Deck 10: Behavior in Groups

Question 1

Social facilitation occurs

A) when we are alone
B) primarily among competitive people
C) when others are performing the same task (or watching us perform)
D) while we are practicing a complex task

Answer 1

when others are performing the same task (or watching us perform)

Question 2

The children in Triplett's classic study of social facilitation reeled in more fishing line when they were

A) in the presence of others
B) offered a prize
C) told to "do your best"
D) threatened with mild punishment

Answer 2

in the presence of others

Question 3

At basketball practice John is a good free-throw shooter. He shoots his free-throws even better in actual games. John's behavior illustrates social

A) loafing
B) facilitation
C) inhibition
D) impact theory

Answer 3

facilitation

Question 4

Bill is the field-goal kicker on his high school football team. He makes an average of 60 percent of his kicks in practice, but only 30 percent in actual games. Bill's behavior illustrates social

A) facilitation
B) loafing
C) impact theory
D) inhibition

Question 5

According to Robert Zajonc, the presence of others increases a person's

A) distraction
B) motivation
C) apprehension
D) reactance

Question 6

According to Zajonc, whether the increased drive state (resulting from being in the presence of others) improves or impedes an individual's performance depends on the

A) level of motivation
B) setting in which the task takes place
C) nature of the observer
D) nature of the task

Question 7

Social facilitation occurs most frequently with tasks that are

A) well-learned
B) complex
C) cooperative
D) recessive

Question 8

Your friend is appearing in a play that opens tomorrow night. He is concerned about possibly forgetting his lines and asks your opinion. Based on your knowledge of social facilitation, your first question to him is

A) "How big is the theater?"
B) "Is the play a comedy or a drama?"
C) "How well do you know your lines?"
D) "Do most of your lines occur when you are onstage alone or when other actors Are present?"

Question 9

In the research on pool players conducted by Michaels and colleagues (1982), the good players performed the best when they were

A) playing for money
B) being watched by their girlfriends
C) being watched by four other people
D) alone

Question 10

Your roommate spends hours in front of a mirror before going out on a blind date. You say to yourself, "He is clearly suffering from

A) performance anxiety."
B) social inhibition."
C) deindividuation."
D) evaluation apprehension."

Question 11

In social psychology, the phenomenon of social _____ is said to occur when people work less hard in the presence of others than they would alone.

A) loafing
B) reactance
C) inhibition
D) facilitation

Question 12

According to Karau & Williams' (1995) collective effort model of social loafing, which factor does NOT determine how hard a person will work on a group task?

A) how important a person's contribution to the group is
B) how much self-esteem a person has
C) how much a person values the group's success
D) the complexity of the task

Question 13

Applying the lessons of social loafing, one way to motivate group members to work harder is to

A) make them feel anonymous
B) make their rewards contingent upon cooperative effort
C) make their performances individually identifiable
D) increase group membership as much as possible

Question 14

Martina believes that the group project she is working on is very important, and she observes that her group members are performing inadequately. What is Martina most likely to do?

A) social loafing
B) social facilitation
C) social compensation
D) give up

Question 15

The cross-cultural research on social loafing among American and Chinese ninth-grade students revealed differences in social loafing were found only for

A) simple tasks
B) boys
C) complex tasks
D) girls

Question 16

Social impact theory suggests that the total impact of other people on an individual depends on three characteristics of the observers, namely,

A) number, gender, and expertise
B) strength, number, and immediacy
C) strength, gender, and age
D) expertise, gender, and immediacy

Question 17

Latane suggests that social impact can be compared to

A) the waves in the ocean
B) light falling onto a surface
C) wind currents
D) the law of gravity

Question 18

Your meek and mild-mannered roommate explained her participation in a violent, anti-war protest by saying, "Everyone else was so excited and angry that I became excited and angry too!"Her explanation is consistent with the views of

A) Le Bon
B) Zajonc
C) Latane
D) Williams and Karan

Question 19

According to your text, Le Bon explained social contagion in terms of

A) instincts
B) social facilitation
C) social impact theory
D) a breakdown of normal control mechanisms

Question 20

One possible reason that people may act differently while they're wearing costumes on Halloween is

A) deindividuation
B) social loafing
C) social facilitation
D) social inhibition

Question 21

A professor asks her class to consider the following question: "What would you do if you could do anything you wanted without being held responsible or accountable for your behavior?"This is a question about the effects of

