Deck 2: Fundamentals of Social Behavior

Question 1

Which of the following is an empirical finding that supports the universality of basic emotions?

A) Anger-the only identifiable universal emotion-has been reported in every culture in the world.
B) Everywhere in the world, individualist people tend to report fewer experiences of shame.
C) Basic emotions are associated with activation of higher-order, more recently evolved brain structures.
D) Basic emotions appear to be triggered by similar stimuli in diverse settings around the world.

Answer 1

Basic emotions appear to be triggered by similar stimuli in diverse settings around the world.

Question 2

While a _____ view of culture is associated with acculturation through assimilation, a _____ view is associated with acculturation through integration.

A) diffusion; transmission
B) multicultural; melting-pot
C) melting-pot; multicultural
D) transmission; diffusion

Answer 2

melting-pot; multicultural

Question 3

Simone is 18 and lives with her single mother and younger siblings. She is torn between her desire to help her mother and her siblings, on the one hand, and to go to college on the other. According to Rank's theory of motivation, Simine's desire to stay with her family reflects her _____ motivation, while her desire to go to college reflects her _____ motivation.

A) security; growth
B) growth; security
C) competence; autonomy
D) autonomy; competence

Answer 3

security; growth

Question 4

Collectivistic cultures more strongly emphasize _____, while individualistic cultures more strongly emphasize _____.

A) social identity and self-esteem; relational identity and emotion
B) relational identity and emotion; social identity and self-esteem
C) interdependence and group well-being; individual achievement and freedom
D) individual achievement and freedom; interdependence and group well-being

Question 5

Persephone wants to become an actress. In order to do this, she is auditioning for a local play. To give the audition, she is currently memorizing a short script. In this example, memorizing the script is a(n) _____ goal and becoming an actress is a(n) _____ goal.

A) growth; security
B) security; growth
C) concrete; abstract
D) abstract; concrete

Question 6

Which of the following is one of the 10 universal values identified across cultures by Schwartz and colleagues?

A) purity
B) chastity
C) respect
D) self-direction

Question 7

Some research suggests that emotions involve a two-step process. Physiological arousal and the experiential system are involved in _____, while higher-order cognition and the rational system are involved in _____.

A) primary appraisal; secondary appraisal
B) secondary appraisal; primary appraisal
C) background feelings; social emotion
D) social emotion; background feelings

Question 8

_____ processes involve the rational system of thought, while _____ processes involve the experiential system of thought.

A) Automatic; controlled
B) Controlled; automatic
C) Domain-general; domain-specific
D) Domain-specific; domain-general

Question 9

Which elements are essential for evolution through natural selection to occur?

A) individualism and diffusion
B) mutation and progress
C) variability and competition
D) mutation and instinct

Question 10

Victorio belongs to a community in which people are very aware of status differences. People are born into a particular status in life and they can never leave that status. Everyone follows strong norms to insure that status differences are respected. What is the best way of characterizing this community?

A) community sharing
B) market pricing
C) equality matching
D) authority ranking

Question 11

In the research literature based on terror management theory, how is the construct of "worldview defense" typically assessed?

A) by assessing the cognitive accessibility of worldview-related concepts
B) by measuring people's level of aggression towards other individuals who subscribe to their worldview
C) by looking at people's willingness to revise aspects of their worldview in light of new information
D) as the extent to which people favor those who support their cultural beliefs, and disfavor those who contradict them

Question 12

Humans are most distinguished from other species by the extent to which they possess:

A) domain-general adaptations.
B) domain-specific adaptations.
C) instincts.
D) social tendencies.

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT defined as part of culture?

A) values
B) emotions
C) customs
D) roles

Question 14

Studies suggest that individuals who are more residentially mobile are more likely to be:

A) emotionally oriented.
B) cognitively oriented.
C) individualistic.
D) collectivistic.

Question 15

Research inspired by moral foundations theory suggests that political conservatives are most likely to endorse which moral foundation(s)?

A) authority/respect
B) authority/respect, purity/sanctity, and group/loyalty
C) Conservatives do not endorse ANY of the moral foundations.
D) Conservatives endorse ALL of the moral foundations about equally.

Question 16

Zachary his about to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah, which in the Jewish tradition marks his entrance into manhood. This is MOST CLEARLY an example of what aspect of culture?

A) custom
B) ritual
C) symbol
D) socialization

Question 17

_____ is the process through which members of a culture explicitly instruct other members in beliefs and behaviors considered appropriate in that culture, while _____ is the process through which inventions and ideas transfer from one culture to another.

