by everyone.

Question 18

A self-fulfilling prophecy

A) is the tendency for people to judge that other people's behavior was caused by their personality.
B) occurs when an initially inaccurate expectation leads to actions that cause the expectation to come true.
C) is the false belief that some people can see the future.
D) is the theory that attempts to explain how people determine whether or not a behavior is the result of a particular disposition.

Question 19

The judgment that a person's behavior is caused by his/her personality is called a(an)

A) external inference.
B) dispositional inference.
C) consensus judgment.
D) person-situation interaction.

Question 20

The text reports a study in which pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli students watched an identical news broadcast about an Israeli-Palestinian confrontation.The results of the study indicated that

A) compared to control students, pro-Israeli students believed that the news report had depicted Israel's actions as more justified, but pro-Palestinian students thought it had depicted Palestine as "in the right."
B) compared to control students, pro-Israeli students perceived the report as highly pro-Palestinian, whereas pro-Palestine students viewed it as more pro-Israeli.
C) on both sides, students who were high in self-monitoring viewed the report as anti-Palestinian, whereas those low in self-monitoring viewed it as pro-Palestinian.
D) on both sides, students who were high in self-monitoring viewed the report as pro-Palestinian, whereas those low in self-monitoring viewed it as anti-Palestinian.

Question 21

Elaine watches a news program that covers several violent incidents as well as two murders.Later,when Elaine is asked to estimate the general rate of incidence of homicides in the United States,these examples quickly come to Elaine's mind,and she estimates the incidence rate to be higher than it actually is.This example illustrates the

A) representativeness heuristic.
B) correspondence bias.
C) anchoring and adjustment heuristic.
D) availability heuristic.

Question 22

According to the false consensus effect,we judge others' opinions

A) to be similar to our own.
B) from their present actions.
C) by noting which of their previous behaviors comes to mind most easily.
D) to be consistent with their personalities.

Question 23

Noah is asked if there are more poodles or dalmatians in America.He can quickly think of more examples of poodles than dalmatians because there are lots of poodles in his neighborhood,but not many dalmatians.He estimates that there are more poodles.Noah has most likely used

A) the anchoring and adjustment heuristic.
B) the false consensus effect.
C) the representativeness heuristic.
D) the availability heuristic.

Question 24

The false consensus effect occurs because people use ________ as an anchor and ________ this estimate.

A) their own views; overadjust
B) their own views; underadjust
C) the most popular view; overadjust
D) the most popular view; underadjust

Question 25

Suppose that you are reading two books that try to explain the breaking up of the Soviet Union.One book,written by a Chinese historian,emphasizes the situational factors that contributed to the breakup,whereas the other book,written by an American historian,emphasizes the personalities involved,such as the political leaders.This difference reflects the notion that the fundamental attribution error

A) is different from the actor-observer difference.
B) is more common in individualistic than collectivistic cultures.
C) is more common in collectivistic than individualistic cultures.
D) is more likely to occur when people reflect on the past.

Question 26

The strategy of basing a judgment on the felt ease with which one can bring to mind particular instances of an event is known as the

A) anchoring and adjustment heuristic.
B) representativeness heuristic.
C) availability heuristic.
D) recall heuristic.

Question 27

Research on the fundamental attribution error shows that humans tend to overly emphasize the effect of ________ and underappreciate the effect of ________.

A) the situation; personality
B) personality; the situation
C) cognition; emotion
D) emotion; cognition

Question 28

Examination of an English-language newspaper's account and a Chinese-language newspaper's account of Dr.Gang Lu's shooting rampage found that

A) the former mostly blamed Dr. Lu, whereas the latter mostly blamed the environment.
B) the latter mostly blamed Dr. Lu, whereas the former mostly blamed the environment.
C) both mostly blamed Dr. Lu for the incident and ignored the environment.
D) both were fairly even-handed in distributing blame for the incident.

Question 29

Let's say that people overestimate the risks of getting HIV/AIDS and underestimate the risks of getting skin cancer.Given what we know about the availability heuristic,this is likely due to the fact that

A) we can more easily recall instances of people with skin cancer.
B) we can more easily recall instances of people with HIV/AIDS.
C) HIV/AIDS better fits our schema for diseases.
D) we don't want to believe that one of our relaxing, easy forms of recreation and self-presentation (sun bathing) is dangerous.

Question 30

Suppose that you are trying to estimate how much your new employer is going to pay you.You start with an estimate of what others are paid,and then take into account your unique qualifications that are relevant.You have just used the

A) availability heuristic.
B) representativeness heuristic.
C) anchoring and adjustment heuristic.
D) actor-observer difference.

Question 31

Researchers who investigated cultural aspects of the fundamental attribution error found that ________ as a primary cause of behavior.

