Deck 13: Behaviour in a Social Context

Question 1

When a group of like-minded people gathers and discusses an issue, the group's opinion, attitude, or decision may become more extreme through the processes of normative social influence and informational social influence.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The matching effect refers to people's tendencies to want to have partners and spouses who are slightly more attractive than they are themselves.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Attitudes typically have a greater influence on behaviour when we are aware of them and when they are strongly held.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The primacy effect refers to people's tendency to attach more importance to the initial information that they learn about someone.

Question 5

If Kelly takes the advice of another person because that person is perceived as having accurate knowledge, Kelly is being impacted by normative social influence.

Question 6

The fundamental attribution error occurs when people's incorrect attributions cause others to actually behave in ways that confirm these attributions.

Question 7

The influence of the minority is more powerful if they maintain a highly consistent position over time.

Question 8

Having a victim who is located remotely (i.e., farther away) is one of the factors that decreases obedience.

Question 9

The central route to persuasion is likely to be most effective with people who have a high need for cognition.

Question 10

Wood and colleagues found that minority influence is strongest when it remains independent of majority pressure.

Question 11

Cognitive dissonance theory best explains the relationship between attitudes and behaviour when counterattitudinal behaviours do not threaten one's self-worth or when the attitudes that are initially held are weak or unclear.

Question 12

Some people may tend not to approach potential dating partners who are more attractive than they are in order to lessen the risk of rejection.

Question 13

Based on the research examining the factors that contribute to affiliation, it appears that the statement "opposites attract" is most accurate.

Question 14

Social comparison theory asserts that people are social creatures because it is important for us to evaluate our behaviours, feelings, and beliefs with those of other people.

Question 15

If a task is complex but still well learned, the mere presence of others typically serves to enhance performance.

Question 16

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

Question 17

When consensus is high, and consistency and distinctiveness are low, people tend to make situational attributions.

Question 18

Social loafing occurs when people exert less individual effort when working on a group task than when working by themselves.

Question 19

The social exchange theory of relationships asserts that the amount of self-disclosure is one of the key factors that determine how close and deep a relationship becomes.

Question 20

Self-perception theory asserts that counterattitudinal behaviour often serves to change attitudes because of the uncomfortable state of emotional tension evoked by these behaviours.

Question 21

Think back to the example in the textbook, when Kim says that Art 391 is boring. Under which of the following conditions are we most likely to make a personal attribution that Kim is being overly critical?

A)When consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus are all low.
B)When consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus are all high.
C)When consistency is high and distinctiveness and consensus are both low.
D)When consensus is high and distinctiveness and consistency are both low.

Question 22

Social identity theory asserts that prejudice arises in large part from people's need to enhance their self-esteem.

Question 23

Social comparison and diffusion of responsibility were mentioned as two of the possible ways that the bystander effect inhibits people from helping others in an emergency.

Question 24

All of the following were mentioned by Kelley as factors that determine the attributions we make EXCEPT

A)context
B)consistency
C)distinctiveness
D)consensus

Question 25

A person is more likely to retaliate and act aggressively if she perceives another person's negative behaviour as being intended and controllable.

Question 26

When referring to judgments people make about the causes of their own and other people's behaviours, psychologists use the term

A)attitudes
B)stereotypes
C)social norms
D)attributions

Question 27

The tendency to prefer people in a group to which we already belong and to attribute more positive qualities to these individuals is called in-group favouritism.

Question 28

Nora was driving the store clerk crazy! She was trying to find a swimsuit to take on vacation with her next week and not one suit she tried on flattered her figure at all. Nora, attributing the problem to the fact that manufacturers are not making swimsuits in flattering styles anymore, may be exhibiting

A)cognitive dissonance
B)personal attributions
C)negative transference
D)the fundamental attribution error

Question 29

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

A)Personal attributions
B)Situational attributions
C)Social loafing
D)Cognitive dissonance

Question 30

An elderly woman accosts Susan, a news anchorwoman, on the street one day. It seems the older woman watched the television news last night during which Susan reported on a newly developed method of birth control. The woman is opposed to all methods of birth control for religious reasons and she assumed that Susan personally believes in birth control. The woman is committing the __________________.

A)social facilitation tactic
B)fundamental attribution error
C)mistake of association
D)observational learning error

Question 31

Research indicates that in an emergency, a female bystander is more likely to help a man than a woman.

Question 32

Think back to the example in the textbook, when Kim says that Art 391 is boring. Under which of the following conditions are we most likely to make a situational attribution that Art 391 is indeed boring?

A)When consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus are all low.
B)When consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus are all high.
C)When consistency is high and distinctiveness and consensus are both low.
D)When consensus is high and distinctiveness and consistency are both low.

Question 33

When explaining our own behaviour, when we make more personal attributions for successes and more situational attributions for failures, then ____________ has occurred.

A)the fundamental attribution error
B)social facilitation
C)attributional polarization
D)the self-serving bias

Question 34

Cross-cultural studies examining the consistency of the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias have shown that

A)both tendencies are highly consistent across cultures
B)both tendencies are susceptible to cultural influences
C)the fundamental attribution error is consistent across cultures, while the self-serving bias is not
D)the self-serving bias is consistent across cultures, while the fundamental attribution error is not

Question 35

Jared is very upset at the low score he received at his piano competition. Jared typically receives low scores but this time he thought he would do better. He begins to believe that the three judges were all against him from the start. In this case, Jared would be attributing his low score to the

A)situation
B)his lack of ability
C)in-group bias
D)distinctiveness

Question 36

At times, people tend to underestimate the impact of situational factors and overestimate the impact of personal factors when explaining other people's behaviours. This is termed a ___________.

A)fundamental attribution error
B)self-serving bias
C)self-perception theory
D)self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 37

Tamara is careless at the office one day and accidentally prescribes the wrong medicine for a twelve year-old patient. When her new associate catches the mistake, he assumes she does not know the difference in medications and that she must not be practicing very good medicine, and that she may not be very bright. This tendency to underestimate the role of situational factors when explaining Tamara's behaviour is the

A)indiscriminatory process
B)cognitive dissonance theory
C)fundamental attribution error
D)internal locus of control

Question 38

The fundamental attribution error refers to how people tend to overestimate the importance of personal factors and _______________ the importance of situational factors, when explaining other people's behaviours.

A)overestimate
B)underestimate
C)overcompensate
D)ignore

Question 39

The study of impulsive murders discussed in the text found that these individuals had lower levels of activity in their frontal lobes than comparison groups did.

Question 40

Making relatively more personal attributions for success and relatively more situational attributions for failure is known as the

A)fundamental attribution error
B)self-justification effect
C)self-serving bias
D)primacy effect

Question 41

Before Dr. Smith's receptionist led a new patient into his dental office she told him that the little girl was not very bright. Armed with this information, Dr. Smith did not pay much attention when the little girl asked him questions about the examination after he had finished. He didn't really believe she would understand his explanations. Dr. Smith had ________________ of less intelligent people.

A)a self-fulfilling prophecy
B)a recency belief
C)a stereotype
D)a behavioural perspective

Question 42

When people's incorrect expectations are confirmed and they relate to other people in a way that brings about the very behaviours they expect, thereby confirming their original beliefs, then a _______________ has occurred.

A)social facilitation
B)informational social influence
C)peripheral route persuasion
D)self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 43

Under which of the following conditions do attitudes best predict behaviour?

A)When we have little awareness of our attitudes
B)When specific attitudes are used to predict specific behaviours
C)When counteracting situational forces are strong
D)When people believe that their performance is being monitored

Question 44

When Sarah takes her new boyfriend home to meet her parents she is very nervous. Trying to explain that he is anxious about the meeting, she introduces Brendon, telling her parents that he is anxious, nervous, and very quiet. Later on, after having calmed down considerably, when her brother comes home she introduces Brendon as quiet because of his nervousness and anxiety about meeting her family. Based on the primacy effect, which of the following will be true about Brendon's impression on Sarah's parents and her brother?

