Deck 3: The Social Self

Question 1

Developmental psychologists have shown that children begin to recognize their own image in a mirror between

A) 0 and 6 months of age.
B) 6 and 12 months of age.
C) 12 and 18 months of age.
D) 18 and 24 months of age.

Answer 1

18 and 24 months of age.

Question 2

During a discussion with some friends just prior to a school election, Sandra states that she is certain she will be devastated for months if she isn't elected class president.This is an example of

A) the overjustification effect.
B) the impact bias.
C) basking in reflected glory.
D) implicit egotism.

Answer 2

the impact bias.

Question 3

Wilson (1985)found that the more people consider the reasons why they like something,

A) the more negative their reasons become over time.
B) the lower the correlation between their attitudes and behavior.
C) the more accurate they are in making self-judgments.
D) the greater their extrinsic motivation.

Answer 3

the lower the correlation between their attitudes and behavior.

Question 4

Beliefs about the self that guide the processing of self-relevant information are called

A) self-awareness cues.
B) autobiographical memories.
C) flashbulb memories.
D) self-schemas.

Question 5

According to the looking-glass model of self-concept development, the self-concept develops

A) from one's physical appearance.
B) from the way one is viewed by others.
C) slowly, reaching its complete form only in old age.
D) quickly, but is quite fragile and subject to change.

Question 6

Research using new technologies has determined that

A) different areas of the brain are activated when people are shown photos of themselves as opposed to photos of others.
B) different areas of the brain are activated when American participants are shown photos of themselves as opposed to photos of others, but such differentiation does not occur among Korean participants.
C) brain activity does not vary depending on whether or not a stimulus is self-relevant.
D) PET scans are not particularly informative for investigations of the self-concept, but fMRI is.

Question 7

Amy is frustrated with her teenage son's recent behavior."Why did you do that?" she asks him, with exasperation.According to research by Nisbett and Wilson (1977), Amy's son will

A) be able to answer his mother's question honestly and accurately.
B) be unable to accurately identify why he acted as he did.
C) become aggressive toward his mother's confrontation.
D) become penitent in the face of his mother's anger.

Question 8

Yulia stands in front of a mirror.She notices a red spot on the forehead of the image she sees in the mirror.She then brings her hand up to her own forehead and touches the red spot, trying to brush it off.Yulia is demonstrating

A) self-recognition.
B) self-verification.
C) self-regulation.
D) the looking-glass self.

Question 9

Research by David Dunning suggests that one problem concerning self-assessment is that people tend to

A) overestimate their own skills, prospects for success, and opinion accuracy.
B) underestimate their own skills, prospects for success, and opinion accuracy.
C) pay too little attention to past successes in evaluating future prospects.
D) dwell too much on past failures in assessing present competencies.

Question 10

According to research by Nisbett and Wilson (1977),

A) introspection is a valid and accurate source of information about the self.
B) the development of the self-concept begins at birth.
C) people are often unable to give accurate explanations for the causes of their own behavior.
D) people compare themselves with similar others for self-verification.

Question 11

The term self-concept refers to

A) the sum total of a person's beliefs concerning his or her own personal characteristics.
B) the evaluation of one's own abilities and attitudes through comparison to similar others.
C) whether a person's self-evaluation is positive or negative.
D) the general disposition to focus on either the inner feelings or outer image of the self.

Question 12

Which of the following statements concerning introspection is true?

A) Contrary to popular perceptions, introspection can sometimes impair self-knowledge.
B) Analyzing the reasons why we like something typically leads to accurate self-insight.
C) People tend to underestimate the duration of their emotional reactions.
D) One way to improve affective forecasting is to focus on a single event without considering the impact of other life experiences.

Question 13

When Gallup (1977)placed different species of animals in front of a mirror, it was only the great apes who

A) exhibited social responses to their reflection in the mirror.
B) greeted their reflection with vocalizations.
C) used their reflection in the mirror to groom themselves.
D) attempted to attack their reflection.

Question 14

While talking to a friend at a noisy party, Julianna stops in the middle of a sentence and turns her head.According to the cocktail party effect, what did she probably hear?

A) Her name
B) Laughter
C) Uninhibited behavior
D) A funny joke

Question 15

The "ABCs of the self" refer to affect, behavior, and cognition.Which of these three concepts is most relevant to the idea of self-esteem?

