Deck 3: Groups and Their Functions

Question 1

Christina fixes John's car for him and in turn he makes her a delicious dinner. This represents the basic principle of

A) social equity.
B) social exchange.
C) scratch-your-back policy.
D) self-esteem maintenance.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Social exchange is based upon the sharing of

A) social beliefs and attitudes.
B) social rewards and social costs.
C) social identity.
D) group cohesion and group identity.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following are the two basic assumptions of social exchange?

A) Interdependence and the desire for positive outcomes.
B) Understanding others and changing outcomes.
C) Group belonging and social identity.
D) Group status and cohesion.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Social exchange assumes that people prefer positive outcomes. Positive outcomes are defined as:

A) Costs minus rewards.
B) Rewards minus costs.
C) Costs times rewards.
D) Costs divided by rewards.

Question 5

According to social exchange, people may remain in groups in which they do not receive positive outcomes because

A) there are no other groups to join.
B) they cannot make new friendships.
C) they believe that not being in the group would provide even fewer positive outcomes.
D) they believe that joining a new group would provide greater positive outcomes.

Question 6

Which of the following is the major assumption of evolutionary psychology?

A) People desire to maximize their outcomes.
B) People wish to maximize their belonging to social groups.
C) The behavior of human beings is determined by attempts to meet the goals of survival and reproduction.
D) Social groups are relatively new phenomena in human evolution.

Question 7

Research by Cosmides and Tooby found which of the following?

A) Research participants solved problems more easily when they depicted adherence to social exchange.
B) Research participants solved problems more easily when they depicted violations of social exchange.
C) Research participants solved problems more easily when they were framed in terms of positive emotions.
D) Research participants solved problems more easily when they were framed in terms of negative emotions.

Question 8

It has been proposed that self-esteem increases when

A) we experience relative deprivation.
B) we experience group cohesion.
C) we feel accepted by others.
D) we are unable to meet task goals.

Question 9

In an experiment on ostracism, Kipling Williams and his colleagues led participants to believe they were either included or ostracized by others who were playing a Frisbee game with them. Williams and his colleagues found that

A) participants who were ostracized had lower self-esteem.
B) participants who were ostracized stopped playing the game sooner.
C) participants who had high self-esteem enjoyed the game more.
D) participants who had high self-esteem played the game longer.

Question 10

According to a study investigating Internet usage,

A) people who reported using the Internet more also reported being more lonely.
B) people who reported using the Internet less also reported being more lonely.
C) people who were more lonely logged on more often.
D) people who were more lonely used chat rooms more frequently.

Question 11

Which of the following was found in the experiment on responses to anxiety conducted by Stanley Schachter?

A) Women preferred to wait for the shocks with others, whereas men preferred to wait alone.
B) Men preferred to wait for the shocks with others, whereas women preferred to wait alone.
C) The women who were expecting painful shocks preferred to wait alone for the shocks to begin.
D) The women who were expecting painful shocks preferred to wait with others for the shocks to begin.

Question 12

Which of the following refers to a description of the different types of relationships that people may have with other individuals?

A) Social belonging.
B) Social identity.
C) Attachment style.
D) Affiliation tendency.

Question 13

People who have a healthy attachment style as children

A) are more likely to create healthy interpersonal relationships later in life.
B) are more than likely to be independent later in life.
C) are more likely to be dependent later in life.
D) are more likely to remain friends with their parents later in life.

Question 14

Social support has been found to improve

A) only mental but not physical health.
B) only physical but not mental health.
C) both physical and mental health.
D) our ability to solve complex problems.

Question 15

People who have adequate social support

A) make friends more easily.
B) talk on the phone more often.
C) enjoy joining larger rather than smaller social groups.
D) commit suicide less often and feel less stress.

Question 16

Which of the following describes the process of learning about our own abilities and opinions by comparing them with others?

A) Ability and opinion matching.
B) Social comparison.
C) Relative deprivation.
D) Cognitive comparison.

