Deck 10: Memory and Our Social Selves

Question 1

Hermann Ebbinghaus, the first researcher to study memory experimentally, used _______ instead of words to study memory because ________.

A) nonsense syllables; he didn't want his memory to be biased for some items more than others as a result of his own personal experience with those words
B) musical notes; he didn't want his memory to be biased by his own personal experience with those words
C) nonsense syllables; he wanted to see what meaning would be attached to these syllables by his own imagination
D) pictures; he didn't want his memory to be biased by his own personal experience with those words

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Transactive memory is thought to occur because ________.

A) the same individual can find the same material more or less memorable under different emotional situations
B) the same individual can find the same material more or less memorable depending on the context of the initial presentation
C) different people forget items in different ways, i.e., with different speed and also depending on the specific content involved
D) different people find different material more memorable

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In certain cases, the sum of what is remembered as a group is less than the sum of all the individual memories. The following is not a reason for this phenomenon: ________.

A) collaborative inhibition
B) information-sampling bias
C) false memories
D) audience tuning

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Collaborative inhibition is best explained by ________.

A) social loafing, or reduced motivation to recall when in a group as compared to when working alone
B) the retrieval-disruption hypothesis, which asserts that it occurs because one group member's retrieval strategy disrupts retrieval strategies used by other group members
C) the hidden role of stereotypes in shaping what we remember and what we don't, that in turn is affected by the social relationships within each group
D) memory interference

Question 5

Collaborative inhibition ________.

A) decreases with group size
B) has been observed in pairs of close friends or married couples
C) is not affected by expertise
D) is attributed to retrieval disruption

Question 6

If a person is asked to recall a story to an audience, the narrator will ________.

A) recount the story without attempting to be either accurate or complete
B) attempt to remember all the elements of the story as accurate as possible
C) attempt to achieve a specific goal through the narration
D) exclude certain information based on the audience

Question 7

To understand the impact that recall has on memory, we must understand ________, which is the spread of ideas, information, and practices through interpersonal contact or communication.

A) propaganda
B) priming
C) social contagion
D) social networks

Question 8

According to Elizabeth Loftus, the misinformation effect is ________.

A) when participants reported the misinformation they received rather than aspects of the event that they actually witnessed
B) when participants willfully created and then reported some misinformation to please the audience
C) the observation that fake news events are always remembered longer than true events
D) the observation that people create misinformation when they believe they cannot be discovered

Question 9

In Elizabeth Loftus's social contagion experiments, ________ of participants could be made to falsely remember entire events.

A) less than 10 per cent
B) about 30 per cent
C) between 50 and 60 per cent
D) almost 100 per cent

Question 10

Source of the misinformation effect do not include ________.

A) that it can result from a desire to conform
B) that in most cases it originates from brain trauma
C) the "normative influences," a type of social conformity that occurs when a person conforms to the speaker's view for social reasons
D) when the participant is unable to recall whether a piece of information came from the original witnessed event or from information provided after the event

Question 11

Cognitive moderators-factors that can heighten the observation of social contagion-do not include ________.

A) whether the information (or contagion) is consistent with a person's existing cognitive schemas
B) how much time a person has to learn the information
C) whether the information is new or old
D) whether the person providing the information is not perceived to be an expert

Question 12

Participants are more likely to show social contagion when ________.

A) the information is provided online
B) the speaker has less power than the listener
C) more than one speaker states the same facts
D) the listener is anxious about positive evaluation

Question 13

Participants' social contagion can be influenced by warnings that a speaker may not be a good source of information, but the timing of the warning is important, ________.

A) warnings are most effective if they occur before the presentation of the erroneous material
B) warnings are most effective if they occur after the presentation of the erroneous material
C) warnings are most effective if they occur during the presentation of the erroneous material
D) but only if the participant perceives the person providing the warning as having more power

Question 14

Better memory for material that has been brought up in conversation is related to the "generation effect," a phenomenon found in many memory paradigms where material that ________ generated by the participants ________.

