Question 1

In Tajfel's research (in which subjects are randomly assigned to Group X or Group W), subjects who are total strangers but who share the same meaningless label tend to:

Accepted Answer

A)  express greater liking for and allocate more rewards to others in their own group 
B)  compete against members of their own group as a form of "sibling rivalry" 
C)  perceive greater similarity among members of their own group than among members of the other group 
D)  fabricate elaborate reasons to explain why they feel a sense of "belonging" to their own group

Question 2

Although Susan was only peripherally involved in getting her friend elected as the president of the senior class, she felt her friend could never have won without her support. Susan's feeling is best thought of as an example of:

Accepted Answer

A)  egocentric bias 
B)  fundamental attribution error 
C)  hindsight bias 
D)  actor-observer bias

Question 3

One way that we make sense out of the vast and dizzying array of information that comes our way is through the use of heuristics, which are:

Accepted Answer

A)  simple, but often only approximate, rules for solving problems 
B)  simple, but highly accurate, rules for solving problems 
C)  complex, but often only approximate, rules for solving problems 
D)  complex, but highly accurate, rules for solving problems

Question 4

Our brain size appears to set to a limit of about _______ people with whom we can have stable and meaningful relationships.

Accepted Answer

A)  10 
B)  50 
C)  150 
D)  300

Question 5

The representative heuristic helps to explain why, in some instances, we tend to base our judgments of other people on:

Accepted Answer

A)  a careful consideration of their individual characteristics 
B)  their actual behavior, even when it conflicts with their personalities 
C)  how well they have treated us or others in the past 
D)  stereotypes regarding their gender, race, appearance, etc.

Question 6

The default mode network is a set of interacting brain regions that are LEAST active when:

Accepted Answer

A)  our minds wander 
B)  we are not directed on a task 
C)  we are thinking about the outside world 
D)  we are working on a specific task

Question 7

Aronson reports the results of an experiment in which people who were asked to insulate their homes were given information either about how much money they would save if they insulated or about how much money they would lose if they didn't insulate. Based on results of this study, if you were trying to sell insulation, you would be wise to:

Accepted Answer

A)  emphasize how much is saved by insulating 
B)  emphasize how much is lost by not insulating 
C)  emphasize both savings and losses, based on the halo effect 
D)  emphasize neither savings or losses since money is not something people are reluctant to discuss

Question 8

Which of the following is a good example of self-fulfilling prophecy?

Accepted Answer

A)  I failed the test, but I worked really worked hard studying. 
B)  I failed the test, but I'm smart. The teacher had it in for me. 
C)  I failed the test, but I'm smart. The test was unfair. 
D)  I failed the test, so I'm stupid, and there is no reason to study. I failed the second test; see, I told you I'm stupid.

Question 9

John, a car salesman, is trying to persuade a customer to trade in his gas-guzzling, 8-cylinder car for a new 6-cylinder model. So he says to his customer, "Think of all the extra money you'll have if you buy this fuel-efficient model!" According to Kahneman and Tversky, John's sales pitch would be much improved if he had said:

Accepted Answer

A)  "Not only is this model fuel efficient-it has a great safety record, too!" 
B)  "Look at this article by Consumer Reports. No other model in its class gets this kind of mileage on the freeway!" 
C)  "Think of all the money you're losing on that gas-guzzler-dollar bills are flying right out of the exhaust pipe every time you drive!" 
D)  "Buying this fuel-efficient model is a good way to show your concern for the environment!"

Question 10

Explanatory style is a habitual pattern of explaining successes and failures. People who have optimistic style typically attribute unfortunate events to:

Accepted Answer

A)  internal, permanent factors 
B)  fate and something outside their control 
C)  external and situational factors 
D)  being dispositional and unchangeable

Question 11

Aronson argues that recently activated or frequently activated concepts are more likely to readily come to mind and thus be used in interpreting social events. This phenomenon is called:

Accepted Answer

A)  context effects 
B)  reactance 
C)  heuristics 
D)  priming

Question 12

In the "quiz show" study conducted by Ross, Amabile, and Steinmetz, subjects were randomly assigned to serve as "questioners" or "contestants." Observers who watched the simulated quiz show tended to perceive the "questioners" as more knowledgeable than the "contestants." The observers committed the error of:

Accepted Answer

A)  assigning favorable characteristics to high-status persons as compared to low-status persons 
B)  equating intelligence with verbal skills 
C)  making situational attributions for behavior rather than dispositional ones 
D)  underestimating the impact of social roles in explaining behavior

Question 13

Bentham's and Franklin's notion of comparing the pros/pleasures to the cons/pain when making a decision (e.g., car purchase) often will fail because:

Accepted Answer

A)  we have God's eye 
B)  we do not have the time to collect and then consider all the information 
C)  we are completely rational decision makers 
D)  of the fundamental attribution error

Question 14

Suppose you see Mary do very poorly on a classroom test. From this you conclude that Mary not only is stupid but also has few friends, a poor personality, a difficult family life, and a hard time in everything she does. You have committed an error called:

Accepted Answer

A)  the primacy effect 
B)  the context effect 
C)  the halo effect 
D)  the attitude heuristic

Question 15

The best metaphor for the relationship between nature and nurture when explaining how our minds work is:

Accepted Answer

A)  an oil painting 
B)  a computer 
C)  a blank slate 
D)  a sketch

Question 16

Human universals (e.g., shared facial expression, music, and a preference for kin over strangers):

Accepted Answer

A)  lead individuals to feel isolated in society 
B)  enable us to increase the size of our cooperative group beyond 150 
C)  make living in groups more difficult 
D)  facilitate our ability to live in groups

Question 17

After watching a news report of a plane crash, people are more likely to overestimate the frequency of plane crashes in general. This error in judgment is due to:

Accepted Answer

A)  the representative heuristic 
B)  the availability heuristic 
C)  the false consensus effect 
D)  confirmation bias

Question 18

In Rosenthal and Jacobson's "bloomers" study, the children who had been randomly assigned the label of "bloomers":

Accepted Answer

A)  showed no improvement over the year 
B)  had a slight drop in their IQ scores by the end of the year 
C)  made significantly larger gains than the children not labeled as bloomers 
D)  improved just as much as the other students in the class

Question 19

Suppose you are planning to take a class with a professor about whom you know nothing. Just before class starts, a friend of yours describes the professor as inflexible, wordy, an easy grader, and kind to students. If the primacy effect is operating, you are most likely to think of the professor as:

Accepted Answer

A)  inflexible 
B)  wordy 
C)  an easy grader 
D)  kind to students

Question 20

The human mind's two thinking systems are:

Accepted Answer

A)  controlled processing and explicit processing 
B)  automatic processing and implicit processing 
C)  controlled processing and automatic processing 
D)  unconscious processing and involuntary processing

Exam 2: Conformity

In Tajfel's research (in which subjects are randomly assigned to Group X or Group W) , subjects who are total strangers but who share the same meaningless label tend to: