Question 1

A social psychology graduate student who works long hours for little pay becomes increasingly convinced that she loves social psychology. This student's attitude toward her chosen field of study is most likely the result of

Accepted Answer

A)   psychological reactance.
B)   self-affirmation.
C)   insufficient justification.
D)   insufficient deterrence. C

Question 2

Research by Landau and colleagues (2004) in which participants were exposed to subliminal images of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and then asked questions about then-President George W. Bush leads to the conclusion that

Accepted Answer

A)   the fear of death leads people to choose the central route to persuasion.
B)   reminders of mortality lead people to prefer one-sided messages to two-sided messages.
C)   fear arousal can influence even attitudes as important as political opinions.
D)   the higher the level of fear arousal in a persuasive communication, the stronger the agreement with it. C

Question 3

Imagine that Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) ran a follow-up to their classic peg-turning study. In this new version, participants are either paid $10 to lie to the next participant (actually a confederate), or are given no choice and forced to lie by being told that failure to do so will result in a loss of any course credit that was to be earned for having participated in the study. The most likely results of this new experiment would be that participants who are given no choice and forced to lie (through the threat of no course credit) would _____ than participants in the $10 condition.

Accepted Answer

A)   experience less cognitive dissonance
B)   rate the experimental peg-turning task as more enjoyable
C)   demonstrate more physiological arousal after lying to the confederate
D)   be less likely to agree to lie to the confederate D

Question 4

The more products a celebrity endorses the

Accepted Answer

A)   more competent she becomes in the eyes of consumers.
B)   less trustworthy she becomes in the eyes of consumers.
C)   more likeable she becomes in the eyes of consumers.
D)   less likely an audience member is to use to peripheral route to persuasion.

Question 5

Hope read a persuasive message written by a source who she considered to be incompetent and untrustworthy. The sleeper effect would suggest that her attitude toward the issue should

Accepted Answer

A)   change over time.
B)   show greater change over time in the direction advocated by the speaker.
C)   show greater change over time in the opposite direction than that advocated by the speaker.
D)   decrease over time.

Question 6

Research by Aronson and Carlsmith (1963) shows that severe punishment

Accepted Answer

A)   is less likely than mild punishment to inspire cognitive dissonance.
B)   leads to attitude change only when a self-affirmation is possible.
C)   causes dissonance-induced physiological arousal to increase.
D)   changes behavior only when attitudes change as well.

Question 7

Measuring attitudes by assessing physiological arousal tends to identify the _____ but not the _____ of the attitude.

Accepted Answer

A)   intensity; direction
B)   direction; accuracy
C)   accuracy; intensity
D)   direction; automaticity

Question 8

An audience member is more likely to use the peripheral route to persuasion if

Accepted Answer

A)   the argument is a familiar one.
B)   the message is personally significant.
C)   the audience is small.
D)   the speaker is unattractive.

Question 9

The feeling of ambivalence can be described as an attitude that is both _____ and _____.

Accepted Answer

A)   strong; mixed in terms of positive versus negative valence
B)   weak; extremely positive
C)   inconsistent over time; strong
D)   consistent over time; weak

Question 10

Participants in an extremely boring experiment are asked to lie and say that the experiment was fun and exciting. Which of the following participants will exhibit the most favorable attitudes toward the experiment?

Accepted Answer

A)   Elaine, who consumes an entire bottle of Hennigans scotch immediately after telling the lie
B)   George, who attributes his discomfort to the bulky Gortex coat he was wearing when he lied
C)   Kramer, who is convinced that nobody believes him whether he tells the truth or lies
D)   Jerry, who thinks that his lie will lead other participants to expect the experiment will be fun

Question 11

The idea that we infer our own attitudes by coolly observing ourselves and the circumstances of our behavior is most consistent with

Accepted Answer

A)   planned behavior theory.
B)   self-perception theory.
C)   cognitive dissonance theory.
D)   elaboration-likelihood theory.

Question 12

Mara pays close attention to the quality of the speaker's arguments in making up her mind on an issue. She is demonstrating

Accepted Answer

A)   the primacy effect.
B)   insufficient justification.
C)   the central route to persuasion.
D)   the peripheral route to persuasion.

Question 13

When she first joined the Army, Stephanie was not entirely sure she would like it, but was excited about the thought of traveling around the world. By the end of the grueling basic training program, she absolutely loved Army life and was totally committed to it, despite the fact that she had been stationed in New Jersey and never got to leave the country. Stephanie's attitude toward the army is most likely the result of

Accepted Answer

A)   self-monitoring.
B)   effort justification.
C)   insufficient deterrence.
D)   psychological reactance.

Question 14

The hypothesis that there is a genetic component to some attitudes would be supported by the finding that

Accepted Answer

A)   attitudes of identical twins are more similar than those of fraternal twins.
B)   adults who shared certain physiological characteristics also had common political beliefs.
C)   when asked about attitudes for which there seems to be a genetic predisposition, research participants were quicker to respond to questions and less likely to alter their views toward social norms.
D)   All of these

Question 15

After narrowing their choices to a Toyota and a Honda, Tammy Faye and James have decided to buy a Toyota. It is likely that after making this decision, Tammy Faye and James will

Accepted Answer

A)   soon begin to question whether they should have bought the Honda instead of the Toyota.
B)   feel less dissonance about their decision if they are told by friends that they have decorated their house nicely.
C)   tell friends looking for a new car both the pros and cons of buying a Toyota.
D)   feel more dissonance than they felt before making the decision.

Question 16

After giving the matter a great deal of thought, Iris declared chemistry rather than physics as her major. Having made this decision, she went out and had a good time with her classmates, who reminded her what a great friend she was. At that point, Iris was able to look at her choice and see both its pros and cons without glamorizing it. Her behavior can best be explained by the concept of

Accepted Answer

A)   self-perception.
B)   cognitive dissonance.
C)   impression management.
D)   self-affirmation.

Question 17

Attitudes are useful because they

Accepted Answer

A)   allow us to judge whether something we encounter is good or bad.
B)   bias the way we interpret new information.
C)   make it more likely that we will change our minds later.
D)   allow us to take more time to evaluate others.

Question 18

Research on the attitudes of twins suggests

Accepted Answer

A)   that genetics are not useful in predicting the attitudes different people will hold.
B)   the attitudes of identical twins are more similar than the attitudes of fraternal twins.
C)   the attitudes of twins who are reared apart from one another are more dissimilar than the attitudes of twins raised together in the same household.
D)   that the first-born twin is likely to be more conservative than the second-born twin, even when their births are only separated by minutes.

Question 19

Because communicator trustworthiness is important, people tend to be readily impressed by speakers who

Accepted Answer

A)   take popular stands.
B)   argue against their own interests.
C)   talk slowly and deliberately.
D)   are well-dressed.

Question 20

Professor Shackleford is elated because she has just learned that her paper has been accepted for publication. When a student passes her in the hallway and tells her that he missed the latest exam in order to stay home with his depressed cat, her good mood renders her likely to

Accepted Answer

A)   be even more skeptical than usual about such an unlikely excuse.
B)   be less skeptical than usual about the excuse.
C)   overlook the student's cognitive dissonance.
D)   fall victim to the sleeper effect.

Exam 6: Attitudes