Question 1

Social psychology is defined as the scientific study of the way people's ________ are influenced by the ________ presence of other people.

Accepted Answer

A)  thoughts and feelings; real or imagined 
B)  thoughts, feelings, and behaviours; real or imagined 
C)  behaviours; real 
D)  behaviours; imagined 
E)  thoughts and behaviours; imagined

Question 2

Social cognition is the study of how people

Accepted Answer

A)  interpret the actions of others. 
B)  evaluate the groups to which they belong. 
C)  think about themselves and the social world. 
D)  react to rewards and punishers. 
E)  decide how to act in social settings.

Question 3

How would a social psychology researcher explain the results of Rosenthal and Jacobson's (1968)study in which erroneous teacher expectations changed the behaviours of their students?

Accepted Answer

A)  The students in this study were atypical. 
B)  Intelligence tests are poor predictors of academic performance. 
C)  Teachers, like many of us, are irrational. 
D)  Teachers, like many of us, are motivated to see themselves in a positive light. 
E)  Our social expectations influence our own and others' behaviours.

Question 4

Suppose that in a restaurant,a waiter grows impatient with a customer,rolls his eyes,taps his pencil impatiently on his order book,and finally snaps,"I haven't got all day,you know." In what ways would a personality psychologist and a social psychologist attempt to explain such behaviour?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Suppose that in a restaurant,a waiter grows...

Question 5

Professor Gomez studies the relationship between introversion and school achievement.Professor Gomez is most likely to be

Accepted Answer

A)  a sociologist. 
B)  an anthropologist. 
C)  a philosopher. 
D)  a social psychologist. 
E)  a personality psychologist.

Question 6

Recall that Liberman,Samuels,and Ross (2004)randomly assigned participants previously identified as either competitive or cooperative to play the same game under one of two names: the "Wall Street Game," or the "Community Game." Also recall that fully twice as many players in the Wall Street Game behaved competitively compared to people who played the Community Game.What do these findings suggest?

Accepted Answer

A)  True personality differences do not exist. 
B)  Even minor aspects of a social situation can override personality differences. 
C)  All the competitive people ended up in the Wall Street Game group by chance. 
D)  It is not important to study individual differences in personality. 
E)  Social factors are less important than fundamental personality differences.

Question 7

Social psychologists are most like ________ when they test their hunches about social behaviour.

Accepted Answer

A)  physicists 
B)  journalists 
C)  pollsters 
D)  the general public 
E)  philosophers

Question 8

The social science that focuses on the effect of broad social factors like social class is

Accepted Answer

A)  social psychology. 
B)  sociology. 
C)  anthropology. 
D)  philosophy. 
E)  economics.

Question 9

Compare the self-esteem approach and the social cognition approach in terms of the motivations assumed to underlie human behaviour.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Compare the self-esteem approach and the social...

Question 10

Social psychologists differ from sociologists in that social psychologists

Accepted Answer

A)  focuses on studying individuals and the psychological processes going on in their hearts and minds. 
B)  always use experiments. 
C)  advocate the use of common sense. 
D)  are reliant on the insights of philosophers. 
E)  are interested in how people are influenced by their social environments.

Question 11

Consider the following question about human nature: "Are authoritarian personalities more prejudiced than other people?" This question is most likely to be asked by

Accepted Answer

A)  a philosopher. 
B)  a social psychologist. 
C)  an anthropologist. 
D)  a personality psychologist. 
E)  a sociologist.

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of social interpretation OR construal?

Accepted Answer

A)  You didn't do well on the test because you stayed up all night cramming. 
B)  You feel guilty because you persuaded your professor to raise your grade on an exam. 
C)  You almost fell asleep at the wheel, so you pull off the road to take a short nap. 
D)  You decide to postpone work because you like to sleep in. 
E)  When you are hungry, you have trouble concentrating.

Question 13

After reading Chapter 1,if you were to advise producers of a safe-sex television campaign,what would be the most important thing you would tell them?

Accepted Answer

A)  Remember that sometimes people would rather feel good about themselves than be accurate. 
B)  Beware of the fundamental attribution error. 
C)  Be sure to include statistics on the number of new cases of AIDS in Canada. 
D)  Remember to provide complete information and get your facts right. 
E)  AIDS is more likely to be transmitted via intravenous drug use than via sex.

Question 14

Your text describes an experiment in which students could choose to play competitively or cooperatively in a game either called the "Wall Street Game" or the "Community Game." Which of the following is a valid conclusion to reach based on the results of that experiment?

Accepted Answer

A)  It takes major changes in the social environment to overcome the powerful influence of personality traits such as competitiveness. 
B)  Personality characteristics change from situation to situation. 
C)  Friends and acquaintances were better able to predict the behaviour of these students than were the psychologists. 
D)  Personality differences are not important when it comes to predicting behaviour. 
E)  Even seemingly trivial aspects of the social situation can greatly influence behaviour.

Question 15

In their approach to understanding social behaviour,social psychologists are most similar to

Accepted Answer

A)  personality psychologists. 
B)  sociologists. 
C)  Gestalt psychologists. 
D)  philosophers. 
E)  psychoanalysts.

Question 16

What is the general topic of most interest to social psychologists?

Accepted Answer

A)  interpersonal relationships 
B)  social influence 
C)  anti-social behaviours 
D)  personality 
E)  attitudes and beliefs

Question 17

Whereas social psychologists focus on ________,personality psychologists focus on ________.

Accepted Answer

A)  groups; individuals 
B)  how people are alike; how people are unique 
C)  societal forces; the individual 
D)  the individual; mental disorders 
E)  how people are unique; how people are alike

Question 18

Social psychologists' emphasis on construals of social situations has its roots in ________ psychology.

Accepted Answer

A)  Gestalt 
B)  personality 
C)  developmental 
D)  behavioural 
E)  cognitive

Question 19

Research by Lee Ross suggests that even when people recognize that others perceive information differently,they persist in thinking that others are biased while they themselves are objective.This illustrates the idea of

Accepted Answer

A)  social psychology. 
B)  naïve realism. 
C)  individual differences. 
D)  implicit values. 
E)  conflicting construals.

Question 20

Given the choice between distorting the world in order to enhance their self-esteem,or viewing the world accurately,people often

Accepted Answer

A)  put a slightly different spin on things to feel good about themselves. 
B)  refuse to make a choice and behave erratically. 
C)  choose accuracy and thereby suffer from low self-esteem. 
D)  choose accuracy and maintain self-esteem. 
E)  completely distort reality.

Exam 1: Introduction to Social Psychology

Social psychology is defined as the scientific study of the way people's are influenced by the presence of other people.