A) Affect
B) Behavior
C) Cognition
D) All of these

Question 16

Gallup's research revealed that when apes were raised in isolation, they were unable to recognize themselves in the mirror.This research provides support for

A) the non-social origins of the self-concept.
B) self-perception theory.
C) the idea that humans are the only animals capable of self-recognition.
D) the concept of the looking-glass self.

Question 17

The process of reflecting on your own inner thoughts and feelings in order to gain self-knowledge is called

A) introspection.
B) self-verification.
C) self-monitoring.
D) autobiographical memory.

Question 18

The cocktail party effect refers to the tendency for people to

A) become more self-conscious in large groups.
B) get nervous in social settings and forget the names of those to whom they have been introduced.
C) hear the mention of their own name even from across a loud and crowded room.
D) become more focused on self-presentational concerns in group settings.

Question 19

Kirk is extremely politically conservative.Most information that he learns he tends to evaluate to place it on the political spectrum as either similar to his personal beliefs or different from them.Kirk is probably on politics.

A) schematic
B) aschematic
C) dialectic
D) egotistic

Question 20

Which of the "ABCs of the self" is most relevant to the idea of the self-concept?

A) Affect
B) Behavior
C) Biology
D) Cognition

Question 21

Marcia is unsure about whether Jan is her best friend.She thinks about how many times she has listened to Jan complain about her boyfriend, helped Jan study for difficult exams, and brought soup to Jan when she was sick.Marcia realizes that she speaks to Jan almost every night.After thinking about all this, Marcia concludes that Jan must be her best friend.This conclusion is based on a process described by

A) self-perception theory.
B) social comparison theory.
C) self-awareness theory.
D) self-discrepancy theory.

Question 22

People's spontaneous self-descriptions are most likely to include

A) their age, regardless of their social surroundings.
B) their gender, regardless of their social surroundings.
C) characteristics that set them apart from others in the immediate vicinity.
D) characteristics that make them seem similar to others in the immediate vicinity.

Question 23

Goldstein and Cialdini's 2007 study on vicarious self-perception demonstrated that

A) people sometimes infer something about themselves by observing the behavior of those who they believe to be biologically similar to them.
B) people's self-perceptions are not affected by others' actions.
C) people only pay attention to their self-perception when in the presence of those who they perceive as similar to them.
D) People lose their sense of self when observing the behavior of someone with whom they identify.

Question 24

When asked to clean his room, Miguel does so, but only after being assured by his parents that he will receive an allowance in exchange for cleaning up.Miguel's behavior is most likely motivated by

A) social comparison.
B) egocentric biases.
C) self-monitoring.
D) extrinsic motivation.

Question 25

The tendency for extrinsic rewards to undermine intrinsic motivation is called

A) self-discrepancy theory.
B) implicit egotism.
C) the durability bias.
D) the overjustification effect.

Question 26

Motivation that is driven by rewards and punishments is called _____ motivation.

A) instrumental
B) intrinsic
C) extrinsic
D) egoistic

Question 27

The impact bias in affective forecasting refers to the phenomenon in which

A) voters predicted that they would be much happier one month after an election if the candidate for whom they voted won as opposed to lost.
B) people tend to overestimate the strength and duration of their emotional reactions to events.
C) people are generally accurate predictors of how they will feel about future events.
D) people tend to underestimate how happy they will be several months after winning the lottery.

Question 28

Marion is a sprinter on her high school track team.According to social comparison theory, Marion is most likely to look to which of the following groups to assess how fast a sprinter she is?

A) Other female high school track athletes
B) Other female students at her school who are not on the track team
C) Male members of her track team
D) U.S. Olympic track team members

Question 29

Dara loves to paint in her spare time.Painting is an enjoyable activity for her.Her desire to paint may best be explained by

A) need-driven motivation.
B) intrinsic motivation.
C) extrinsic motivation.
D) self-verification motivation.

Question 30

Josephine bought her six-year-old nephew, Joseph, a new set of paints for his birthday.Hoping to encourage the little artist, Josephine promised Joseph $1 for every painting.Joseph thinks that is quite a lot of money.According to research by Lepper and colleagues (1973)on overjustification effects, which of the following is most likely to occur?

A) Joseph will come to see painting pictures as a way to make money, not as something enjoyable in itself.
B) Joseph will develop a love for painting and will want to be an artist when he grows up.
C) Joseph will continue to paint even if his aunt eventually stops rewarding him with money.
D) The paintings for which Joseph receives money will be judged as better quality than the paintings for which he does not receive any money.

Question 31

Introspection and self-perception theory make _____ predictions about the extent to which people can know themselves.

