Question 1

Cognitive representations of instances in a category are:

Accepted Answer

A)  extremes of a fuzzy set. 
B)  schemata. 
C)  prototypes. 
D)  stereotypes.

Question 2

If you knew that only one per cent of inventors actually have a handsome income you would have an example of:

Accepted Answer

A)  representativeness. 
B)  the illusory correlation. 
C)  regression to the mean. 
D)  base-rate information.

Question 3

One major critique of social cognition is that it is too:

Accepted Answer

A)  scientific. 
B)  reductionist. 
C)  social. 
D)  sociological.

Question 4

Who was the most influential person of the 20th century? Europeans may refer to Hitler, Indians to Gandhi and Americans to Kennedy. These are different responses, so that the category 'influential person' is a(n):

Accepted Answer

A)  stereotype. 
B)  prototype. 
C)  exemplar. 
D)  fuzzy set.

Question 5

In terms of our general impression of someone, we are more likely to recall information that is inconsistent, rather than consistent, with our impression. Why is this?

Accepted Answer

A)  Because inconsistent information attracts attention and generates more cognition and thought, strengthening memory retrieval routes 
B)  Because inconsistent information attracts attention and generates more cognition and thought, weakening memory retrieval routes 
C)  Because we don't want to believe that our original impressions about someone are wrong 
D)  Because cognitively it is easier to attend to information that is consistent with our original schema

Question 6

In the early 20th century, because psychologists felt that theories should be based on publicly observable and replicable data, there was a shift away from studying internal (cognitive) events towards studying external, publicly observable events. What was the term classifying this change in emphasis?

Accepted Answer

A)  Group psychology 
B)  Evolutionary social psychology 
C)  Behaviourism 
D)  Social cognition

Question 7

An advance in a particular field coincided with renewed interest in the study of general cognition. Which field?

Accepted Answer

A)  The manipulation and transfer of information 
B)  Organisational psychology 
C)  The experimental analysis of behaviour 
D)  Assessing individual differences

Question 8

Your friend claims that guys in rock bands 'snort drugs, stub out cigarettes on the carpet and steal people's knickers'. Your studies suggest that these descriptions are:

Accepted Answer

A)  associative networks. 
B)  stereotypes. 
C)  content-free schemas. 
D)  exemplary prototypes.

Question 9

Your close friend, Dorothy, is usually mild mannered and soft-spoken. However, today Dorothy assertively tells someone who has just unpacked a shopping trolley to return it to 'its proper place'. Which of the following stages are you most likely to encode?

Accepted Answer

A)  Pay close attention to what is going on 
B)  Attribute it to stress in Dorothy's private life 
C)  Remember that Dorothy can be as assertive as yourself 
D)  Forget about it at present, but store it up to think about it later

Question 10

Before meeting the new member coming to your seminar group, your friend tells you that the new member, Sue, left school at the age of 14 to work in a factory, and later entered university as a mature student. Then, another member of your group remarks that Sue usually scores A+s in her work. You are uneasy because you don't know what to make of this. But we know the two kinds of information are:

Accepted Answer

A)  stereotype inconsistent. 
B)  stereotype consistent. 
C)  social inconsistent. 
D)  social consistent.

Question 11

How is our memory about people organised? Fiske and Taylor (1991) say that it is by:

Accepted Answer

A)  person and group. 
B)  language and ethnicity. 
C)  race and ability. 
D)  gender and age.

Question 12

In addition to self-observation, which other method did Wilhelm Wundt use to study thinking processes?

Accepted Answer

A)  Reaction times 
B)  Stimulus-response connections 
C)  Introspection 
D)  Looking-glass self

Question 13

Heidi is an exchange student from Sweden. Her host family told her to avoid the central city park 'because last week a weird-looking man was seen hanging around there'. Heidi, in her final year majoring in psychology, reasons that this advice is an instance of the:

Accepted Answer

A)  representativeness heuristic. 
B)  fundamental attribution error. 
C)  availability heuristic. 
D)  self-serving bias.

Question 14

What characterises 'naïve scientists' is that they:

Accepted Answer

A)  are generally of average rather than superior intelligence. 
B)  fail to understand that their inventions can make money. 
C)  are often isolated from the real world. 
D)  use cause-effect interpretations of events around them.

Question 15

Following Asch (1946), which model do people use to form first impressions of others?

Accepted Answer

A)  A cognitive model 
B)  A configural model 
C)  A behavioural model 
D)  A tangential model

Question 16

The most important difference between the 'cognitive miser' model and the 'motivated tactician' model is:

Accepted Answer

A)  the role of thought. 
B)  the role of motivation. 
C)  the role of behaviour. 
D)  the role of structure.

Question 17

By the 1960s, psychologists had begun to take a fresh interest in cognition. This development continued with which revolution that encouraged and enabled psychologists to model or simulate highly complex human cognitive processes?

Accepted Answer

A)  The computer revolution 
B)  The sexual revolution 
C)  The social revolution 
D)  The political revolution

Question 18

Better recall of inconsistent information does not occur when:

Accepted Answer

A)  we already have a well-established impression. 
B)  we are making a simple judgement. 
C)  we have to make a quick first impression. 
D)  the inconsistency is descriptive and evaluative.

Question 19

Asch (1946) found that some traits (central traits) perceived in others strongly affect how we decide if other traits also apply. For example, we are more likely to judge Mary as 'generous' if we also believe that she is:

Accepted Answer

A)  'warm' 
B)  'cold' 
C)  'polite' 
D)  'self-centred'

Question 20

Which of the following does NOT describe vivid stimuli? Stimuli that are:

Accepted Answer

A)  emotionally interesting. 
B)  concrete and image-provoking. 
C)  close to you in time and place. 
D)  important to your goals.

Exam 2: Social Cognition and Social Thinking