Deck 13: Social Influence, Social Constraint, and Social Change

Question 1

The first flash mob was organized in:

A)Birmingham, AL, at the onset of the civil rights movement
B)Germany in the 1980s, by participants in the Autonomous movement
C)Manhattan in 2003, by an editor at Harper's Magazine
D)Madison, WI, in 2007, by a sociology professor who wanted her students to understand how people respond to norm violations
E)Rome, Italy, by executives at an ice company who wanted to advertise their new drop-off service

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Social contagion occurs when:

A)attitudes or behaviors are transmitted from one group member to another
B)globalization results in the diffusion of Western norms and values to non-Western cultures
C)people model their actions after celebrities and other individuals they see in the media
D)teachers and parents are effective in getting children to take on their world views
E)values and norms are passed on from one generation to the next

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Most gossip occurs at the micro level in social networks. Gossip in the tabloids and on television is different and is similar in content to:

A)an epidemic
B)fads
C)instances of political deceit
D)legends
E)rumors

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following outcomes has not been identified by social psychologists as a function of gossip?

A)Gossip allows people to project their own personal troubles or issues on others.
B)Gossip gives people a common enemy and thus makes them feel more similar.
C)Gossip is way to protect others and thus it makes people feel better.
D)Gossip promotes unity among group members.
E)Gossip serves as a source of empowerment for individuals who lack status.

Question 5

The effect of social norms on behavior is called:

A)blocked agency
B)public conformity
C)social constraint
D)social influence
E)suppression

Question 6

What is collective behavior?

A)a societal pattern that transcends any one individual and constrains people's future actions
B)forms of action that occur across individuals and groups within a society
C)behavior at the aggregate level that is distinct from, or in opposition to, routine societal patterns
D)behavior that occurs at the aggregate level and persists for long enough that it is viewed as significant by its participants
E)behavior that simultaneously occurs among over 100 individuals or among the majority of individuals in a group setting

Question 7

Fashions, versus fads, are defined by:

A)their appeal primary to youths
B)their consistency across cultures
C)their cyclical nature (one model replaces another)
D)their high cost relative to other items
E)their rapid increase in popularity

Question 8

How do bell bottom pants (a fashion) differ from the pet rock (a fad)?

A)Bell bottoms were replaced by straight leg pants, whereas the pet rock simply faded away.
B)Bell bottom pants were significantly more expensive than the pet rock.
C)Pet rocks are contemporary, whereas bell bottoms are a thing of the past.
D)The Millennial generation has embraced the pet rock but not bell bottom pants.
E)The popularity of bell bottoms was short-lived.

Question 9

When something that initially appears to be a fad remains popular and becomes a common item or activity within society, social psychologists say that ___________________has occurred.

A)assimilation
B)diffusion
C)incorporation
D)integration
E)object permanence

Question 10

There are no fads without:

A)advertising
B)function
C)names
D)profit
E)resistance from nonconverts

Question 11

Shifts in the ways professionals practice that are regarded as pseudoscientific and controversial because they are not based on sound evidence are called:

A)crazes
B)institutional fads
C)organizational malfeasance
D)practice fashions
E)structural malpractice

Question 12

Research suggests that women exhibit greater conformity than men in groups because:

A)prevailing status beliefs lead people to view women as less competent than men
B)the tasks typically used in experiments on conformity have involved spatial abilities, a cognitive skill that men are more likely than women to have
C)women are more likely than men to want to please their partners in interaction
D)women are more sensitive than men to interpersonal cues
E)all of the above

Question 13

Subjects in Sherif's experiments who were asked to estimate how far the light beam was moving (it wasn't moving, but it looked like it was due to the autokinetic effect) demonstrated:

A)collective resistance
B)norm resistance
C)normative social influence
D)private acceptance
E)public compliance

Question 14

In Asch's classic line matching experiments, discussed in Chapter 13, most subjects experienced:

A)collective reactance
B)informational social influence
C)norm resistance
D)private acceptance
E)public compliance

Question 15

Smart mobs are:

A)communal brainstorming sessions commonly used in the marketing and advertising industry
B)flash mobs orchestrated by college students that occur on campus or on college- or university-owned property
C)in-class protests headed by student leaders who want to improve their school's policies
D)now illegal in the United States, unless the group involved receives a permit beforehand that gives them the legal right to stage a public event
E)political protests or marketing events organized in the manner of flash mobs

Question 16

Social influence occurs when:

A)people act in a manner that is consistent with prevailing social norms
B)people's behaviors are shaped by others
C)someone in a position of power physically forces another person to act in a particular way
D)stable patterns of behavior that result from societal laws
E)all of the above

Question 17

People exhibit compliance when:

A)their behavior is shaped by the actions of their peers
B)they acquiesce to a request
C)they act in a manner that is consistent with social norms
D)they avoid engaging in illegal behaviors
E)they have internalized social norms and view them as morally valid

Question 18

Which of the following independent variables was NOT examined in Milgram's obedience experiments?

