Deck 1: Introduction to Social Psychology

Question 1

According to the theory of natural selection,

A) adaptations evolve to suit the environment.
B) all animals survive and reproduce.
C) adaptations that are better suited to the environment will be passed on.
D) social behavior is wired in at birth.

Answer 1

adaptations that are better suited to the environment will be passed on.

Question 2

As defined in your text,a theory is

A) a belief or statement that the majority agrees upon.
B) a scientific truth.
C) an explanation that connects and organizes existing observations.
D) an educated guess about what will happen in an experiment.

Answer 2

an explanation that connects and organizes existing observations.

Question 3

Nancee has just married again.She now has four husbands with whom she lives in a small town in Kansas.From a sociocultural perspective on social behavior,Nancee's behavior is a violation of

A) naturally selected sex differences.
B) fundamental goals.
C) cultural relativity.
D) social norms.

Answer 3

social norms.

Question 4

A central assumption of natural selection is that variability in characteristics

A) enhances survival.
B) makes animals better able to reproduce.
C) is a result of the environment.
D) is heritable.

Question 5

A social psychologist explains that men are more likely to be aggressive than women because the norms of society are that men should be the "aggressive" sex.This view is most closely associated with the

A) sociocultural perspective.
B) evolutionary perspective.
C) social cognitive perspective.
D) social learning perspective.

Question 6

Ants have brains that allow them to understand a complex social order,whereas lions have brains that allow them to survive largely on their own.These are examples of

A) social learning acting on the brain.
B) natural selection acting on the brain.
C) hard-wired instincts.
D) survival of the fittest.

Question 7

According to the evolutionary perspective,fear

A) is greater for women than for men.
B) is no longer important for survival.
C) puts humans needlessly at risk.
D) helped our ancestors survive.

Question 8

Modern evolutionary social psychologists believe that

A) human social behaviors are wired in at birth and can't be changed.
B) human behavior is an interaction between biological influences and the environment.
C) animal behavior is wired in at birth, but human behavior is a result of the environment.
D) most social behavior is learned.

Question 9

Social psychology is the study of

A) how one's social class influences one's thoughts and behaviors.
B) how one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others.
C) how different cultures have different social norms and customs.
D) how social norms influence a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Question 10

Professor Honshu has noticed over the years that people are demonstrating fewer social communication skills than in the past.Based on her research,she attributes this to our fast paced society of drive-thrus,texting,iPods,and the Internet.This is consistent with which of the following points mentioned in the text?

A) Modern technology violates principles of natural selection.
B) Technological factors can override so-called "natural" inclinations.
C) Technological features of our culture can have a powerful effect on our social behavior.
D) none of the above

Question 11

According to the ________ perspective,human social behaviors (like smiling)were maintained in the population because they enhanced the survival and reproduction of our ancestors.

A) evolutionary
B) biological
C) social constructivist
D) social cognitive

Question 12

New characteristics that are well designed for particular environments are known as

A) adaptations.
B) design features.
C) genotypes.
D) evolutionary advances.

Question 13

Because evolutionary theorists are interested in general characteristics of our species,they have searched for common patterns in human social behavior around the world.Which of the following is mentioned in the text as a pattern found across all human societies,but not in other mammalian species?

A) The male has the dominant role in the family unit.
B) Both males and females help in raising the children.
C) Males provide protection for the family while females supply nurturance.
D) Males and females mate in monogamous relationships rather than polygamous ones.

Question 14

According to the evolutionary perspective,why do dolphins have fins while cows have legs?

A) Cows are mammals while dolphins are not.
B) Cows are vertebrates and dolphins are invertebrates.
C) Fins are better suited to an underwater environment.
D) Dolphins are too heavy to be able to walk with legs.

Question 15

The two general tasks of a scientific social psychology are

A) prediction and observation.
B) observation and evaluation.
C) ideographic and nomothetic explanation.
D) description and explanation.