A) consonant
B) conflicting
C) the same
D) accurate

Question 32

D'Brickashaw is the only man and the only African American enrolled in a women's studies seminar.McGuire's work on spontaneous self-descriptions suggests that compared to other contexts, in this specific situation, D'Brickashaw will be more likely to mention his ____ in his self-description.

A) race, but not gender
B) gender, but not race
C) race as well as gender
D) distinctive name

Question 33

According to the SOKA model, we should know ourselves better than others on traits that are

A) internal.
B) external
C) easy to observe.
D) evaluative.

Question 34

According to theories regarding self-perception of emotions, what would be the likely effect of sitting at your desk slumped over in the chair with a bowed head?

A) You would feel proud.
B) You would feel dejected.
C) You would make other people frown in response.
D) You would buffer your self-esteem against potential future threats.

Question 35

Newman is having a very bad day-he overslept for his final exam, spilled coffee on himself at work, and got a speeding ticket on the way home.According to the facial feedback hypothesis, what will happen if he increases tension in the facial muscles normally active during frowning?

A) It will reduce the intensity of his negative emotional experience.
B) It will intensify his negative emotional experience.
C) It will create a competing positive emotion.
D) Because he is already in a bad mood, it will have no impact on his emotional experience.

Question 36

A person's spontaneous self-description can often be changed by an alteration of that person's

A) self-reference.
B) social surroundings.
C) social desirability.
D) feelings of uncertainty.

Question 37

SOKA stands for

A) Self-Other Knowledge Asymmetry.
B) Self-Operational Knowledge Accuracy.
C) Send Our Kids Away.
D) Self-Observation Karma Abates.

Question 38

Research regarding affective forecasting indicates that

A) people are remarkably good at estimating how future events will impact their own happiness.
B) people are remarkably good at estimating how future events will impact the happiness of others.
C) people tend to underestimate the impact of future events on their own happiness.
D) None of these

Question 39

Which of the following is a reason for the impact bias?

A) People overestimate their resilience.
B) People think that others will cope better than they will.
C) People focus on all the life experiences rather than on the single event in question.
D) People focus on the single event in question and fail to take into account the effects of other life experiences.

Question 40

The process of predicting how one will feel in response to future events is called

A) affective forecasting.
B) anticipation.
C) dialecticism.
D) terror management.

Question 41

According to the two-factor theory of emotion, social context most directly affects

A) facial expressions of emotion.
B) the physiological component of emotion.
C) the cognitive interpretation of emotion.
D) the self-verification of emotion.

Question 42

Schachter (1959)examined the preferences of participants who were expecting to receive a series of painful electric shocks.He found that these participants preferred to wait in a room

A) by themselves.
B) with participants who were not expecting shocks.
C) with participants who were also expecting shocks.
D) with participants who had already received shocks.

Question 43

People's recollection of a sequence of events that directly touched their lives is called

A) private self-consciousness.
B) the hindsight bias.
C) the distinctiveness effect.
D) autobiographical memory.

Question 44

According to social comparison theory, people are most likely to compare themselves to others who are

A) friendly.
B) lonely.
C) popular.
D) similar.

Question 45

Rebecca fills out a survey in which she asserts complete agreement with the statement, "I enjoy being unique and different from others." With which cultural orientation does she most likely identify?

A) Individualism
B) Collectivism
C) Multiculturalism
D) Cooperativism

Question 46

The two-factor theory of emotion proposes that emotional experience

A) is independent of social comparison processes.
B) requires a combination of positive and negative physiological arousal.
C) is independent of physiological arousal.
D) is based on physiological arousal and a cognitive label for that arousal.

Question 47

Schachter (1959)found that participants expecting to receive painful electric shocks preferred the company of others who were in the same situation.These results suggest that

A) social comparison processes are used to evaluate emotions.
B) emotions have a strong physiological component.
C) self-handicapping is more about self-presentation than self-enhancement.
D) people are relatively inaccurate at affective forecasting.

Question 48

April was born and raised in an Eastern culture.She is more likely than people raised in Western cultures to

A) compare herself to others.
B) make friends easily.
C) view relationships as an important part of her self-concept.
D) experience anxiety in group settings.

Question 49

On his first day of class, Professor Saccamano thinks he is nervous because his blood pressure is up and his hands are shaking.He continues to feel this way, however, before every class meeting of the semester, and eventually realizes that his arousal is due to the five flights of stairs he must climb up to the classroom.Which theory best explains his misattribution?