A)how the instructions to subjects were given by the experiment (in person or via a tape recording)
B)the distance between the subject and the individual they believed they were shocking
C)the gender of the experimenter
D)the location of the study (off versus on the Yale campus)
E)None of the above; all of the latter variables were examined in Milgram's obedience experiments

Question 19

The dependent variable in Milgram's obedience experiments was:

A)the amount of time it took subjects to violate the rules and help someone in need of assistance
B)the distance between the subject and the person getting the shocks
C)the gender of the subjects
D)the level of shock administered
E)the setting of the study (on or off the Yale campus)

Question 20

Conformity, as a form of social influence, is exhibited when:

A)individuals comply with a request
B)individuals plan patterns of action that reflect the expectations of others within their social network
C)people behave in a manner that is consistent with prevailing social norms
D)people, usually children, copy the behaviors of individuals they want to be like
E)someone changes his or her behavior to match that of other group members

Question 21

Normative influence usually gives rise to __________________, whereas informational influence usually gives rise to ________________________.

A)conformity, compliance
B)compliance, obedience
C)private acceptance, public compliance
D)public compliance, private acceptance
E)social influence, social constraint

Question 22

If someone says he or she loves the Bee Gees (a musical group popular during the disco era in the 1970s) and you respond by stating that you too think the Bee Gees are great, even though you really dislike their music, you have just exhibited what social psychologists call:

A)deceptive acceptance
B)feigning
C)obedience
D)public compliance
E)superficial conformity

Question 23

Imagine that you're working on a group project and someone in the group plays the song ""Stayin' Alive,"" by the Bee Gees (a musical group popular during the disco era in the 1970s) You're not sure whether you like this song or not. However, two members of your group comment on what a great song it is. As a result, you decide that you really do like the song. You have just exhibited what social psychologists call:

A)feigning
B)normative-based conformity
C)obedience
D)private acceptance
E)public compliance

Question 24

When are people in groups likely to exhibit private acceptance instead of the more superficial form of conformity called public compliance?

A)when everyone in the group adopts a particular behavior or holds a particular belief
B)when they are being observed by someone in a position of authority and don't have the freedom to choose how to act
C)when they admire other group members
D)when they are uncertain about what they believe or how they feel about something
E)when they fear that they will be expelled from the group if they don't think the way that other group members do

Question 25

Three societal characteristics have contributed to the pervasiveness of institutional fads in the United States. These characteristics include belief in rationality and progress, institutional autonomy, and:

A)a lack of accountability
B)international competition within a global economy
C)network density at both the individual and organizational level
D)the desire for profit within a capitalist economy
E)the fact that most institutions have reserve funds should a new model fail

Question 26

Both rumors and urban legends are:

A)a type of collective behavior
B)constructed in response to the threat of foreign invasion
C)reflect the interests of the ruling class
D)rooted in economic motivations
E)serve to control the behaviors of the masses

Question 27

What are flash mobs? Are flash mobs a fad? Why do you take this position?

Question 28

What are institutional fads, and why are they so common within this society? Is this good or bad? Explain.

Question 29

What's an urban legend? Why are urban legends so common within this society? What social functions do they serve?

Question 30

What's a somatoform epidemic? Give an example of a somatoform epidemic discussed within the academic literature or in the popular press. How have sociological social psychologists explained this form of collective behavior?

Question 31

What is the free rider problem? What micro-level characteristics or processes increase people's likelihood of participating in a social movement?

Question 32

How has the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy been used to explain why the expectation that others will participate in a social movement, at the aggregate level, often translates into movement success.

Question 33

How has the concept of social support been used by sociological social psychologists to explain the experiences of social movement participants?

Question 34

Define the terms ""social movement"" and ""coalition."" Why does the formation of a collective (i.e., a social) identity increase individuals' likelihood of participating in either a social movement or a coalition?

