Question 1

The Nazi Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda used all of the following techniques EXCEPT ______ to portray the message that the German people must protect their racial purity and increase their Lebensraum (living space) through conquest.

Accepted Answer

A)  Hitler Youth groups 
B)  government control of the media 
C)  direct mail advertising 
D)  public rallies

Question 2

The concept of social norms refers to

Accepted Answer

A)  the most common beliefs, values, or behavior in a group of people. 
B)  implicit or explicit rules a group has for acceptable beliefs, values, or behavior. 
C)  social sanctions a group provides in response to deviant behavior. 
D)  social practices designed to promote cooperation in a group.

Question 3

Cross-cultural replications of Solomon Asch's original (1951) conformity studies (in which participants gave public judgments of the lengths of lines) have revealed that

Accepted Answer

A)  because humans are a social species, normative conformity pressures are universal. 
B)  people's conformity in these situations varies depending on the culture in which they were reared. 
C)  cultures differ in the extent to which private acceptance follows from public compliance. 
D)  implicit conformity pressures vary from culture to culture, but explicit pressures do not.

Question 4

Freedman and Fraser (1966) asked homeowners to put a large, unattractive sign in their yards.They were very successful in getting people to agree if

Accepted Answer

A) they just asked the homeowners to put up the large sign. 
B) they asked 2 weeks after getting the homeowners to put a small sign in the window. 
C) they asked homeowners to pick up litter in the community first. 
D) they told homeowners to conserve energy.

Question 5

Recall that Muzafer Sherif (1936) used the autokinetic effect to measure participants' estimates of the apparent movement of a stationary spot of light.In what sense did Sherif's findings illustrate informational social influence?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Recall that Muzafer Sherif (1936) used the...

Question 6

Khadija has conformed to others' behaviors or attitudes because she believes that their interpretations of an ambiguous situation are more accurate than hers.________ has occurred.

Accepted Answer

A)  Educated conformity 
B)  Normative social influence 
C)  Unintended social influence 
D)  Informational social influence

Question 7

Recall that when Solomon Asch (1955) conducted an experiment in which six confederates gave the wrong judgment about the lengths of lines and in which a seventh confederate gave the correct judgment, participants' normative conformity dropped drastically.These findings support the importance of ________ in creating conformity.

Accepted Answer

A)  a unanimous group 
B)  normative pressures 
C)  immediacy 
D)  strength

Question 8

Steph reads an anti-drinking ad in the student newspaper that states, "Students at this school, on average, only drink three drinks per week." She typically drinks no alcoholic beverages per week, but after seeing the ad she starts consuming more because she is "below average." Steph is exhibiting the

Accepted Answer

A)  reactance principle. 
B)  boomerang effect. 
C)  idea of reverse psychology. 
D)  exceptions as to when normative social influence works.

Question 9

Which of the following comparisons represents the strength dimension as defined by social impact theory (Latané, 1981)?

Accepted Answer

A)  friends versus strangers 
B)  a group of two acquaintances versus a group of ten acquaintances 
C)  living with your family versus living 100 miles away 
D)  yielding to informational influence versus yielding to normative influence

Question 10

When people conform in attitudes or behaviors in order to be accepted and liked by others, social psychologists say that ________ has occurred.

Accepted Answer

A)  contagion 
B)  informational social influence 
C)  social approval 
D)  normative social influence

Question 11

Recall the cross-cultural conformity research conducted by J.W.Berry (1967) and others.Based on this research, who would be LEAST likely to conform to other group members' opinions?

Accepted Answer

A)  a member of an Inuit fishing society 
B)  a member of an African farming society 
C)  a member of a Norwegian community 
D)  a member of an African cattle-raising society

Question 12

In a variation on his original experiment, Milgram had the experimenter leave the room after telling participants that they could deliver whatever level of shock they chose.After the experimenter left, a confederate suggested that the participant increase the shock by one level each time the learner made a mistake.In this variation, only about 20 percent of participants went to the highest shock level.The fact that the authority figure's presence made much more of a difference than that of a peer suggests the role of

Accepted Answer

A)  informational influence. 
B)  normative influence. 
C)  private acceptance. 
D)  mindless conformity.

Question 13

In 1975, Cialdini and colleagues asked college students to spend 2 hours chaperoning a group of children on a field trip to the zoo.Only 17% agreed to this request.However, after first asking another group of college students to volunteer every week, for a minimum of two years, 50% agreed to the second request to chaperon the zoo trip.This demonstrates the power of

Accepted Answer

A) the foot-in-the-door technique. 
B) propaganda 
C) idiosyncrasy credits. 
D) the door-in-the-face technique.

Question 14

Results from Milgram's study, in which participants were led to believe that they were being asked to shock another person at lethal levels, suggest that people

Accepted Answer

A)  are generally rather sadistic. 
B)  have strong aggressive impulses, as Freud suggested. 
C)  will obey authority, even when perhaps they shouldn't. 
D)  are willing to do just about anything for a buck.

Question 15

According to the authors of your text, once participants in Milgram's studies delivered the first shock to the learner, this created internal pressure to obey.This dissonance made it more difficult later for participants to

Accepted Answer

A)  draw the line as to what exactly was too strong of a shock. 
B)  continue conforming to the norms. 
C)  continue to obey authority. 
D)  listen to the cries of pain from the learner.

Question 16

What is the moral or the take-home message of Solomon Asch's (1951, 1956, 1957) series of experiments in which participants were asked to judge the lengths of lines? People will go to great lengths

Accepted Answer

A)  to please people on whom they depend. 
B)  not to look like fools in front of others. 
C)  to assert their independence. 
D)  to convince others of their points of view.

Question 17

Many U.S.troops present at My Lai later reported that they were frightened and confused about whether people in the villages were really enemy soldiers.Others reported that they didn't know whether the rifle-fire they heard was from enemy guns or from the guns of fellow troops.Still, frightened and bewildered, many of them began setting fire to huts and shooting old men, women, and children.This tragic example illustrates that informational influence is most likely to occur when

Accepted Answer

A)  authorities model the appropriate behavior. 
B)  situations are interpreted as a crisis. 
C)  we look to experts for cues. 
D)  charismatic leaders provide a new definition of reality.

Question 18

Solomon Asch conducted a series of studies in which confederates publicly gave an obviously wrong judgment, and then a participant was asked to make a judgment about the length of several lines he or she saw.What was the result of this study? Describe how participants behaved.Additionally, state if they were subject to normative or informational social influence.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Solomon Asch conducted a series of studies...

Question 19

First-year college students may be more susceptible than seniors to informational social influence because

Accepted Answer

A)  they want to be liked by a group. 
B)  there is a charismatic leader in the group. 
C)  they have no allies in their group. 
D)  the situations they encounter are ambiguous.

Question 20

Studies of the importance of normative social influence are particularly noteworthy in that they show that people conform even

Accepted Answer

A)  to strangers they will never see again. 
B)  to friends. 
C)  to relatives. 
D)  in private as well as in public.

Exam 8: Conformity: Influencing Behavior