Question 16

The evolutionary perspective concerns itself with ________ across cultures,whereas the sociocultural perspective is more concerned with ________ across cultures.

A) norms; differences
B) differences; similarities
C) social behaviors; group behaviors
D) similarities; differences

Question 17

Like many other residents of Paris,Pauline speaks French and loves to eat snails.According to your text,these behaviors are

A) based on social norms.
B) part of Pauline's culture.
C) counternormative.
D) both A and B

Question 18

From the sociocultural perspective,________ and ________ guide much of our social behavior.

A) instincts; social norms
B) adaptations; culture
C) social norms; culture
D) culture; social learning

Question 19

According to the evolutionary perspective,why do human males help their female partner to raise their children?

A) Human males are kinder than the males of other species.
B) The offspring of fathers who help are better able to survive and reproduce.
C) Because human children nurse frequently, they are more difficult to raise than the offspring of other species.
D) Human females are helpless after the birth of a child.

Question 20

The view that a person's prejudices and preferences are affected by group-level factors like nationality and social class is most consistent with the ________ perspective.

A) sociocultural
B) evolutionary
C) historical
D) social learning

Question 21

Which of the following perspectives would emphasize most strongly the social motive of attracting and retaining mates?

A) sociocultural
B) evolutionary
C) social learning
D) social cognitive

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT a fundamental goal discussed in the text?

A) to attract and retain mates
B) to gain and maintain status
C) to raise children effectively
D) to defend ourselves and others

Question 23

The features or characteristics that individuals carry with them into social situations are called

A) determinants of social behavior.
B) situational constraints.
C) the person.
D) hereditary factors.

Question 24

A 3-year-old girl watches an older boy grab candy away from his younger brother and eat it happily.According to the ________ perspective discussed in your text,the little girl may now start to grab desirable things away from other children.

A) behavioral emulation
B) social learning
C) indirect reinforcement
D) response acquisition

Question 25

The day-to-day goal of being nice to the new person on your dorm floor is probably most closely associated with the fundamental goal of

A) establishing social ties.
B) gaining and maintaining status.
C) defending ourselves and others.
D) being seen as likeable.

Question 26

The social cognitive perspective emphasizes all of the following EXCEPT

A) attention.
B) memory.
C) interpretation.
D) reinforcement.

Question 27

What view of social behavior do the four major perspectives in social psychology have in common?

A) Social behavior is goal-oriented.
B) Social behavior represents an interaction between the person and the situation.
C) Social behavior is affected by evolved dispositions to act in certain ways.
D) both A and B

Question 28

The ________ perspective views social behavior as the product of experiences with reward and punishment.

A) social learning
B) behavioral evolution
C) primary reinforcement
D) environmental

Question 29

All of the following are fundamental social motives mentioned in the text EXCEPT

A) to defend ourselves and those we value.
B) to establish social ties.
C) to reward our friends and punish our enemies.
D) to understand ourselves and others.

Question 30

Susan is shy and introverted,whereas her friend Beth is extremely outgoing.They find out that they have to give a presentation in front of the 42 other people in their class.Susan is terrified,and Beth is thrilled.This is an example of

A) the effects of motivation on the situation.
B) an interaction between the person and the situation.
C) the influence of the situation on behavior.
D) goal-oriented behavior.

Question 31

Tiger Woods was rewarded by his father for his early interest in golf.The view that these early reward experiences led him to want to be a golf superstar is most consistent with

A) the social learning perspective.
B) the social cognitive perspective.
C) the sociocultural perspective.
D) the person/situation/interaction perspective.

Question 32

All of the following illustrate person-situation interactions EXCEPT

A) Rosa is quiet at home but talkative at work.
B) Pierre chose his favorite restaurant for his birthday party.
C) Lacey was accepted by Yale University.
D) Suzanne has very high self-esteem.

Question 33

Researchers working from the social cognitive perspective place central importance on

A) social norms that differ by culture.
B) how people interpret social events.
C) the ways in which natural selection influences social behavior.
D) the influence of past experience with reward and punishment.