A) Chinese and American writers both emphasize situations
B) Chinese and American writers both emphasize personality
C) Chinese writers emphasize situations and American writers emphasize personality
D) Chinese writers emphasize personality and American writers emphasize situations

Question 32

In Western societies,people tend to perceive the behaviors of others as largely driven by ________ factors;in Eastern societies,people tend to perceive the behaviors of others as stemming largely from ________ factors.

A) situational; dispositional
B) dispositional; dispositional
C) dispositional; situational
D) situational; situational

Question 33

According to fundamental attribution error,not only do we have a tendency to see others' behavior as arising from their personality,but this tendency sometimes leads us to underappreciate the role of situational influences.Why?

A) Personality characteristics that influence behavior are often "invisible" to observe.
B) Situations that influence others' behavior are often "invisible" to observers.
C) People tend toward situational inferences to explain their own behavior.
D) Because the person and situation often interact.

Question 34

Participants in an experiment judged a woman as unfriendly,even though they were told her unfriendliness was part of her trained role in the experiment.This tendency to overemphasize personal factors and underemphasize situational factors is called

A) the fundamental attribution error.
B) action identification.
C) the actor-observer difference.
D) illusion of control.

Question 35

Even though there are relatively few professors of Chinese literature and many postal workers in the U.S.,students guessed that a man who spoke Chinese and reads a lot was probably a Chinese literature professor rather than a postal worker.This is an example of using

A) the representativeness heuristic.
B) the anchoring and adjustment heuristic.
C) the confirmatory heuristic.
D) the availability heuristic.

Question 36

In contrast to individualistic cultures,collectivistic cultures emphasize

A) the self as independent from the group.
B) the self as primarily defined by internal attributes.
C) the self as interdependent with the group.
D) one's self-esteem via the validation of internal attributes.

Question 37

A cross-cultural examination of the fundamental attribution error suggests that the fundamental attribution error

A) is universal.
B) is more common in individualistic than collectivistic cultures.
C) is more common in collectivistic than individualistic cultures.
D) is more likely to occur when people are in a sad mood than in a happy mood.

Question 38

Jim is 6'8" tall and spends hours reading sports magazines.Given the choice that Jim is either a professional basketball player or an accountant,most people would guess that he is ________ based on their application of the ________.

A) a basketball player; anchoring and adjusting heuristic
B) a basketball player; representativeness heuristic
C) an accountant; representativeness heuristic
D) an accountant; anchoring and adjusting heuristic

Question 39

The fundamental attribution error may occur because humans ________ the impact of the situation because ________.

A) underrepresent; of the compacting nature of memory
B) overrepresent; of the expanding nature of memory
C) underrepresent; it is often less visible to the observer
D) overrepresent; it is often extremely salient to the observer

Question 40

The false consensus effect results from the

A) fundamental attribution error.
B) representativeness heuristic.
C) anchoring and adjustment heuristic.
D) availability heuristic.

Question 41

Downward social comparison is a

A) tactic for managing one's self-image.
B) tactic for managing cognitive overload.
C) tactic for persuading others that you are correct.
D) tactic for increasing the accuracy of one's self-image.

Question 42

A student who works at a record store and plays in a rock band thinks for a minute about his own music-purchasing habits,and then makes a quick guess about the number of other students who buy more than 30 CDs a year.He grossly overestimates.He has probably applied the

A) availability heuristic.
B) representativeness heuristic.
C) primacy heuristic.
D) anchoring and adjustment heuristic.

Question 43

Festinger's (1954)social comparison theory emphasized the drive to assess one's abilities and opinions

A) positively.
B) as frequently as possible.
C) independently of our views of others.
D) accurately.

Question 44

Imagine that you are listening to a speech and you need to evaluate the speaker's "true" attitudes toward some issues.In which of the following cases would you be LESS likely to take into account the circumstances under which the speaker is giving the speech,for example,whether he had a choice on which side to take?

A) The issue is personally important to you.
B) You are the next speaker and you are preparing your own speech.
C) You have plenty of time to make your evaluation.
D) You are in a sad mood.

Question 45

People are LESS likely to use simplifying cognitive strategies when

A) the situation confirms their expectations.
B) they are in a complex situation.
C) their expectations do not fit with the current situation.
D) they are physiologically aroused.

Question 46

Which of the following is an example of a cognitive simplification strategy?

A) anchoring and adjustment
B) avoiding a negative self-fulfilling prophecy
C) upward social comparison
D) "basking in reflected glory"

Question 47

People with high ________ are more likely to use cognitive simplification strategies.