Question 35

What are social movements? Discuss the effects that social movements have on their participants and on society.

Question 36

Why is collective behavior, and social movements in particular, such an important topic of study within sociological social psychology? Is it surprising that psychological social psychologists have little interest in social movements or collective behavior more generally? Explain why this is the case.

Question 37

What's the difference between a fashion and a fad? Use specific examples to illustrate this distinction. Why are both fashions and fads considered to be forms of collective behavior?

Question 38

Discuss classic theories of crowd behavior. Why don't contemporary sociological social psychologists find these models to be of much use in explaining when, and why, people participate in social movements? Describe how theories of social movements have changed over the years.

Question 39

What is deindividuation, and when is this process most likely to occur? Apply the concept of deindividuation to flash mobs.

Question 40

In the 1970s, mixing Pop Rocks and Coca Cola:

A)became a fad
B)resulted in multiple deaths
C)served as the basis for an urban legend
D)was a fashion that was ultimately replaced by ice cream and coffee drinks
E)was believed to underlie the silver straw epidemic

Question 41

Sociological social psychologists argue that __________________ are produced by social strain and reflect prevailing fears about the threats associated with living in contemporary society.

A)conversion disorders
B)fads
C)panics
D)social epidemics
E)urban legends

Question 42

Describe Milgram's research on obedience (within psychological social psychology) Why is this research of interest to sociological social psychologists?

Question 43

Distinguish between normative and informational sources of social influence and discuss their relationship to the two types of conformity discussed in Chapter 13, public compliance and private acceptance. What determines whether someone is likely to exhibit private acceptance versus public compliance? Use an example from your personal experience, or the experience of someone you know, to illustrate a situation in which someone exhibited private acceptance.

Question 44

Describe Asch's classic line-matching experiment. What does this study tell us about behavior in groups?

Question 45

How do prevailing status beliefs make individuals more, or less, susceptible to social influence? Compare research on social influence conducted by sociological social psychologists to research on social influence conducted by psychological social psychologists.

Question 46

Why do behaviors and characteristics tend to cluster in social networks? Describe Christakis and Fowler's (2007) research on obesity. What does this study tell us about the effects of social networks on body weight?

Question 47

List and describe the social functions of gossip.

Question 48

Distinguish between the terms social influence and social constraint.

Question 49

What is collective behavior, and why are sociological social psychologists so interested in this type of action? Define, and illustrate with an example, at least three of the different types of collective behavior studied by sociological social psychologists.

Question 50

What do we know about the construction and function of social norms, and about collective behavior and social change, from the social psychological literature addressing these issues? Has learning about these aspects of society changed your perceptions and behaviors or the way that you view the world more generally? Explain.

Question 51

Flash mobs have become a global phenomenon, as illustrated by International Pillow Fight Day in 2012.

Question 52

In addition to changing the structure of society or how the existing social structure operates, social movements often affect their participants' identities and social relationships.

Question 53

In what way are urban legends like contagious diseases?

A)People become immune to them over time.
B)People who believe in these tales usually do so for life.
C)They can be prevented by knowledge, just like diseases can be prevented with vaccines.
D)They are concentrated among the lower classes and spread primarily in urban areas.
E)They remain popular because new people are recruited at the same time as others become nonbelievers.

Question 54

Mass hysteria, as a category of collective behavior, includes panics and:

A)Collective phobias
B)crazes
C)fear-based fads
D)somatoform epidemics
E)urban legends

Question 55

A 1938 a radio broadcast by Orson Wells of an adaption of H. G. Wells's classic science fiction novel War of the Worlds created a national panic rooted in another kind of perceived threat, alien invasion. What situational factor influenced whether people believed the broadcast was real?

A)community of residence (rural, urban, or suburban)
B)the gender composition of people's household (predominantly female or predominantly male)
C)the local weather (foggy/rainy or clear)
D)whether they has listened to the show from its beginning
E)whether they lived alone or with family members or friends

Question 56

The june bug epidemic was ultimately attributed to:

A)a college prank
B)a new drug-resistant virus
C)bites from insects in a shipment of cloth
D)decayed insect parts in particular brand of infant formula
E)hysterical contagion

Question 57

Research suggests that the most common locations of somatoform outbreaks are:

A)apartment complexes and isolated housing developments
B)camp grounds and swimming pools
C)day care centers and playgrounds
D)factories and schools
E)hospitals and retirement homes

Question 58

Deindividuation occurs in group settings as the result of:

A)anger
B)anonymity
C)emergent norms
D)fear
E)pent up aggression

Question 59

Sociological social psychologists define collective behavior as:

A)behavior that is outside of, or in opposition to, prevailing social norms that occurs at the aggregate level
B)behavior involving three or more people that unfolds at a particular location
C)commonplace, mundane behaviors that occur at the aggregative level
D)normative patterns of action enacted consistently by a significant portion of society
E)the aggregate response of people whose livelihood or sense of safety has been violated

Question 60

Individuals who peruse a particular location seeking to construct a definition of the situation by getting verbal feedback from others about what is happening are engaging in:

A)contracting
B)milling
C)negotiating
D)partitioning
E)skulking

Question 61

Which of the following theories of collective behavior was developed within the symbolic interactionist tradition?

A)contagion theory
B)emergent norm theory
C)relative deprivation theory
D)the theory of status inconsistency
E)value-added theory

Question 62

The concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy has been used to explain participation in social movements.

Question 63

Research suggests that individuals who occupy the same structural position and have the same ideology almost always have an equal likelihood of participating in a social movement.

Question 64

The resource mobilization approach is the most prominent social psychological perspective on social movements.

Question 65

The labels social influence and social constraint refer to the same social process.

Question 66

Because most of the studies on social influence in groups have been conducted by psychological social psychologists, little attention has been given to the effects of status characteristics (e.g., gender, class, and race/ethnicity) on people's perceptions and behaviors.

Question 67

In his famous obedience experiments Milgram found that few people were willing to shock someone they didn't know, but the levels of shock subjects administered increased substantially when the individuals being punished were people with power over them (i.e., their teachers or bosses)

Question 68

Shared perceptions regarding the acceptability of obesity among members of a social network do not fully explain the fact that obesity clusters within social networks.

Question 69

Collective behavior includes mundane everyday activities that occur at the aggregate level.

Question 70

Research suggests that institutional fads are largely beneficial for society.

Question 71

The concept of panic has not received empirical support in recent years.

Question 72

Social movements are a type of collective behavior.

Question 73

A social movement occurs, in one form or another, any time a crowd of people assembles.

Question 74

Smelser (value-added theory) argues that the police can increase support for a social movement by using force against protesters, provided that people not involved in the movement perceive this use of force as excessive or inappropriate.

Question 75

According to emergent norm theory, ____________________ occurs when individuals present suggestions as to how people should respond in an ambiguous situation.

A)altercasting
B)bargaining
C)juxtaposing
D)keynoting
E)partioning

Question 76

Turner and Killian's emergent norm theory differs from social contagion theories and psychological models emphasizing deindividuation in that behavior in crowds is viewed as:

A)both pleasurable and destructive
B)constructed and rational
C)spontaneous rather than reactive
D)the product of macro-level, as well as micro-level, social forces
E)the reflection of innate impulses (i.e., Mead's "I")

Question 77

Why do collective (i.e., social) identities increase individuals' likelihoods of participating in a social movement, even when they can benefit from the movement without actually participating (the free rider problem)?

A)Challenging out-group members results in positive emotions, which makes direct participation in a social movement appealing.
B)Participation in a social movement allows people to consciously choose their in-group, which gives them a sense of control over their lives.
C)People recognize that viewing themselves as activists will lead to the formation of self-enhancing relationships and self-views.
D)The formation of a collective (social) identity minimizes the distinction between individual and group interests.
E)both a and b

Question 78

Which of the following concepts has not been used by social psychologists to explain why people participate in social movements?

A)collective (i.e., social) identity
B)secondary deviance
C)self-fulfilling prophecy
D)social support
E)socially based identity

Question 79

New social movements emphasize:

A)attitudes toward work, nature, and consumption that differ from traditional values in support of capitalism
B)changing society in ways that are beneficial to those groups with power
C)increasing the economic status and freedom of members of a society's working class
D)radical social change rooted in opposition to private property, a monetary system, and ageism
E)the importance of addressing social inequalities rooted in gender, race/ethnicity, age, and disability, rather than social inequalities rooted in economic class

Question 80

The Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement are considered:

A)economic social movements
B)media-oriented social movements
C)new social movements
D)traditional, class-based social movements
E)structurally rooted social movements