Question 34

Bobby pushes his little sister out of his way,and she is hurt in the fall.Bobby's mother tells him he has been very bad,and makes him sit in "time out" the rest of the day.In the future,Bobby stops pushing his sister to avoid punishment.This example fits best with which perspective?

A) social learning
B) social cognitive
C) sociocultural
D) evolutionary

Question 35

Two students listen to the same lecture.One student thinks the professor is a great lecturer,while the other student thinks the professor is dreadfully dull.According to the social cognitive perspective,what is a possible reason this difference of opinion occurred?

A) The students were paying different amounts of attention to the professor.
B) The students interpreted what the professor said differently.
C) The students remembered different parts of the professor's lecture.
D) all of the above

Question 36

Some researchers have suggested that violent video games may teach children to associate violence with rewards because many games give a player points for killing or hurting an opponent.This view is most consistent with the

A) sociocultural perspective.
B) evolutionary perspective.
C) social cognitive perspective.
D) social learning perspective.

Question 37

In comparing the sociocultural and social learning perspectives,all of the following statements are true EXCEPT

A) the social learning perspective focuses on an individual's unique experiences.
B) both perspectives emphasize relatively rapid change in behavior.
C) the sociocultural perspective focuses on social groups, such as ethnic groups.
D) both perspectives emphasize the environment over biology.

Question 38

Your text uses the term ________ to refer to environmental events outside the person.

A) situation
B) cultural context
C) environmental pressure
D) extraneous variables

Question 39

In an experiment,a researcher finds that people tend to notice and remember information that is vivid and relevant to their own lives.This researcher is taking the ________ perspective.

A) social cognitive
B) social learning
C) sociocultural
D) person-situation

Question 40

Which of the following is an example of a behavior that serves the fundamental goal to understand ourselves and others?

A) John, who has just lost a game of one-on-one, picks a fight with his opponent.
B) Your psychology professor stands at the front of the room while he speaks.
C) Cindy reads People magazine every week to keep up on the latest celebrity gossip.
D) all of the above

Question 41

What is one weakness of Moore's (1985)naturalistic observation of flirting behavior in a single's bar?

A) Participants were consciously aware that they were being observed.
B) The researcher may have had biased expectations about what she would see in a bar.
C) The participants' behavior was not spontaneous.
D) The behavior did not occur in a natural setting.

Question 42

If you take an extraversion-introversion test several times and consistently receive similar scores,the test is said to have high

A) reliability.
B) representativeness.
C) validity.
D) convergence.

Question 43

Winston wished to discover if there were any commonalities in the victims of serial killers over the last fifty years.The best method for investigating this would be

A) a case study.
B) a naturalistic observation.
C) an archival study.
D) a survey.

Question 44

All of the following are potential problems with the survey method EXCEPT

A) respondents may not accurately remember the answers to the questions.
B) respondents may be dishonest.
C) it is difficult to obtain enough data about important issues with a survey.
D) if respondents select themselves for participation, they may not be a representative sample.

Question 45

Social desirability bias is defined as

A) the desire to be involved in social psychological research.
B) a tendency of research participants to say what they believe is appropriate.
C) the bias of a researcher to only report results that are consistent with his or her hypothesis.
D) a sample that does not accurately reflect the composition of the population.

Question 46

Dr.Garcia really likes Twinkies.Her students often see her eating them for breakfast,lunch,and snack.Dr.Garcia gives her students a survey to determine whether they prefer Twinkies or Ho Hos.Although most students prefer Ho Hos,most report liking Twinkies better.The students' responses demonstrate a/an

A) placebo effect.
B) social desirability bias.
C) independent variable.
D) junk food effect.

Question 47

As discussed in the text,which of the following behaviors would be MOST difficult to study using naturalistic observation?

A) flirting behavior
B) children's playground behavior
C) violent behavior
D) subway behavior

Question 48

Which of the following is an advantage of conducting a case study like the Schaller (1997)study of Kurt Cobain discussed in your text?