A) Cultural evolution; cultural transmission
B) Cultural transmission; cultural evolution
C) Cultural transmission; cultural diffusion
D) Cultural diffusion; cultural transmission

Question 18

What are the three environments to which culture adapts human beings?

A) the physical, social, and metaphysical
B) the physical, social, and internal
C) the social, existential, and social cognitive
D) grasslands, desert, and arctic

Question 19

Which of the following theories proposes that people invest in a cultural worldview and their sense of self-esteem to protect themselves from the anxiety of death awareness?

A) moral foundations theory
B) terror management theory
C) the cultural evolution model
D) anxiety maintenance theory

Question 20

The process of learning from parents and others what is desirable behavior in a culture is referred to as:

A) social influence.
B) socialization.
C) cultural diffusion.
D) acculturation.

Question 21

Define and differentiate between cultural diffusion and cultural transmission.

Question 22

Summarize the melting-pot and multicultural views of the acculturation process. What are the major differences between these views?

Question 23

List and define two of the four forms of symbolic immortality described by Robert Jay Lifton.

Question 24

Briefly describe the difference between an independent and an interdependent self-construal.

Question 25

Discuss how collectivistic and individualistic cultures relate to the four basic patterns of social relations that were described by A. P. Fiske.

Question 26

Define the naturalistic fallacy, and identify a reason why it is false.

Question 27

Discuss the distinction between symbolic and literal immortality according to terror management theory. Give an example of each type of immortality.

Question 28

List and briefly define three of the nine basic elements of culture.

Question 29

Describe at least two ways in which modernization processes have affected cultures around the world. Present examples from research.

Question 30

Identify the differences between automatic and controlled processes, and how they relate to the two systems of thought in humans.

Question 31

Describe the general process of evolution by means of natural selection. What elements are required for natural selection to occur?

Question 32

Provide at least two examples of the influence of the natural environment on cultural-psychological processes.

Question 33

Summarize the basic elements of cognitive appraisal theory. What does this theory say about the relationship between cognition and emotion?

Question 34

What is the mortality salience hypothesis? Describe how support for this hypothesis supports terror management theory. Give an example of how this hypothesis has been tested in research.

Question 35

Briefly discuss the idea of a hierarchy of goals, and what research suggests about how people conceptualize their goals when they encounter difficulty with a task.

Question 36

Provide a brief summary of terror management theory.

Question 37

What are the two fundamental psychological motives, as identified by psychologist Otto Rank? Please describe each.

Question 38

What are the five moral foundations, according to Haidt's theory? Which foundations are relied on by political conservatives, and which by political liberals?

Question 39

Define cultural evolution and discuss how it differs from biological evolution.

Question 40

What is the process of socialization? Why is it so important for humans?

Question 41

Which of the following qualities of humans is MOST evolutionarily unique?

A) culture
B) the ability to make vocal sounds
C) bipedalism
D) a high brain-to-body-mass ratio

Question 42

Which of the following statements is NOT accurate?

A) Variability and competitiveness are essential elements for natural selection.
B) The human species evolved as the end-goal of a series of progressive stages during which life became increasingly complex and better-adapted.
C) Human bipedalism brought about both advantages and disadvantages.
D) The process of evolution through natural selection does not necessarily have any ultimate "purpose."

Question 43

Jennifer believes she is a kind person. Since Jennifer has the human capacity for self-awareness, what is one consequence of this belief?

A) Jennifer wants to be in the proximity of other people.
B) Jennifer can imagine herself in future situations, either making decisions to be kind or unkind.
C) Jennifer can recognize whether a kind person is in her ingroup or not.
D) Jennifer has a natural inclination to protect members of her family.

Question 44

_____ are attributes that help the organism cope with a wide variety of challenges encountered in different environments, while _____ are attributes that help the organism cope directly with particular challenges.

A) Domain-specific adaptations; domain-general adaptations
B) Domain-general adaptations; domain-specific adaptations
C) Genotypes; phenotypes
D) Phenotypes; genotypes

Question 45

Biologists discover that the male members of a certain species of lizard tend to have orange tails. These biologists are also aware that (a) there is vegetation in the area that can make animals' skin orange; (b) female members of the lizard species are attracted to the color orange; and (c) predators in the area have difficulty seeing the color orange. Based on what we know about evolutionary processes, which statement best describes the likely cause of the lizards' orange tails?

A) Female lizards are attracted to orange males.
B) Predators have difficulty seeing the color orange.
C) No factor explains the inheritance of the color orange; it is simply a random mutation.
D) The color orange likely results from a combination of factors, including the vegetation, the female preference, and the predator characteristics.