A)Her parents will have a more favourable impression because they met him first.
B)Her brother will have a more favourable impression due to "quiet" being more positive than "anxious."
C)Both her parents and her brother will be unimpressed with Brendon.
D)Both her parents and her brother will be impressed as the same words were used to introduce him in both cases.

Question 45

Researchers have determined that general attitudes do best when used to predict __________ behaviours.

A)specific
B)general
C)extreme
D)stereotypic

Question 46

Suppose you are told that a guest lecturer who will be coming to your class is rather aloof and cold. When the lecturer does come, you find that the lecturer behaves in a way that is consistent with the expectations you have been given. While it may be that the lecturer is in fact cold and aloof, which of the following additional conclusions is most likely?

A)Your conclusions were facilitated by the activation of a specific schema.
B)Your conclusions were facilitated by the fundamental activation error.
C)Your conclusions were facilitated by the self-serving bias.
D)Your conclusions were facilitated by primacy effect.

Question 47

When we are unaware of the role that our behaviour played in shaping another person's behaviour and we then interpret the other person's behaviour as evidence that our expectation of the other person was correct all along, a __________________ is said to have occurred.

A)self-fulfilling prophecy
B)self-reinforcement process
C)self-verification process
D)self-serving bias

Question 48

The tendency to be more alert to information that is received first and the tendency for initial information to shape how subsequent information is perceived may both help to explain

A)the primacy effect
B)social facilitation
C)the fundamental attribution error
D)the self-serving bias

Question 49

According to this theory, attitudes are relatively good predictors of future behaviour when people have positive attitudes towards their behaviours, when subjective norms support their attitudes, and when they believe that behaviours are under their personal control. This is the ______________.

A)realistic conflict theory
B)self-perception theory
C)dissonance theory
D)theory of planned behaviour

Question 50

A positive or negative evaluative reaction towards a stimulus is a(n) ________.

A)attitude
B)social norm
C)schema
D)attribution

Question 51

The study conducted by LaPiere in 1934 using a young Chinese couple as participants demonstrated that

A)people in the U.S.were highly prejudiced against Asians at that time
B)normative social influence is largely responsible for prejudiced attitudes
C)people's attitudes did not correlate well with their actual behaviours
D)much prejudicial behaviour appears to be motivated by stereotype threat

Question 52

Which of the following statements is most accurate?

A)A schema is a specific type of stereotype.
B)A stereotype is a specific type of schema.
C)A self-serving bias is a specific type of stereotype.
D)A stereotype is a specific type of self-serving bias.

Question 53

The term, "self-fulfilling prophecy" specifically refers to instances in which

A)people act in ways that confirm their beliefs about themselves
B)people act towards others in a way that brings about expected behaviours
C)people tend to attribute their successes to personal factors
D)people tend to attribute their failures to situational factors

Question 54

Juan is in the process of forming an opinion about someone when a friend, who is taking a psychology class, tells him to avoid making snap judgements and to carefully consider the evidence. The net result of this advice is that Juan feels more accountable for his opinions. The advice of Juan's friend should most likely decrease

A)the recency effect
B)the primacy effect
C)the fundamental attribution error
D)the self-serving bias

Question 55

When forming impressions of people, when people tend to attach more importance to initial information that is learned about a person, this is termed the ____________.

A)recency effect
B)stereotype effect
C)primacy effect
D)source effect

Question 56

A new babysitter is warned by a child's parents that their son is very aggressive and loud. As a result of this initial expectation, the babysitter behaves in such a way that these very behaviours are evoked from the child, thus confirming what the sitter was initially told. This example best demonstrates the phenomenon called

A)the self-fulfilling prophecy
B)social facilitation
C)the fundamental attribution error
D)social loafing

Question 57

Studies have indicated that attitudes are good predictors of behaviours when people are aware of their attitudes and when the attitudes are ____________.

A)positive
B)not strongly held
C)strongly held
D)negative

Question 58

In a study conducted by Darley and Gross, participants watched a video of a nine-year-old girl, Hannah, answering questions and were then asked to judge her academic potential. Participants who were told she was ___________ rated her lower in ability.

A)from an upper-middle-class environment
B)abandoned as a child
C)from a disadvantaged background
D)raised by foster parents

Question 59

Elizabeth has every good intention of sticking to her New Year's diet resolution. However, Elizabeth does not believe that her weight is under her control, and she has a very negative attitude about eating less food every day. Which of the following statements best explains what will happen to Elizabeth?

A)Her behaviour (eating less) will fail to support this attitude and she will not lose weight.
B)Her behaviour (eating less) is not influenced by her attitude and she will lose weight.
C)Her attitude will fail to support this behaviour (eating less) and she will not lose weight.
D)Her attitude will support this behaviour (eating less) and she will lose weight.

Question 60

A generalized belief about a group or a category of people is defined as a ____________.

A)social norm
B)mental set
C)schema
D)stereotype

Question 61

Professor Price is concerned about the study habits of her students. She knows that many of them study while watching television. She decides to give them a study skills lecture but is unsure whether or not she should illustrate both sides of the issue or merely focus on her points. After reviewing the past research she decides that _______________ is generally a more effective way to persuade the students.

A)a two-sided message
B)a radically different message
C)a message with consequences
D)presenting only her viewpoint

Question 62

Which of the following characteristics would be the least likely to enhance the persuasiveness of a communicator?

A)Having a communicator who is physically attractive
B)Having a communicator who conveys a very strong viewpoint
C)Having a communicator who is likeable
D)Having a communicator who is perceived as being similar to you

Question 63

The theory that assumes that when people infer their attitudes and beliefs by observing their own behaviours is

A)cognitive dissonance theory
B)social identity theory
C)self-perception theory
D)the theory of planned behaviour

Question 64

Cognitive dissonance is more likely to occur when a person feels that her actions are coerced and when the counterattitudinal behaviour __________ her sense of self-worth.

A)lowers
B)contributes to
C)threatens
D)enhances

Question 65

Don went to three different dances this past week. Prior to this, he had a slightly negative attitude towards dancing, but after observing his behaviour, he starts to conclude that he must in fact enjoy it, otherwise he wouldn't have attended so many dances. This change in Don's attitude is most consistent with the predictions of

A)social identity theory
B)cognitive dissonance theory
C)the theory of planned behaviour
D)self-perception theory

Question 66

What are the two major components of communicator credibility?

A)Trustworthiness and attractiveness
B)Similarity and likeability
C)Trustworthiness and expertise
D)Attractiveness and expertise

Question 67

Suppose that someone has just opened a new restaurant near your school and you have been convinced to walk around for three hours on a very hot day carrying a big, heavy sign advertising this restaurant. You would probably rate this activity as most enjoyable if someone paid you $1 to do it according to _____________.

A)cognitive dissonance theory
B)the self-fulfilling prophecy
C)the norm of reciprocity
D)the theory of planned behaviour

Question 68

Shawna is on a diet and doing very well, losing about ten pounds in the weeks before Thanksgiving. She believes that six small meals is a healthy way to eat. When she sits down at her grandmother's Thanksgiving dinner, she cannot help herself and has second helpings of just about everything, including the pumpkin pie. She realizes that no one forced her to eat as much as she did. She therefore is likely to experience

A)Dissonance
B)Counterattitudinal thinking
C)Positive consequences
D)A self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 69

Self-perception theory asserts that

A)people's attitudes are predictive of their future behaviour when cognitive dissonance is low
B)people infer their attitudes from watching their own behaviours, just as they do when watching others
C)people are more likely to change their attitudes when they perceive that their behaviours have been coerced
D)people tend to attribute their own behaviours to external causes, while they tend to attribute the behaviour of others to internal causes

Question 70

When trying to persuade someone, which of the following strategies would be the most effective?