A) Downward comparison theory
B) Self-handicapping theory
C) Self-perception theory
D) Two-factor theory of emotion

Question 50

A husband and wife are asked to estimate how much each of them contributes to the household chores.Based on the research concerning autobiographical memory, which of the following patterns of results is most probable?

A) Husband 50%, wife 50%
B) Husband 50%, wife 70%
C) Husband 70%, wife 50%
D) Husband 70%, wife 70%

Question 51

In terms of autobiographical memory, to what does the phrase "reminiscence peak" refer?

A) The more negative the memory, the more likely it is to be remembered.
B) Older adults tend to retrieve a larger number of memories from adolescence and early adulthood than other periods of life.
C) Once people turn a certain age, they start to forget many of the events that happened to them in earlier stages of life.
D) People tend to remember a wide range of "firsts" in recounting their personal experiences.

Question 52

Jason fills out an application for college with the grades he remembered getting throughout high school.While reviewing the application with a guidance counselor, the counselor points out that Jason seems to have inflated a few of his lower grades.Which of the following is the most likely explanation for Jason's behavior?

A) Jason is displaying the reminiscence peak characteristic of autobiographical memories.
B) Jason fell prey to the tendency to revise personal histories to reflect favorably on the self.
C) Jason relied on introspection and consequently impaired his self-knowledge of his grades.
D) Jason was affected by the impact bias, which skewed his memory of his grades.

Question 53

Research by Kim and Markus (1999)shows that people from individualist versus collectivist cultures tend to prefer

A) uniqueness and similarity, respectively, in all domains.
B) uniqueness and similarity, respectively, only in self-related domains.
C) similarity and uniqueness, respectively, in all domains.
D) similarity and uniqueness, respectively, only in self-related domains.

Question 54

According to Festinger, social comparison is less likely to occur

A) under conditions of uncertainty.
B) when a person's self-esteem is threatened.
C) when objective criteria are available.
D) with similar others.

Question 55

According to Markus and Kitayama (1991), people from collectivist cultures are more likely than those from individualist cultures to

A) derive satisfaction from personal achievement.
B) see themselves as less similar to others.
C) take personal credit for their successes.
D) underestimate their contributions to a team effort.

Question 56

Dialecticism, a concept grounded in Eastern traditions, can best be defined as

A) a system of thought characterized by the acceptance of contradictions.
B) the notion that if one option is right, the other must be wrong.
C) the idea that one's "true self" is stable in all situations.
D) a characteristic of individualist cultures.

Question 57

Herman remembers exactly what he was doing and where he was when he first heard about the September 11ᵗʰ terrorist attacks.Brown and Kulik (1977)would refer to this vivid image as

A) the hindsight bias.
B) a memory heuristic.
C) memory inflation.
D) a flashbulb memory.

Question 58

Jomei feels that he cannot be happy if his family is not happy.Jomei has an _____ view of self.

A) individualistic
B) independent
C) interdependent
D) international

Question 59

Cross-cultural research indicates that Americans are more likely than Asians to

A) perceive themselves as unique.
B) assume blame for failures.
C) strive for community belonging.
D) see themselves as others tend to see them.

Question 60

Multilingual American and Japanese citizens are asked to describe themselves.Which of the following groups is least likely to focus on group affiliations?

A) U.S. citizens asked to respond in English
B) Japanese citizens asked to respond in English
C) U.S. citizens, regardless of language
D) Japanese citizens, regardless of language

Question 61

William Swann and others (2007)found that people with specific domains of self-esteem benefit in what ways?

A) They are likely to feel good about themselves
B) They are likely to do well in school
C) They are likely to outperform others in the specific situations for which they have high self-esteem
D) They are likely to try new things

Question 62

When Maria, a Latin American student, is asked to describe herself in one word during her college interview, she wants to truly express her Latina culture.Which of the following characteristics is she most likely to emphasize?

A) Intelligence
B) Graciousness
C) Drive
D) Strength

Question 63

According to self-discrepancy theory, experiencing negative emotions, such as anxiety or depression, is often caused by the

A) content of the actual, ought, and ideal selves.
B) stability of the actual, ought, and ideal selves.
C) degree of incongruity among the actual, ought, and ideal selves.
D) degree of incongruity between individuals' actual and ideal selves and their perception of important others' views of their actual and ideal selves.

Question 64

Consuela has a positive self-image.She is likely to do all of the following except

A) persist longer at difficult tasks.
B) expect to succeed.
C) blame herself if she fails.
D) sleep better at night.