Question 46

The capacity for symbolic thought is most directly involved in which aspect of human experience?

A) imitation
B) the senses
C) movement
D) language

Question 47

What is the name for the process through which initially difficult, complex, or multistep tasks eventually become habitual and capable of being nonconsciously performed?

A) socialization
B) primary appraisal
C) automatization
D) adaptation

Question 48

The human capacity for learning is best considered:

A) a domain-specific adaptation.
B) a genetically-determined personality trait.
C) a domain-general adaptation.
D) a mutation.

Question 49

The idea that what is evolved or observed in the biological world is inherently good is referred to as:

A) the naturalistic fallacy
B) survival of the fittest
C) the theory of adaptation
D) Lamarckian evolution

Question 50

Anju is walking down a dark street at night and encounters a stranger. Based on research on the evolution of human sociality, what will she immediately try to find out about the stranger?

A) whether the stranger is sexually attractive, and whether the stranger is higher or lower in status
B) whether the stranger is sexually attractive, and the whether the stranger is hiding something from her
C) whether the stranger is a member of her own group, and whether the stranger is higher or lower in status
D) whether the stranger is a member of her own group, and whether the stranger is hiding something from her

Question 51

What characteristic of humans makes the socialization process particularly important in our species?

A) Humans are the only known social animal.
B) Humans are relatively immature when they are born.
C) Humans can only learn by directly imitating the behavior of others.
D) Humans are naturally independent, but gradually learn to be social as they grow older.

Question 52

What are two of the primary sources of the variability that is necessary for natural selection to occur?

A) competition and fission
B) competition and heritability
C) heritability and sexual recombination
D) mutation and sexual recombination

Question 53

What does socialization mean?

A) the process of learning from parents and others what is desirable behavior in a culture
B) the experience of being accepted into an exclusive group
C) the evolution of social instincts across different species
D) the developmental process through which the brain acquires the ability to recognize social cues in the environment

Question 54

Which of the following statements is the BEST summation of evolution?

A) the concept that all organisms fit together in a harmonious ecosystem
B) the idea that children develop in a way that parallels the development of the human species
C) the idea that species change over time and are descended from common ancestors
D) the idea that change in a species can occur within a generation

Question 55

What are the two primary components of the process of natural selection?

A) variability and competition
B) competition and survival of the fittest
C) variability and genetic recombination
D) sexuality and mortality

Question 56

The _____ system of thought is generally associated with automatic processes, while the _____ system of thought generally supports controlled processes.

A) abstract action; concrete action
B) concrete action; abstract action
C) rational; experiential
D) experiential; rational

Question 57

Thoughts or actions that occur without conscious attention are called _____, while those that occur through conscious, deliberative effort are called _____.

A) controlled; automatic
B) automatic; controlled
C) domain-specific; domain-general
D) domain-general; domain-specific

Question 58

What kind of experiences activate an area of the brain that is also activated during physical pain?

A) coming into contact with other cultures
B) social rejection
C) failing to successfully complete a task
D) cultural initiation rites

Question 59

What is an adaptation?

A) a particular way in which an environment is changed as a result of organismal influence
B) an attribute that increases an organism's likelihood of survival and reproduction
C) a behavioral tendency that an organism acquires after years of living in the same environment
D) an attribute that decreases an individual's fitness index

Question 60

Which of the following is NOT a consequence of the human capacity for symbolic consciousness?

A) People can be afraid of things that don't even exist.
B) People can imagine who they want to be in future times of their lives.
C) Unlike for other organisms, all human behavior occurs as a result of conscious control.
D) People are able to communicate abstract ideas with one another.

Question 61

Which of the following needs is NOT called a basic human need by self-determination theory?

A) autonomy
B) competence
C) symbolic immortality
D) relatedness

Question 62

Francine walks into her first social psychology exam with the goal of doing well in her social psychology course. As she begins to fill in the multiple-choice options on the exam, she realizes that her pencil tip keeps breaking and she is not able to successfully fill out the Scantron. Based on research, how is Francine thinking about her actions in the middle of the exam?

A) She is trying to do well in the social psychology course.
B) She is trying to do well on the first social psychology exam.
C) She is trying to bubble in answers on an answer sheet.
D) She is trying to finish the test on time.

Question 63

If you are performing an action now instead of next year, how do you tend to think about that action?

