Question 1

Based on information from the authors of your text about cognitive dissonance and immoral behavior, which of the following people would be most likely to condone having an extramarital affair?

Accepted Answer

A)  Sarah, who is not married 
B)  Jessie, who cheated on her husband long ago but didn't get caught 
C)  Laura, who is faithful to her husband 
D)  Jeremy, who is not married and is a virgin

Question 2

__________ is defined as the combination of excessive self-love and a lack of empathy toward others.

Accepted Answer

A)  Dissonance 
B)  Self-esteem 
C)  Narcissism 
D)  Hypocrisy

Question 3

Jorge has just undergone a three-week initiation process to become a member of a fraternity. During the initiation, he was made to do such things as shave his head, run naked through the cafeteria, and sing obnoxious fraternity songs during classes. Jorge now considers the fraternity the best thing that's ever happened to him and is convinced that his fraternity brothers are friends for life. Jorge's attitude towards his fraternity is probably the result of __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  postdecision dissonance 
B)  the overjustification effect 
C)  insufficient punishment 
D)  justification of effort

Question 4

Maria is on a limited budget and can only afford one album. She really likes two in particular: Iron and Wine's Greatest Hits and the soundtrack from the musical Hamilton. When she gets to listen to the Iron and Wine album, she cannot imagine why she ever considered the Hamilton album. This is because __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  Maria has to justify buying an album, given her limited budget 
B)  Iron and Wine music reminds Maria of her childhood 
C)  Maria was motivated to reduce her postdecision dissonance 
D)  Maria wasn't sure about the online store's return policy

Question 5

Why would people be less likely to engage in dissonance-reducing behaviors in a collectivist culture?

Accepted Answer

A)  Because they would be focused on group harmony rather than self-justification 
B)  Because they would not experience dissonance 
C)  Because they would focus only on self-justification 
D)  Because they would not be able to change their behavior or add cognitions

Question 6

Dissonance theorists might assert that just as we suffer for the things we like, we also convince ourselves that we like the things for which we suffer. Use concepts related to the justification of effort to explain this statement.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Dissonance theorists might assert that just as...

Question 7

According to your text, Vietnamese and Cambodian adolescents in the United States often clash with their immigrant parents over cultural values. According to this study, what is most likely to happen to the adolescents who experience the most cognitive dissonance?

Accepted Answer

A)  They will be more well-adjusted and have more success. 
B)  They will be more likely to get into trouble, do less well in school, and fight more with their parents. 
C)  They will become more committed to their parents' cultural values. 
D)  They will be able to balance the needs of both cultures, honoring their immigrant culture and the current culture in the United States.

Question 8

__________ is to dissonance-induced attitude change as __________ is to no attitude change.

Accepted Answer

A)  Counterattitudinal advocacy; internal justification 
B)  External justification; internal justification 
C)  Internal justification; counterattitudinal advocacy 
D)  Internal justification; external justification

Question 9

According to the authors of your text, why would people experience cognitive dissonance after investing a lot of time and effort in pursuit of a goal that falls short of their expectations?

Accepted Answer

A)  Punishment serves to reduce intrinsic motivation. 
B)  Heightened intrinsic motivation biases people's perceptions. 
C)  Actually, people would not experience cognitive dissonance in this situation. 
D)  Sensible people don't work hard to attain something trivial.

Question 10

According to Tesser's self-evaluation maintenance theory, which of the following is not a condition that must be met for a person to feel dissonance in a relationship with someone else?

Accepted Answer

A)  You feel close to the person in your relationship. 
B)  Your friend is better at a task than you are. 
C)  The task your friend is better at is central to your self-esteem. 
D)  Your friend often reminds you they are better than you at the task.