A) They allow the researcher to make strong cause-and-effect statements.
B) They are generalizable to other persons, situations, and times.
C) They are not susceptible to observer bias.
D) They are rich sources of hypotheses for the causes of behavior.

Question 49

All of the following are potential problems with case studies EXCEPT

A) results of case studies are hard to generalize.
B) hypotheses of experimenters can often bias their analysis of a person's life.
C) cause and effect relationships are hard to establish.
D) case studies often contain too much information about a person.

Question 50

Social psychologists talk about "the person," "the situation," and "person-situation interactions." All of the following are discussed as characteristics of the person EXCEPT

A) family members.
B) physical characteristics.
C) psychological traits.
D) attitudes.

Question 51

A hypothesis is

A) a researcher's predictions about what she or he will find in a study.
B) an explanation that connects and organizes existing observations.
C) a conclusion about cause and effect.
D) a step-by-step description of an experiment.

Question 52

Which of the following is described in your text as a way in which persons and situations interact?

A) Situations choose people.
B) Situations change people.
C) People change their situations.
D) all of the above

Question 53

The term ________ refers to an instrument that measures individual differences in abilities,motivations,or behaviors.

A) psychological test
B) assessment tool
C) individual index
D) field study

Question 54

Wilson and Daly (1985)studied police reports of over 500 homicides committed in Detroit in 1972.This is an example of

A) a case study.
B) a naturalistic observation.
C) an archival study.
D) a survey.

Question 55

The two main methods used by social psychologists to conduct research can be grouped into ________ methods and ________ methods.

A) experimental; descriptive
B) observational; experimental
C) field research; laboratory research
D) naturalistic; observational

Question 56

One problem with Kinsey's sex survey is that the sample was composed of volunteers,and many segments of U.S.society were left out.Thus,Kinsey's sample was not

A) valid.
B) representative.
C) reliable.
D) honest in their responses.

Question 57

In order to be useful,a psychological test must be ________ and ________.

A) accurate; representative
B) valid; convergent
C) reliable; valid
D) representative; reliable

Question 58

Einon et al.(1994)found that men report having a much larger number of sexual partners than do women.According to your textbook,what is one possible reason for this discrepancy?

A) It was not a representative sample.
B) observer bias
C) social desirability bias
D) none of the above

Question 59

A social psychologist is interested in aggression and wants to study the phenomenon of adolescents bringing weapons to school and killing their classmates and teachers.Which method would be most appropriate for this type of research question?

A) an experiment
B) a naturalistic observation
C) a case study
D) a field experiment

Question 60

In which technique do people report their beliefs,feelings,or behaviors to the researcher?

A) survey
B) archival method
C) naturalistic observation
D) historical analysis

Question 61

Jan completes a test called "Your Skill as a Lover" in Cosmopolitan magazine.The test has questions like "what is your favorite color?" and "what kind of pet do you have?" She scores very low and is quite upset.You tell Jan that she should not be upset because the test

A) probably isn't applicable to her age group.
B) is unlikely to be reliable.
C) wasn't written by a psychologist.
D) is unlikely to be a valid measure of skill as a lover.

Question 62

The variable that is measured by the researcher in an experiment is the

A) independent variable.
B) naturalistic variable.
C) dependent variable.
D) random variable.

Question 63

Which of the following is the main advantage of experiments?

A) The researcher can make causal statements.
B) The research is ecologically valid.
C) The findings generalize to other situations.
D) They allow the researcher to generate many hypotheses.

Question 64

As the outside temperate goes down,use of home heating oil in New England goes up.This relationship between temperature and heating oil use is an example of a

A) positive correlation.
B) negative correlation.
C) zero correlation.
D) reverse causal relationship.

Question 65

When a researcher can make strong conclusions that the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable,the study has high ________.

A) complexity
B) external validity
C) internal validity
D) experimenter bias

Question 66

Which of the following could be considered a limitation to the experimental method?