A) as satisfying your need for competence
B) as satisfying your need for relatedness
C) in relatively low-level, concrete terms
D) in relatively high-level, abstract terms

Question 64

A general "sense of life" which sets the stage for more specific affective reactions is referred to as a:

A) primary appraisal.
B) background emotion.
C) primary emotion.
D) secondary emotion.

Question 65

Which of the following aspects of human behavior is the most evolutionarily unique?

A) goals
B) motivation
C) hedonism
D) experiential thinking

Question 66

Which of the following emotions is NOT a social emotion?

A) surprise
B) sympathy
C) guilt
D) pride

Question 67

Taufik was raised in a traditional Islamic family in Indonesia. However, ever since he met a North American missionary in his youth, he has dreamed of traveling to the United States and becoming a Christian. Eventually, an opportunity arises for Taufik to leave; however, he decides to remain with his family and to stick to his religious background. According to Rank's theory of fundamental psychological motivations, Taufik has prioritized his motive for:

A) satisfaction.
B) growth.
C) security.
D) competence.

Question 68

Sarah has always had a desire to feel good about herself and her accomplishments. At this point in her life, Sarah is studying to pass the bar exam in her state. If she passes the exam, Sarah will feel very proud of herself. In this example, one could say that Sarah has a _____ to feel good about herself, and a _____ to pass the bar.

A) goal; need
B) need; goal
C) motive; drive
D) drive; motive

Question 69

A researcher is interested in determining whether there is a social function to sadness. Which of the following study designs might BEST determine if this is the case?

A) asking participants to open an e-mail containing sad news either alone or in the presence of others and recording their facial expressions
B) asking participants to complete measures of extraversion and emotionality
C) asking participants to open an e-mail containing either sad news or happy news and then measuring their level of sadness
D) asking participants to go to a party and then measuring how sad they are

Question 70

In Rank's conception of the two fundamental psychological motives, _____ can be thought of as a form of approach motivation, and _____ can be thought of as a form of avoidance motivation.

A) sexuality; hedonism
B) hedonism; sexuality
C) growth; security
D) security; growth

Question 71

As we move down the hierarchy of goals, goals become increasingly _____; as we move up the hierarchy of goals, they become increasingly _____.

A) concrete; abstract
B) abstract; concrete
C) relational; personal
D) personal; relational

Question 72

The process of expending energy to achieve or avoid a particular outcome is generally referred to as:

A) motivation.
B) symbolism.
C) hedonism.
D) adaptation.

Question 73

The idea that specific emotional experiences are shaped by a two-step process-initial general arousal and general perception of harm versus benefit followed by the influence of higher-order cognitive processes-is called:

A) action identification theory.
B) the secondary appraisal process.
C) cognitive appraisal theory.
D) two-system cognition theory.

Question 74

Research suggests that positive emotions are associated with _____ motivation, while negative emotions are associated with _____ motivation.

A) security; growth
B) avoidance; approach
C) approach; avoidance
D) controlled; automatic

Question 75

Jamal is trying to learn how to juggle. He is doing this because tomorrow a casting company is holding an audition for a commercial in which the lead actor needs to juggle to play the part. Jamal hopes to appear in the commercial so that he will be noticed by a film director and get a chance to fulfill his dream of acting. In this example, what is Jamal's attempt to learn to juggle?

A) an abstract goal
B) a concrete goal
C) an automatic process
D) a basic need

Question 76

What was the term Rank used to describe how people develop unique personalities as a function of their growth motivation?

A) individuation
B) self-determination
C) socialization
D) hedonism

Question 77

Which of the following is NOT a piece of evidence supporting the universality of basic emotions?

A) Basic emotions appear to be triggered by similar stimuli in diverse settings around the world.
B) People in more collectivist cultures tend to experience higher levels of guilt.
C) People from isolated cultures can recognize expressions associated with basic emotions from people of a different culture.
D) Basic emotions are associated with activation of brain regions that emerged early in human evolution.

Question 78

Which of the following consequences does NOT typically follow from experiencing a social emotion?

A) People pay closer attention to inappropriate behavior.
B) People try to maintain appropriate behavior.
C) People avoid particular objects in their environment.
D) People try to repair disrupted relationships.

Question 79

Damasio's theory distinguishes between which kinds of emotions?

A) feelings, moods, and affects
B) background, primary, and secondary emotions
C) innate, secondary, and tertiary emotions
D) cognitive emotions and motivational emotions

Question 80

Action identification theory suggests that as a person experiences difficulty completing a task, that person will tend to reconceptualize their activity in more _____ terms.

A) automatic
B) future-oriented
C) abstract
D) concrete