A) desire for control
B) intelligence
C) need for structure
D) need for cognition

Question 48

When people are physiologically aroused,they are

A) more likely to rely on cognitive shortcuts.
B) more likely to rely on the availability heuristic, but less likely to rely on the representativeness heuristic.
C) more likely to use complex thinking.
D) less likely to make dispositional inferences.

Question 49

Research has found that morning people

A) use cognitive shortcuts more at night.
B) use cognitive shortcuts more than evening people.
C) use cognitive shortcuts more in the morning.
D) use cognitive shortcuts less than evening people.

Question 50

If you meet a member of a minority group when you are very busy preparing for a job interview,you are

A) more likely to stereotype the minority group member.
B) more likely to demonstrate the actor-observer difference.
C) less likely to make the fundamental attribution error.
D) more likely to avoid cognitive heuristics.

Question 51

After failing a test for the first time,Marla compares herself to her little brother,who failed four tests in one semester.Marla feels better about herself after making this comparison.This is an example of

A) downward social comparison.
B) upward social comparison.
C) lateral social comparison.
D) self-serving bias.

Question 52

According to the text,________ prompts us to rely on simplified cognitive strategies.

A) an unexpected event
B) boredom
C) arousal
D) mild depression

Question 53

Unexpected events motivate people to

A) think in more complex ways.
B) protect their self-images.
C) engage in downward social comparison.
D) engage in upward social comparison.

Question 54

You are the manager of a department in a big company and you are going to interview a candidate for an open position.The candidate comes 30 minutes late for the interview,has several body piercings,and doesn't seem very intelligent to you.Looking at his resume,however,you discover that he has graduated from a prestigious university and has several years of experience in the area.According to research,you would be

A) motivated to acquire more information to make the right decision about this person.
B) motivated to finish the interview as quickly as possible in order to conserve mental effort.
C) likely to hire this person without acquiring more information in order to resolve this complex situation.
D) likely to rely on your first impression and not hire this person.

Question 55

Lara,who is a teaching assistant for a psychology class,is responsible for evaluating student essays.One of the students brings his essay to her office and she can't help noticing the smell of alcohol on his breath.This is especially likely to reduce the accuracy and objectivity of Lara's evaluation if

A) she has just read a sad story in the newspaper.
B) she has one hour to grade the essay.
C) she has only 10 minutes to grade the essay.
D) she has low need for structure.

Question 56

A mental shortcut through which people begin with a rough estimation as a starting point and then revise this estimate to take into account unique characteristics of the present situation is

A) the representativeness heuristic.
B) the management heuristic.
C) the availability heuristic.
D) the anchoring and adjustment heuristic.

Question 57

What is a benefit of engaging in upward social comparison?

A) It conserves mental energy.
B) It reduces stress.
C) It motivates one toward self-improvement.
D) It enhances one's self-esteem by derogating others.

Question 58

Most people view their future prospects optimistically and believe that they possess more favorable characteristics and abilities than the average person.This is because they are motivated to

A) conserve mental effort.
B) seek accuracy.
C) manage their self-image.
D) all of the above

Question 59

If you were interviewing candidates for a job,which of the following situations would reduce the likelihood that you would use cognitive simplification strategies?

A) if you had a high need for structure
B) if you were given a strict deadline by which to finish the interviews
C) if your own boss made you justify your candidate selection to her
D) if the situation was highly complex and you had a large number of people to interview

Question 60

Why do people desire positive self-regard?

A) We want to believe that we are effective.
B) We want to believe that we are socially accepted.
C) Positive self-regard often facilitates achievement.
D) all of the above

Question 61

Which of the following people is most likely to engage in self-esteem-protective cognitive strategies?

A) Alex, who received an A on his final exam
B) Cielle, who has just finished writing an essay about what happens after death
C) Chris, who has just finished writing an essay about the biggest success in his life
D) Yoko, who is from Japan and has just moved to the U.S.

Question 62

When Richard Nixon was elected to the U.S.House of Representatives,he attributed his victory to his personal strengths.When defeated by John Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election,however,Nixon's explanations focused on external reasons like the pro-Kennedy bias of the media.This is an example of

A) the fundamental attribution error.
B) the self-serving bias.
C) a self-fulfilling prophecy.
D) the actor-observer difference.

Question 63

In a study on mortality salience,one group of students with Christian beliefs was made highly aware of their mortality by writing about what will happen to them when they die.In the control group,similar students completed a questionnaire that did not mention death.Researchers found that

A) students in the mortality salience condition experienced a rebound effect of higher self-esteem than students in the control group.
B) students in the mortality salience condition rated everyone unfavorably because of their depressed mood.
C) students in the mortality salience condition rated more favorably someone who validated their views than someone who did not.
D) students in the mortality salience condition became self-critical rather than self-enhancing.

Question 64

A healthy self-concept and self-esteem are benefited when we ________ ability to control important aspects of our lives.