Question 17

According to the principles of social comparison,

A) we focus on others to gain status.
B) we focus on others to increase belonging.
C) we focus on others to learn about our abilities and opinions.
D) we focus on others to make them like us.

Question 18

In Stanley Schachter's studies of anxiety,

A) participants preferred to wait with others who were undergoing the same severe shock.
B) participants preferred to wait with others undergoing a less severe shock.
C) participants preferred to wait with others who had already experienced the shocks.
D) participants preferred to wait with others who had not yet experienced the shocks.

Question 19

Richard has been working at his job for about five years. During that time he has seen other employees be promoted ahead of him, even though he does not believe they are more deserving. Richard is likely experiencing which of the following?

A) Egoistic relative deprivation.
B) Ostracism.
C) Fraternalistic relative deprivation.
D) Egoistic social identity.

Question 20

At a large corporation, the female employees feel that they are not promoted as quickly as are the male employees. The female employees are likely experiencing which of the following?

A) Egoistic relative deprivation.
B) Fraternalistic relative deprivation.
C) Ostracism.
D) Egoistic social identity.

Question 21

Jonathan is playing golf with three friends, all of whom are better golfers than he is. Jonathan is enjoying the game because he feels that he is playing better in the company of his friends, and learning from them. Jonathan is engaging in

A) social identity enhancement.
B) upward social comparison.
C) flexible social identity.
D) social performance enhancement.

Question 22

Francine frequently talks about how much more attractive she is than the other people she knows. This makes her feel better about herself. Francine is engaging in

A) social identity enhancement.
B) upward social comparison.
C) downward social comparison.
D) social performance enhancement.

Question 23

In the research by Eliot Smith and his colleagues, participants responded to traits that described both themselves and their in-groups. Smith and his colleagues found that

A) people responded faster to traits that were both self-descriptive and descriptive of the in-group.
B) people responded faster to traits that were self-descriptive than to traits that were descriptive of the in-group.
C) people responded faster to positive self-traits than to positive in-group traits.
D) people responded faster to negative self-traits than to negative in-group traits.

Question 24

Social identity and self-esteem are likely to

A) be positively correlated.
B) be negatively correlated.
C) only be correlated when people are in groups.
D) only be correlated when people engage in downward comparison.

Question 25

In an experiment by Schmitt, Sylvia, and Branscombe, women learned that they had themselves performed very poorly but that another woman in the group had performed well. When the woman were also told that the research was designed to compare the scores of men and women,

A) the women experienced low self-esteem.
B) the women experienced high self-esteem.
C) the women focused on the successful performance of the other women to create positive social identity.
D) the women focused on the successful performance of the other women and experienced lower self-esteem.

Question 26

According to the principle of optimal distinctiveness,

A) people prefer to maintain both their independence and their connections with others.
B) people are not able to maintain both their independence and their connections with others.
C) people have higher self-esteem when they express their independence.
D) people have higher self-esteem when they express their connections with others.

Question 27

Describe the basic principles of social exchange theory, and give an example of social exchange other than one mentioned in the chapter.

Question 28

Consider the costs and benefits of joining groups. Why would people remain in groups from which they receive no positive outcomes?

Question 29

What is social support? Give some examples of the types of social support that people might receive. What are the benefits of having social support, and the costs of not having it? Consider some research that has addressed this topic.

Question 30

The list shows the three types of attachment styles and indicates how children who have these styles are likely to behave. How do attachment styles influence the behavior of individuals as adults?

Question 31

Describe the processes of social comparison. With whom do we compare, and why do we compare? What are the outcomes of social comparison? Consider an example of the trade-off between self-esteem and accuracy in social comparison.

Question 32

When and how do we develop social identity? Consider in your answer which groups provide social identity and for which people. How do people respond if they cannot gain social identity?

Question 33

Describe the principle of optimal distinctiveness, and indicate its meaning for group behavior.