Question 65

Jenna is fairly high-strung.This attribute conflicts more with Jenna's ideal self than with her ought self.Jenna is more likely to experience ______ than she is to experience ______.

A) disappointment; fear
B) anxiety; sadness
C) fear; anxiety
D) sadness; disappointment

Question 66

According to self-discrepancy theory, the disorder most likely to develop from a discrepancy between the actual self and the ought self is

A) depression.
B) anxiety disorder.
C) antisocial personality disorder.
D) schizophrenia.

Question 67

Higgins's (1979)self-discrepancy theory suggests that we each have an "actual self," an "ought self," and an "ideal self." According to Higgins, discrepancies between the ________ self and the actual self often lead to low self-esteem and feelings of ________.

A) ought; frustration
B) ought; shame
C) ideal; superiority
D) ideal; hostility

Question 68

Which person will experience the greatest negative emotional consequence to self-discrepancy?

A) Sarah, who thinks she ought to be much thinner than she is, but doesn't dwell on it
B) Mira, who thinks she ought to be much heavier than she is, and weight and appearance is very important to her
C) Sam, who thinks he ought to be a better athlete than he is, but feels this discrepancy is rather small
D) Jared, who thinks he ought to have better grades, but school just isn't that important to him

Question 69

Self-esteem is all of the following except

A) an affectively charged component of the self-concept.
B) responsive to success and failure.
C) a state of mind that can change depending on the situation.
D) a single, stable disposition.

Question 70

Twenge and colleagues (2012)found that American culture is

A) more individualistic now than it was a half a century ago.
B) less individualistic now than it was a half a century ago.
C) equally individualistic now as it was a half a century ago.
D) more collectivist now than it was a half a century ago.

Question 71

Males tend to have _____ self-esteem than females, and this difference is quite _____.

A) higher; small
B) lower; small
C) higher; large
D) lower; large

Question 72

English and Chen's (2007)study of college students of European and Asian descent found that

A) even within a particular context, Asian students see their identity as relatively fluid and variable.
B) European students tended to see the self in more stable terms across situations.
C) European students had smaller discrepancies between their ideal and actual selves.
D) All of these

Question 73

According to terror management theory, to mute the defensive and anxious response that most people have when confronted with the thought of their own death, one should experience

A) some form of negative feedback that mutes self-esteem.
B) some form of positive feedback that mutes self-esteem.
C) some form of negative feedback that boosts self-esteem.
D) some form of positive feedback that boosts self-esteem.

Question 74

Which of the following does not appear to be associated with low self-esteem?

A) The expectation of failure
B) The ability to effectively resist peer pressure
C) A sense of pessimism about the future
D) A reduced ability to ward off disease

Question 75

The theory that humans cope with the fear of their own death by constructing worldviews that help to preserve their self-esteem is called

A) self-awareness theory.
B) terror management theory.
C) self-perception theory.
D) affective forecasting.

Question 76

Jasper is feeling guilty and ashamed because he did not help his mother paint the house.Jasper is most likely suffering from a discrepancy between what two aspects of the self?

A) The ideal self and the ought self
B) The ideal self and the actual self
C) The ought self and the actual self
D) The actual self and the real self

Question 77

In sociometer theory, the sociometer is a

A) part of our brain that detects how social others are feeling at any given time.
B) tool that measures one's level of social skill, and uses that to predict social success in the workplace.
C) mechanism that helps us detect acceptance versus rejection and translate that perception into high- versus low self-esteem.
D) measure of self-esteem that is traditionally used in most research.

Question 78

Following a school shooting event, most people are confronted with the reality that their safety cannot be guaranteed, and that their own death at any moment is quite possible.According to terror management theory, which individual below will feel the least anxious in response to this sort of confrontation?

A) Emanuel, who just found out that he scored very well on his ACT
B) Olivia, who just found out that she scored very poorly on her ACT
C) Jashon, who just got dumped by his girlfriend
D) Amina, whose brother just got married

Question 79

Which of the following is not a potential cost of the pursuit of self-esteem, as identified by Crocker and Park (2004)?

A) An increase in stress-related health problems
B) Anxiety
C) Unwanted social attention
D) Avoidance of worthwhile activities that carry a risk of failure

Question 80

According to Twenge and Crocker (2002),

A) Caucasian Americans have higher self-esteem on average than do African Americans.
B) Asian Americans tend to have much higher self-esteem than African Americans.
C) African Americans have higher self-esteem than all other racial groups.
D) racial differences in self-esteem are far smaller than gender differences.