Question 1

Let's say that you are very good at playing video games. So while playing in the mall one afternoon, you attract a large crowd to watch you. According to Zajonc's dominant response theory of social facilitation, you will

Accepted Answer

A)  alter your sequence of dominant responses to include an audience. 
B)  perform worse. 
C)  perform better. 
D)  find that you can change people's attitudes towards video games. 
E)  perform at your usual level.

Question 2

Let's say that you are a novice chess player. According to the theory of social facilitation, if an audience watches you play, you should

Accepted Answer

A)  do better, but only if there is one person in the audience 
B)  do worse than normal 
C)  play at your normal level 
D)  do better than normal 
E)  do worse, but only if there are a number of people in the audience

Question 3

Which of the following was mentioned as one of the factors that can increase obedience?

Accepted Answer

A)  have a remote authority figure 
B)  have another "participant" actually administer the shock 
C)  have the victim be physically close to the participant 
D)  have participants with military backgrounds

Question 4

After conducting a series of interviews, the members of the hiring committee feel fairly positive about Ms. Rajwa. After discussing her performance during the interview, the committee members feel even more positive about this job candidate. This is best considered an example of

Accepted Answer

A)  cognitive dissonance. 
B)  stereotype threat. 
C)  group polarization. 
D)  realistic conflict theory. 
E)  group think.

Question 5

Having low self-efficacy during which of the following stages of the bystander intervention process could inhibit helping behaviour?

Accepted Answer

A)  interpreting an event as an emergency 
B)  knowing how to help 
C)  noticing an event 
D)  assuming responsibility for helping

Question 6

Sternberg's triangular theory of love can best be viewed as taking the original passionate-companionate love distinction and:

Accepted Answer

A)  splitting intimacy into passion and commitment. 
B)  splitting companionate love into passion and commitment. 
C)  splitting companionate love into passion and intimacy. 
D)  splitting companionate love into intimacy and commitment.

Question 7

Aaron has been trying to improve his time in the 100 metre run. He often practices at the track late at night with his girlfriend timing him. To his amazement, when his friend, Benjamin, who is an excellent runner, volunteers to run with him, his time actually ________.

Accepted Answer

A)  worsens due to Benjamin's speed 
B)  improves due to the mere presence of another person 
C)  improves due to Benjamin's speed 
D)  worsens due to the mere presence of another person

Question 8

Bystanders are most likely to help individuals who are:

Accepted Answer

A)  judged as being responsible for their problems. 
B)  perceived as being similar. 
C)  attractive. 
D)  perceived as being dissimilar.

Question 9

The results of Albert Bandura's "Bobo doll" experiment demonstrated how ________ may increase aggression.

Accepted Answer

A)  playing 
B)  negative reinforcement 
C)  positive reinforcement 
D)  punishment

Question 10

Many people meet their spouse or current dating partner:

Accepted Answer

A)  through a friend 
B)  in their neighbourhood 
C)  at work 
D)  on the internet

Question 11

All of the following are gender differences that have been found with regard to important characteristics for dating partners and spouses EXCEPT:

Accepted Answer

A)  Men and women both rank physical attractiveness as more important than emotional maturity. 
B)  Men place a higher value on domestic skills than women do. 
C)  Men tend to prefer younger women, while women prefer older men. 
D)  Women place a high value on ambitiousness, a higher value than physical attractiveness.

Question 12

In class, you are given the assignment of writing an essay in favour of raising tuition by 30 percent. You do not agree, but freely choose to write on this topic. Later if we ask you about your opinion regarding an increase in tuition, you will

Accepted Answer

A)  feel even more negative about an increase in tuition because of cognitive dissonance 
B)  feel more against an increase because of group polarization 
C)  change your in opinion in favour of an increase because of the door-in-the-face technique 
D)  change your opinion in favour of an increase in tuition because of cognitive dissonance 
E)  not change your opinion at all

Question 13

Shawn saw a woman slip on the ice and fall to the ground. He felt quite distressed and after helping her, he felt a lot better. Shawn's altruism could be explained by

Accepted Answer

A)  the negative state relief model 
B)  just world effect 
C)  in-group bias 
D)  bystander effect 
E)  diffusion of responsibility

Question 14

Groupthink occurs when the average opinion of a group of like-minded individuals becomes more extreme after discussing an issue.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

Asch demonstrated that a substantial percentage of participants conformed to obviously inaccurate line judgements made by several confederates. Follow-up interviews with the participants revealed that:

Accepted Answer

A)  only informational social influence appeared to be responsible for these results. 
B)  only normative social influence appeared to be responsible for these results. 
C)  neither informational nor normative social influence were responsible for these results. 
D)  both informational and normative social influence were responsible for these results.

Question 16

The peripheral route to persuasion is said to occur when people are persuaded because:

Accepted Answer

A)  they have thought carefully about a message. 
B)  a message evokes a moderate amount of fear. 
C)  they are influenced by non-message factors such as communicator attractiveness. 
D)  a message is moderately discrepant.

Question 17

A group of public officials is meeting to decide what to do about a budget shortage. The principle of group polarization would predict that this group of people would be most likely to reach a highly conservative decision if:

Accepted Answer

A)  the group members are generally conservative to begin with. 
B)  the group has a relatively small number of people in it (4 to 5). 
C)  the group members believe that their individual performance within the group is being monitored. 
D)  the group has an authority figure who is perceived to be legitimate.

Question 18

Sets of norms that specify how people in a particular social position are expected to behave are _.

Accepted Answer

A)  social rules 
B)  social roles 
C)  social norms 
D)  social standards

Question 19

Charlene is often late for work in the morning. The primary reason for her tardy behaviour is that she has to rely on a nanny to arrive on time to care for her three children before she can leave her house. In Charlene's case, her late behaviour can best be explained by:

Accepted Answer

A)  social loafing 
B)  situational attributions 
C)  personal attributions 
D)  cognitive dissonance

Question 20

You are trying to get an unobtrusive measure of perceived threat from an out-group member. Fortunately, you are able to monitor brain activity in real time. Which of the following brain areas would you look at to detect this perceived threat?

Accepted Answer

A)  frontal cortex 
B)  pituitary gland 
C)  amygdala 
D)  thalamus 
E)  hypothalamus

Exam 13: Behaviour in a Social Context