A) forget that we have the
B) seldom have the
C) occasionally have the
D) believe in our

Question 65

Downward social comparison helps people ________,whereas upward social comparison helps people ________.

A) conserve mental energy; reduce their stress
B) be accurate; enhance their self-esteem
C) achieve goals; conserve effort
D) feel better about themselves; work toward self-improvement

Question 66

Who is most likely to enhance and protect his/her personal self-esteem?

A) a Canadian citizen
B) a Chinese citizen
C) a Japanese citizen
D) All of these people are equally likely to enhance and protect their personal self-esteem.

Question 67

As a self-enhancement strategy,people tend to value quite highly those characteristics and abilities that

A) prominent leaders possess.
B) they don't possess.
C) they happen to possess.
D) are made salient by the media.

Question 68

People who have ________ are greatly concerned with the self-implications of life's everyday events and are particularly likely to respond to these events with attempts to enhance or protect the self.

A) high self-esteem
B) low self-esteem
C) unstable self-esteem
D) self-esteem based on the perceptions of specific others

Question 69

Is positive self-regard a universal desire? A recent study by Sedikides,Gaertner,and Toguchi (2003)found that

A) members of collectivistic countries self-enhance less than members of individualistic countries.
B) members of collectivistic countries and members of individualistic countries both self-enhance on traits valued by their respective cultures.
C) members of collectivistic countries self-enhance more than members of individualistic countries.
D) members of collectivistic countries self-enhance just as much as members of individualistic countries, but they do so in a more secret manner.

Question 70

As an example of the self-serving bias,researchers who reviewed newspaper articles regarding sports contests found that coaches tended to explain victories in terms of ________ and defeats in terms of ________.

A) home-court advantage; unfair referees
B) supportive fans; a lack of teamwork
C) their team's luck; the other team's abilities
D) their team's ability; the other team's luck

Question 71

Taking personal credit for successes and blaming external forces for our failures is called the

A) actor-observer difference.
B) self-serving bias.
C) correspondence bias.
D) fundamental attribution error.

Question 72

During a five-game winning streak,Coach Kay attributed the victories to teamwork and good coaching.However,during a six-game losing streak,she attributed the losses to bad luck and unfair referees.Coach Kay's pattern of attributions is an example of the

A) delusion of control.
B) fundamental attribution error.
C) actor-observer difference.
D) self-serving bias.

Question 73

Uyen has an A-minus grade point average.She compares herself to her roommate who has an A grade point average in order to motivate herself to study even harder.Uyen has made a/an

A) self-serving attribution.
B) upward social comparison.
C) downward social comparison.
D) other-serving attribution.

Question 74

Which of the following people is most likely to make self-serving attributions?

A) a person from a collectivistic country
B) a person with a stable low self-esteem
C) a person with an unstable high self-esteem
D) none of the above

Question 75

Gabriel participated in a study where he was given an IQ test described as an excellent predictor of future academic and financial success.Gabriel performed poorly on the test.Gabriel is likely to attribute his low scores to

A) bad luck, thereby misapplying the representativeness heuristic.
B) the invalidity of the test, thereby protecting his self-esteem.
C) unclear instructions, thereby making the fundamental attribution error.
D) his own ability, thereby demonstrating the actor-observer bias.

Question 76

A person says,"I'm going to pick my own numbers for the lottery because it gives me a better chance of winning." This person is creating for himself/herself

A) a better chance of winning.
B) a worse chance of winning.
C) the perception of control.
D) a locus of power.

Question 77

When we are motivated to be accurate,we are likely to

A) judge our own behavior as caused by situational factors.
B) rely on cognitive shortcuts.
C) gather more information than normal.
D) focus on enhancing our self-image.

Question 78

People who have high self-esteem engage in ________,whereas people who have low self-esteem tend to focus on ________.

A) a variety of direct self-enhancing strategies; protecting the esteem they have
B) protecting the esteem they have; a variety of self-enhancing strategies
C) downward social comparison; exaggerating their strengths
D) seeking accuracy; social comparison

Question 79

When postoperative hospital patients are given responsibility for giving themselves pain-killing drugs,

A) they experience too much stress from the responsibility.
B) they typically give themselves higher doses of the painkiller than doctors would prescribe.
C) they often have a quicker recovery.
D) they often report experiencing more pain.

Question 80

Which of the following statements about high self-esteem people (relative to low self-esteem people)is FALSE?

A) High self-esteem people are more likely to use social comparison to boost their esteem.
B) High self-esteem people are more likely to put down others to feel better about themselves.
C) High self-esteem people are more likely to exaggerate their sense of control.
D) High self-esteem people are more likely to avoid using the self-serving bias.