A) The laboratory settings can be very artificial.
B) The researcher can't make causal statements.
C) The researcher has very little control over what happens in the study.
D) The researcher can't manipulate the independent variable.

Question 67

A researcher wants to conduct an experiment to examine the effect of looking at fashion models on women's self-image.She has ten women from a psychology class come in and look at female models,and has ten women from a different class look at pictures of regular females.She then measures the self-esteem of the women in both groups.What is the problem with this design?

A) Self-esteem isn't a measure of self-image.
B) Men aren't included in her study.
C) Looking at models has no effect on women's self-image.
D) Participants are not randomly assigned to condition.

Question 68

Randomly assigning participants to condition allows the researcher to minimize the effects of

A) demand characteristics.
B) the experimental treatments.
C) systematic differences between the groups.
D) placebos.

Question 69

Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the weakest relationship between two variables?

A) -1.00
B) +.33
C) +.03
D) +.41

Question 70

In which type of study do researchers manipulate one factor while holding others constant?

A) correlational
B) multivariate
C) experimental
D) empirical

Question 71

Which of the following correlation coefficients expresses the strongest relationship between two variables?

A) -1.00
B) +.33
C) +.03
D) +.41

Question 72

A researcher finds a correlation of -.75 between hours of television watched per week and GPA among high school students.What can the researcher conclude?

A) Watching television causes kids to get bad grades in high school.
B) Smart kids don't watch television.
C) As hours of television watched per week increases, GPA decreases.
D) Having a lower GPA causes kids to watch more television.

Question 73

If you observe a correlation between 2 variables,A and B,then you can assume that

A) A may cause B.
B) B may cause A.
C) A third variable C may cause both A and B.
D) Any of the above is possible.

Question 74

Mann (1981)found a significant positive correlation between crowd size and suicide baiting.What is the most correct way to interpret Mann's findings?

A) People in large crowds feel anonymous and it causes them to bait.
B) Once suicide baiting starts, it causes a crowd to gather.
C) There is no relationship between crowd size and suicide baiting.
D) As crowd size increases, suicide baiting increases.

Question 75

To study the effects of aging,Professor Drake compares the reaction times of 60-year-olds with those of 30-year-olds.She tests all younger subjects in the morning,and all older subjects in the afternoon.She concludes that aging causes a decline in the speed of responses.This study lacks ________ because of potential ________.

A) external validity; demand characteristics
B) external validity; confounds
C) internal validity; demand characteristics
D) internal validity; confounds

Question 76

In a study by Phillip Zimbardo,women were either disguised or in regular clothing with name tags.The amount of shock they administered to another person was then measured.The dependent variable in this experiment was

A) the type of dress the women wore.
B) whether or not the women wore name tags.
C) the amount of shock they administered.
D) the amount of time the women waited before delivering the shock.

Question 77

When every participant in an experiment has an equally likely chance of receiving any one of the treatments,the researcher is using

A) independent assignment.
B) random assignment.
C) direct assignment to condition.
D) systematic assignment.

Question 78

You weigh 150 pounds.You step on the scale at the gym and it says you weigh 180.You weigh yourself on the same scale the next three days and each time it says you weigh 180.The scale at the gym appears to be a measure that is ________,but not ________.

A) valid; accurate
B) reliable; valid
C) definitive; accurate
D) valid; reliable

Question 79

Dr.Street wants to measure the effects of watching a movie on mood.He asks students to select either a comedy or a tragedy to watch in a controlled setting.He administers a mood test afterward and finds that the comedy group is significantly happier than the tragedy group.Dr.Street cannot make a causal statement about the effects of movies on mood because

A) he failed to manipulate a variable.
B) he failed to include a dependent variable.
C) he failed to randomly assign participants.
D) he found no correlation between movie and mood.

Question 80

The variable that is manipulated by the researcher in an experiment is the

A) independent variable.
B) naturalistic variable.
C) dependent variable.
D) random variable.