A) cognitive dissonance
B) the mere presence of others
C) group polarization
D) deindividuation

Question 22

A key factor in deindividuation is

A) anonymity
B) social control
C) physiological arousal
D) negative emotion

Question 23

Johnson and Downing (1979) had people wear nurses' uniforms and asked them to deliver shock to another person. They found that

A) wearing the uniforms increased the amount of shock given
B) wearing the uniforms decreased the amount of shock given
C) wearing the uniforms increased social impact
D) wearing the uniforms fostered social facilitation

Question 24

Researchers distinguish between the subjective experience of crowding and

A) sensory overload
B) subjective density
C) deindividuation
D) social density

Question 25

Most theories of crowding emphasize

A) childhood experiences
B) cognitive processes
C) biological predispositions
D) emotional responses

Question 26

Which of the following constitutes a group as defined by the text?

A) all truck drivers
B) all the people watching the 6 o'clock news on a given night
C) the members of the Dallas Cowboys football team
D) people waiting outside for a bank to open

Question 27

Which of the following is NOT an important element of group structure?

A) social norms
B) social comparison
C) social status
D) social roles

Question 28

Simon, Eder, and Evans (1992) conducted a study of social norms among a group of teenage girls. They traced the development of norms about

A) eating and food
B) exercise
C) romantic love
D) learning and classwork

Question 29

According to _____ theory, group members want to achieve certain goals and are willing to confer high status on members who can help the group succeed.

A) social facilitation
B) evaluation apprehension
C) expectation states
D) risky shift

Question 30

Which of the following is an example of a diffuse status characteristic?

A) sense of humor
B) age
C) introversion
D) hairstyle

Question 31

Which of the following factors does not influence group cohesiveness?

A) liking for the group
B) the group's effectiveness
C) group polarization
D) barriers to leaving the group

Question 32

A(n) ________ task is one in which all group members must succeed for the group to succeed.

A) additive
B) conjunctive
C) disjunctive
D) social dilemma

Question 33

Your instructor divides the class into small groups for an important project. Your group includes a person who is clearly incapable of making a positive contribution to the project. You say to yourself, "Boy, I hope the instructor assigns our group a(n) _____ task!"

A) disjunctive
B) reactive
C) conjunctive
D) additive

Question 34

In general, individuals produce ________ ideas when working alone than in brainstorming groups.

A) fewer
B) worse
C) more
D) more variable

Question 35

The tendency for people in a brainstorming group to perform at relatively similar levels, generating about the same number of ideas, is called

A) social facilitation
B) social loafing
C) social matching
D) social inhibition

Question 36

The type of decision a group needs to make is one factor that determines which ________ is used.

A) group schema
B) symptom of groupthink
C) contingency model
D) decision rule

Question 37

Which is an issue in group decision making?

A) biased use of information
B) group polarization
C) groupthink
D) all of the above

Question 38

The search committee for a new college faculty position finished their interview with the top candidate and met to discuss her. If they are like most people they will spend the most time talking about

A) information they all share
B) irrelevant information
C) work-related information
D) the information that is most salient

Question 39

Early work on the risky shift phenomenon was later revised to reflect the fact that group discussion

A) always produces wise and rational decisions
B) has no effect on decision making
C) leads to more conservative decisions
D) leads to more extreme decisions

Question 40

Which of the following has NOT been offered as an explanation for group polarization?

A) social comparison theory
B) self-perception theory
C) social identity theory
D) a persuasive arguments perspective

Question 41

According to Irving Janis, _____ can lead a seemingly reasonable and intelligent group of people to make a decision that leads to disaster.

A) the risky-shift phenomenon
B) reactance
C) groupthink
D) social inhibition

Question 42

According to Janis, which is NOT a cause of groupthink?

A) a highly cohesive group
B) a strong group leader
C) pressure towards unanamity
D) all of the above are causes of groupthink

Question 43

Studies testing the predictions of Janis' groupthink theory have

A) shown limited support for the theory
B) been impossible to conduct
C) strongly supported Janis' ideas
D) shown that groupthink only occurs reliably in political groups

Question 44

In the "Trucking Game"The optimal strategy is to

A) try and blow up your opponent's bridge.
B) cooperate by alternating use of the one-lane road.
C) confess to your mistakes.
D) compete with your opponent for road access.

