Question 1

According to the authors of your text, women in leadership positions are in a double bind: If they conform to social expectations about how to behave and are warm and communal, they may be seen as having low leadership potential; then, when they are given the opportunity to lead and they __________, they are perceived negatively.

Accepted Answer

A)  turn it down to raise their children 
B)  beat men for managerial positions 
C)  act in agentic, assertive ways 
D)  have at least a bachelor's degree

Question 2

Decision-making groups are MOST likely to share unique information when __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  their task is simple 
B)  the leader is relationship-oriented 
C)  they know they are the only ones tasked with knowing diagnostic information 
D)  groups seek consensus

Question 3

According to a social comparison interpretation, group polarization tends to occur because individuals can present themselves in a more __________ light by taking slightly more __________ positions than the norm of the group.

Accepted Answer

A)  positive; extreme 
B)  positive; cautious 
C)  negative; risky 
D)  positive; conservative

Question 4

Complete the analogy. Social facilitation is to __________ as social loafing is to __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  relaxing; not being evaluated 
B)  arousal; evaluation anxiety 
C)  relaxing; evaluation apprehension 
D)  arousal; relaxing

Question 5

Social loafing is likely to impair performance __________ and to enhance performance __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  when we're with others; when we're alone 
B)  on simple tasks; on complex tasks 
C)  when we're alone; when we're with others 
D)  on complex tasks; on simple tasks

Question 6

Recall that Simonton (1987, 2001) examined the relationship between 100 personal attributes of the U.S. presidents and their effectiveness in office as rated by historians. The characteristics that were most correlated with presidential effectiveness were __________).

Accepted Answer

A)  height, family size, and number of books published before taking office 
B)  intelligence, need for power, and self-confidence 
C)  charisma, education, and adaptability 
D)  social skills, need for power, and education

Question 7

Dozens of social-psychological experiments on the topic of social facilitation have employed people and a variety of animals and insects. One consistent finding has emerged from these many studies:

Accepted Answer

A)  Simple tasks are not affected by the presence of others, but complex tasks are. 
B)  The presence of others enhances performance on simple tasks. 
C)  Simplicity is the most dominant response in the presence of others. 
D)  Difficult tasks are more arousing than simple tasks.

Question 8

When the committee discussion begins, three people are strongly in favor of hiring Band A to play at the fall dance and three people are somewhat in favor of hiring Band A. Two people are somewhat in favor of hiring Band B. If group polarization is at work, what is the most likely decision of the group after an hour of discussion?

Accepted Answer

A)  Hire Band A. 
B)  Hire Band B. 
C)  Go looking for another band to break the stalemate. 
D)  No decision will be made.

Question 9

Consider the following destructive acts: soccer fans bludgeoning one another, young people throwing rocks at police officers, and Klansmen lynching African Americans. All of these are examples of the dangerous effects of __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  hysterical contagion 
B)  anti-social contagion 
C)  anti-social anonymity 
D)  deindividuation

Question 10

What are the two reasons why deindividuation leads to more deviant behavior?

Accepted Answer

A)  People feel less accountable, and people are more likely to obey even deviant group norms. 
B)  People feel less accountable, and people use others to shoulder the blame. 
C)  People become frustrated, and people feel less accountable for acting on their frustration. 
D)  People pay less attention to their environment, and people feel anonymous in a group.

Question 11

Adam is part of a group organized to increase blood donations in a local community. As a social psychologist, Adam has a relevant background in persuasion tactics, but his group members fail to realize the important contributions he could make. This scenario is an example of __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  process loss 
B)  intragroup conflict 
C)  poor leadership 
D)  a task orientation to problem solving

Question 12

Which of the following explanations for social facilitation applies to humans but NOT to cockroaches? Humans are __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  alert and aroused in the presence of other members of their species 
B)  distracted by a number of stimuli, including members of their own species 
C)  aroused at the prospect of evaluation 
D)  more likely to perform their dominant response when aroused

Question 13

Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi led large groups of people in protests against injustice. According to information in your text about the process of deindividuation, why is it that these groups did not behave violently?

Accepted Answer

A)  The group norm was nonviolence. 
B)  They were led by transactional leaders. 
C)  There was very little deindividuation among group members. 
D)  They were too afraid to behave violently.

Question 14

Adele has never driven a car with a manual transmission before-that is, she's never had to decide when to shift gears, push in the clutch, or stop suddenly when the car is in gear. She's just bought a car with manual transmission, and wants to practice driving it before she takes it onto the highway. What should she do?

Accepted Answer

A)  take her best friend along to provide instructions and support 
B)  drive the car alone until she gets the hang of it 
C)  have a group of friends follow along behind her to help pull her out of a ditch if something goes wrong 
D)  drive on the busiest road in the city

Question 15

Which of the following examples BEST expresses interdependence?

Accepted Answer

A)  Jakim shaves his head to mimic his favorite action movie star. 
B)  Martia, a member of a social service group, makes a convincing argument for the group to expand their services to include children. 
C)  Glinida tells her mother she needs to update her wardrobe, unsuccessfully. 
D)  The president of the university passes a new policy requiring new students to complete an orientation week at the university.

Question 16

You have been asked to organize a problem-solving meeting. Based on what you learned in social psychology, which of the following is NOT a good way to make sure unique information gets shared at the meeting?

Accepted Answer

A)  Make the meeting long enough so that unique information has time to be shared. 
B)  Skip asking for everyone's initial ideas and preferences at the beginning of the meeting. 
C)  Before the meeting, assign certain people to focus on specific parts of the problem. 
D)  Have a very forceful, directive leader to handle the meeting.

Question 17

In a study conducted by Zajonc and his colleagues (1969), they examined the question of whether organisms perform better in the presence of others or alone, using __________ as participants.

Accepted Answer

A)  college undergraduates 
B)  cockroaches 
C)  dolphins 
D)  firefighters

Question 18

When is high cohesiveness likely to be a problem for a group?

Accepted Answer

A)  when the group's purpose is primarily social 
B)  when the group is encountering stressful times 
C)  when the group is working on a task that requires close cooperation between members 
D)  when the group's task is to solve a problem

Question 19

Which of the following individuals is most likely to engage in social loafing?

Accepted Answer

A)  Amanda, who sits alone in her office, licking stamps and placing them on envelopes 
B)  Tim, who washes a car with his friends 
C)  Phoebe, who works with her classmates on a difficult assignment 
D)  Danny, who struggles alone with a difficult calculus problem

Question 20

Group discussion often pushes people's initial individual decisions to the extreme, yielding group polarization. According to the persuasive arguments interpretation, this is because __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  others bring up perspectives or issues that the individual hadn't considered 
B)  individuals are motivated to be accepted by other members of the group 
C)  individuals bolster their initial beliefs when they make their case to others 
D)  individuals work to reduce the dissonance aroused when other people disagree with them

Exam 9: Group Processes: Influence in Social Groups