A) has not been; is better recalled, but only if the source is perceived to be both an expert and in position of power
B) has been; is better recalled
C) has not been; is better recalled
D) has been; is better recalled, but only if a period of sleep immediately follows

Question 15

During a conversation, people must discuss some information while intentionally not discussing other information, and these unmentioned memories are called "mnemonic silences." The two most likely causes of this phenomenon are ________.

A) memory decay and discussing a memory during a conversation strengthens cues for that memory
B) memory decay and other information that is related but not part of the conversation must be inhibited, i.e. retrieval-induced forgetting
C) discussing a memory during a conversation strengthens cues for that memory and other information that is related but not part of the conversation must be inhibited, i.e. retrieval-induced forgetting
D) memory decay and hippocampal neurogenesis

Question 16

In 1932, ________ was the first psychologist to publish work on social networks and memory.

A) Sigmund Freud
B) Frederic Bartlett
C) Donald Hebb
D) Ivan Pavlov

Question 17

The difference between collective memory and shared memory is ________.

A) the term "collective memory" refers to memories that are common to a group of people who share a similar social identity while shared memories have no bearing on cultural identity
B) the term "shared memory" refers to memories that are common to a group of people who share a similar social identity while collective memories have no bearing on cultural identity
C) collective memories are more long lasting than shared memories
D) shared memory are more long lasting than collective memories

Question 18

Residential schools inflicted harm to Indigenous people in Canada that ________.

A) has been completely corrected with the new generations
B) did not extend across generations and its impact was already part of Canadian collective memory
C) did not extend across generations but its impact was not part of Canadian collective memory
D) extended across generations and is a source of extensive social problems among Indigenous people today and, until recently, this truth and its impact was not part of Canadian collective memory

Question 19

Stereotypical information ________.

A) is transmitted much less readily than information that does not support stereotypes
B) is unlikely to be shared among people
C) encourages the expression of information that would otherwise be suppressed
D) is easier to access in the memory than non-stereotypical information

Question 20

The distinctiveness-based illusory correlation is when ________.

A) two stimuli are very similar, people have a tendency to overestimate the frequency with which the two stimuli co-occur
B) three stimuli are distinct from other stimuli, people have a tendency to overestimate the frequency with which the three stimuli co-occur
C) people overestimate the differences between two very similar stimuli, i.e., the so-called "narcissism of minor differences"
D) two stimuli are distinct from other stimuli, people have a tendency to overestimate the frequency with which the two stimuli co-occur

Question 21

The results from Hamilton and Gifford (1976) showed that stereotypes can be produced with relative ease ________.

A) because distinctiveness-based illusory correlations may not reflect true representativeness of events in memory, but rather the relative distinctiveness of the person and the event in memory
B) only if distinctiveness-based illusory correlations reflect true representativeness of events in memory, and ignore any relative distinctiveness of the person and the event in memory
C) because this trait is strongly rooted in evolution
D) when emotions are used to reinforce the memory of the illusory correlations

Question 22

In a meta-analysis study, Mullen and Johnson (1990) found that distinctiveness-based illusory correlations were ________.

A) an inconsistent observation
B) stronger for behaviours that were negative than for those that were positive, and greater when a person had a smaller number of exemplars in memory
C) stronger for behaviours that were negative than for those that were positive, and greater when a person had a greater number of exemplars in memory
D) weaker for behaviours that were negative than for those that were positive, and greater when a person had a greater number of exemplars in memory

Question 23

The mere exposure effect is a term used in social psychology to describe ________ in positive affect that follows from ________ to a previously unfamiliar stimulus.

A) an increase; repeated exposure
B) a decrease; repeated exposure
C) an increase; a single exposure
D) a decrease; a single exposure

Question 24

The mere exposure effect demonstrates that ________.

A) people prefer novel stimuli over stimuli they have seen before
B) people prefer stimuli they have seen before over novel stimuli
C) people show no preference for either novel or familiar stimuli
D) people's cultures determine whether they prefer novel or familiar stimuli

Question 25

The mere exposure effect is closely related to the "propinquity effect," which is the _________.

A) general finding that closeness may trigger aggressive behaviour
B) general finding that people who are around each other more like each other better
C) general finding that people who are around each other more do not like each other better
D) occasional finding that people who are around each other more like each other better

Question 26

Hasher and Toppino (1977) exposed people to some factoids, some of which were true and some false, and some of the factoids were repeated across sessions. They found that participants were ________ to rate a repeated item than a non-repeated item as valid, ________.

A) more likely; regardless of whether it was actually true
B) less likely; regardless of whether it was actually true
C) more likely; and even more when it was actually true
D) less likely; and even more when it was actually true

Question 27

The implicit-association test (IAT) demonstrates that people are ______.

A) slower at associating negative concepts with groups that are generally associated with positive stereotypes
B) faster at associating negative concepts with groups that are generally associated with positive stereotypes
C) slower at associating positive concepts with groups that are generally associated with negative stereotypes
D) faster at associating positive concepts with groups that are generally associated with negative stereotypes

Question 28

People who take the implicit-association test (IAT) will explicitly deny holding stereotypical views but will still show a tendency to make stereotype-consistent responses ________ than responses that are inconsistent with a stereotype, and this is because stereotypes are held in ________.

A) more quickly; implicit memory beyond awareness and activated automatically
B) less quickly; implicit memory beyond awareness and activated automatically
C) more quickly; than responses that are inconsistent with a stereotype, and this is because stereotypes are held in explicit memory
D) less quickly; explicit memory

Question 29

According to cognitive dissonance theory, ________.

A) cognitive dissonance can lead to memory distortions
B) people are motivated to increase cognitive dissonance
C) cognitive dissonance favours novel perspectives
D) cognitive dissonance refers to when a person holds two complementary views

Question 30

In a study of the neuroscience of cognitive dissonance, Van Veen et al. (2009) found that activation of the ________, occurred in participants who changed their attitude about the fMRI from unpleasant to pleasant, but saw no such activation in controls or participants whose attitudes did not change.

A) occipital cortex and hippocampus
B) dorsal angular cingulate cortex and anterior insula
C) medial temporal lobe and hippocampus
D) premotor cortex and thalamus

Question 31

What are the costs and benefits associated with groups of people working together to try to recall the same information?

Question 32

What are the three reasons for the finding that the sum of what is remembered as a group is less than the sum of all the individual memories? Briefly explain each.

Question 33

What is social contagion? What are three examples of cognitive moderators that heighten or lessen the observation of social contagion?

Question 34

What are mnemonic silences and how are they related to retrieval-induced forgetting?

Question 35

Consider a marginalized group in our society. What collective memories for this group exist and what is the source of those memories? What change in collective memory could help improve equity and justice in that group?

Question 36

What is a distinctiveness-based illusory correlation? How is this concept related to stereotypes?

Question 37

What is the implicit-association test, published by Greenwald et al. (1998) and what does it reveal about stereotypes?

Question 38

What is cognitive dissonance and what effect does it have on memory?

Question 39

What is the retrieval-disruption hypothesis for collaborative inhibition and what experimental evidence supports it?

Question 40

"Participants are more likely to show social contagion when the speaker has more power than the listener." Provide examples taken from your own experience, discuss the social and political implications, and finally suggest the countermeasures that society should take to address this important issue.

Question 41

Implicit memory is memory that operates outside of awareness, and it is experienced as a sense of knowing without a sense of remembering. The sense of familiarity generated by implicit memory influences our beliefs and affects our social behaviour in a variety of ways. Explain these statements and discuss in some detail how implicit memories affect social behaviours.