Question 45

"Trucking Game"Studies showed that most people

A) start the game by competing, but end up cooperating
B) cooperate throughout the game
C) lose if they cooperate consistently
D) compete throughout the game

Question 46

In a typical game of "Prisoner's Dilemma,"____ of the choices made by the players are cooperative.

A) none
B) about one-third
C) more than half
D) all

Question 47

One factor that determines cooperation is

A) the reward structure of the situation
B) communication patterns
C) effects of reciprocity
D) all of the above

Question 48

In an Olympic 100 meter dash, only one runner can get the gold medal. This is a situation of

A) cooperative interdependence
B) mixed-motive conflicts
C) competitive interdependence
D) competitive isolation

Question 49

Which of the following has NOT been shown to be a determinant of whether people will behave cooperatively or competitively?

A) cultural values
B) communication patterns
C) reciprocity
D) self-esteem

Question 50

Cross-cultural research on competition and cooperation indicate that people from ________ are probably the most competitive.

A) Japan
B) the United States
C) Mexico
D) Russia

Question 51

________ is a situation in which the most rewarding short-term choice for an individual will ultimately lead to negative outcomes for all concerned.

A) an additive task
B) competitive interdependence
C) evaluation apprehension
D) a social dilemma

Question 52

Fiedler describes leaders who are motivated primarily to accomplish the group's function as

A) autocratic
B) task-oriented
C) laissez-faire
D) nurturant

Question 53

Your political science classmate argues that "Abraham Lincoln was born to lead the country through the Civil War."Your classmate's statement is consistent with

A) the great person theory of leadership
B) the contingency model of leadership effectiveness
C) the individual difference model of leadership
D) none of the above

Question 54

Fiedler describes leaders who are motivated primarily to maintain group harmony as

A) democratic
B) authoritarian
C) relationship-oriented
D) managerial

Question 55

The contingency model of leadership predicts that the kind of leaders who succeed in high or low control situations are

A) task-oriented
B) authoritative
C) laissez-faire
D) nurturant

Question 56

The contingency model of leadership predicts that the kind of leaders who succeed in moderately controlled situations are

A) laissez-faire
B) dictatorial
C) task-oriented
D) relationship-oriented

Question 57

A transformational leader would most likely be

A) authoritarian
B) task-oriented
C) governed by "decision rules"
D) charismatic

Question 58

The children in Triplett's classic research on social facilitation reeled in more fishing line when they were alone than they did in the presence of other children.

Question 59

The presence of others sometimes enhances and sometimes impairs an individual's performance.

Question 60

A person who performs a task well when he/she is alone, but does poorly on the task in the presence of others, is a victim of social loafing.

Question 61

The presence of others facilitates performance on complex but not simple tasks.

Question 62

On complex tasks the pressure of being evaluated can spur one to greater effort.

Question 63

When an individual's contribution to a collective activity cannot be evaluated, individuals often work less hard than they would have alone.

Question 64

Social loafing is less likely to occur with strangers than with a highly valued group.

Question 65

When the task is difficult or challenging, social loafing is more likely to occur.

Question 66

If people in a group believe that their contribution can be evaluated by others, social loafing can be eliminated.

Question 67

There is no support for the existence of cultural differences in tendencies toward social loafing.

Question 68

Gustave Le Bon is known for formulating the concept of social contagion.

Question 69

The critical factor in the deindividuation phenomenon is group membership.

Question 70

Feeling crowded does not always have to do with high social density.

Question 71

When people are exposed to too much stimulation, they experience sensory overload.

Question 72

By the textbook's definition, Mrs. Smith's first grade class would constitute a social group.

Question 73

According to expectation states theory, group members want to achieve certain goals and are willing to confer high status on members who can help the group succeed.

Question 74

Members of low-cohesiveness groups are more likely than members of highly cohesive groups to be influenced by the group and to conform to group norms.

Question 75

An additive task is one in which all group members must succeed for the group to succeed.

Question 76

Brainstorming does not necessarily produce better ideas than individuals working alone.

Question 77

In general, individuals produce more ideas when working alone than in brainstorming groups.

Question 78

"Majority-wins"and "truth-wins"are examples of decision rules used by groups.

Question 79

Contemporary research has shown that when the initial opinions of group members are conservative, group discussion tends to result in a shift toward more extreme conservatism.

Question 80

Research using simulation games such as the "Trucking Game"
has consistently shown that American college students tend to cooperate rather than compete.