Question 11

You have worked extremely hard to attain a goal, but soon realize that the goal is not as exciting as you expected. You will probably __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  exaggerate the positive qualities of the goal in order to justify your effort 
B)  exaggerate the negative qualities of the goal in order to obtain sympathy 
C)  carefully analyze the reasons why you worked so hard to attain the goal 
D)  deny that you ever believed that the goal was exciting

Question 12

Recall that Aronson and his colleagues designed experiments to remind students of their own hypocrisy when it came to using condoms during sex. Participants who made videotaped speeches in which they talked about the difficulties they had using condoms actually changed their attitudes and behaviors related to condom use. These experiments are actually variations on the phenomenon of the ___________ paradigm.

Accepted Answer

A)  justification of effort 
B)  postdecision dissonance 
C)  counterattitudinal advocacy 
D)  insufficient punishment

Question 13

Social psychologists had African American students do carefully constructed self-affirming writing assignments regarding their good qualities outside of school. This type of self-affirmation will not be effective in bolstering self-esteem unless __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  it is overly inflated 
B)  it is overly positive and untrue 
C)  it is overly negative and untrue 
D)  it is realistic

Question 14

Petar and Nikolas love the house that they just toured. It is a short sale for $180,000, which is a great price. They are very excited and want to put in an offer. After they begin the paperwork, their realtor tells them that the price does not include the fixtures or the appliances. Those will likely cost an extra $20,000. What tactic is the realtor using?

Accepted Answer

A)  Lowballing 
B)  Bait and switch 
C)  Intrinsic motivation 
D)  Priming

Question 15

When people try to maintain their self-esteem and reduce cognitive dissonance, they may resort to maladaptive thinking known as __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  heuristics 
B)  schemas 
C)  norms 
D)  rationalizing

Question 16

Who is more likely to dehumanize the enemy in order to deal with cognitive dissonance they are experiencing?

Accepted Answer

A)  Erin, who had to fire warning shots during a training exercise 
B)  Brady, who killed an enemy soldier in self-defense 
C)  Victor, who threw a grenade into a market 
D)  Hector, who is a sniper assigned to "eliminate" enemy soldiers

Question 17

Recall that Brehm (1956) asked women to rate the desirability of a number of appliances and then allowed them to choose one of those appliances as a gift. Twenty minutes later, all women re-rated the same appliances, including the one they chose. Women tended to rate the alternatives they rejected lower than they had originally, and to rate their chosen appliance more positively. These results suggest that people __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  seldom collect enough information before making decisions 
B)  reduce dissonance by overestimating differences between chosen and unchosen alternatives 
C)  are more likely to experience cognitive dissonance when decisions are irrevocable 
D)  experience more dissonance when their decisions implicate their self-concepts as rational and reasonable

Question 18

According to your text, how did gay men resolve their dissonance when two central aspects of their identities conflicted? As a reminder, these were gay men who strongly identified with their Christian churches and whose ministers made anti-gay pronouncements. If they decided to stay with their church, how did they respond?

Accepted Answer

A)  They didn't attend church on the day the anti-gay pronouncement was scheduled. 
B)  They attended church but played on their phones while the minister was talking. 
C)  They blamed the minister but kept going to the same church. 
D)  They stopped donating to the church.

Question 19

Recall that Brehm (1956) asked women to rate the desirability of a number of appliances, and then allowed them to choose one of those appliances as a gift. Twenty minutes later, all women re-rated the same appliances, including the one they chose. According to his findings, which of the following (fictitious) participants would rate the toaster lower than she had originally?

Accepted Answer

A)  June, who chose the waffle iron instead 
B)  Donna, who felt pressured to select the iron 
C)  Maude, who rated the toaster lowest at the outset 
D)  Edith, who loves toast and jelly, and chose the toaster

Question 20

Research presented in the text (McMillan, Stice, & Rohde, 2011) had high school and college women write essays against the "thin is beautiful" idea. By writing about the emotional and physical costs of pursuing this unhealthy body image, the women showed __________.

Accepted Answer

A)  significant increases in their satisfaction with their bodies 
B)  significant decreases in happiness 
C)  significant increases in anxiety 
D)  increases in dieting

Exam 6: Cognitive Dissonance and the Need to Protect Our Self-Esteem