A)Present both your opinion and the opposition's arguments and then refute the opposition's arguments
B)Present only your opinion
C)Present both your opinion and the opposition's arguments, and then discuss the weakness of both sides
D)Present only the opposition's arguments and then refute them

Question 71

Pat smokes cigarettes and strongly believes that doing so is bad for one's health. On a health questionnaire, Pat initially answered "No" to the question, "Do you engage in any health-harming behaviours?" Pat felt uncomfortable with that answer and changed it to "Yes." Of the alternatives below, Pat's answer-changing behaviour best reflects the notion of

A)counterattitudinal behaviour
B)cognitive dissonance
C)self-perception theory
D)self-serving biases

Question 72

Dave is consistently ten to fifteen minutes late to work every morning. His wife explains to him that this is stealing from his employer. Dave has always considered himself to be an honest person, he therefore justifies the time theft by explaining to his wife that he is not paid enough for the hard work he does so he considers the time part of his salary. Dave changed his attitude in order to justify his actions thereby

A)reducing cognitive dissonance
B)fulfilling the prophecy of self
C)changing his behaviour to match his attitude
D)averting possible negative reinforcement

Question 73

According to Festinger, when two or more cognitions are inconsistent with or contradict one another, an uncomfortable state of tension called cognitive ______________ results.

A)friction
B)conflict
C)discord
D)dissonance

Question 74

Self-perception theory appears to offer a better explanation of attitude change than dissonance theory when the counterattitudinal behaviour does not threaten a person's self-worth and when our attitudes are _________ to begin with.

A)strong
B)weak or unclear
C)negative
D)positive

Question 75

Cognitive dissonance theory assumes that counterattitudinal behaviours change attitudes because they generate an uncomfortable state of tension, while another theory argues that the same changes are the product of logically inferring attitudes based on the observation of behaviour. This is _____________.

A)self-perception theory
B)the theory of planned behaviour
C)social identity theory
D)realistic conflict theory

Question 76

Malvine has always campaigned for clean air and water, often doorbelling for candidates running for political office on a clean environment platform. She is dismayed to learn that her favourite restaurant is polluting the fresh water stream that runs behind it but she continues to eat lunch there twice a week. She later cancels her membership in an environmental group, saying that the group is too radical. Which of the following psychological processes is evident here?

A)Fundamental attribution error
B)Cognitive dissonance
C)Self-fulfilling prophecy
D)Self-serving bias

Question 77

Some studies found that when people freely engage in counterattitudinal behaviour, they experience increased physiological arousal. Which of the following statements regarding this finding is most accurate?

A)This evidence is more consistent with cognitive dissonance theory.
B)This evidence is more consistent with self-perception theory.
C)This evidence is equally consistent with both cognitive dissonance theory and self-perception theory.
D)This evidence is not consistent with either cognitive dissonance theory or self-perception theory.

Question 78

As part of an experiment, a person is asked to write an essay advocating an opinion that is opposite to her own. She is given no financial incentive to do this and after completing the essay, the experimenters find that her prior attitude has shifted towards the one advocated in the essay she just wrote. The opinions of other participants in the study who received a financial incentive ($20) for writing a counterattitudinal essay did not show similar shifts. This example best demonstrates the phenomenon called

A)social loafing
B)the fundamental attribution error
C)social facilitation
D)cognitive dissonance

Question 79

If you are using fear to persuade someone, research suggests that it is best when the message evokes a moderate level of fear. If you are presented with the task of trying to persuade someone to a discrepant viewpoint, you are generally better off if you present your message with a _________ degree of discrepancy.

A)certain
B)low
C)high
D)moderate

Question 80

Participants in a study freely engage in a behaviour that is contrary to their attitudes. This behaviour causes an increase in physiological arousal, but the experimenter tells the participants that this arousal is the product of a placebo pill they have taken. Under these conditions, we would not expect the participants to change their attitudes to be more in line with their behaviour, a finding that is most consistent with ______________ theory.

A)The theory of planned behaviour
B)Social identity theory
C)Self-justification
D)Cognitive dissonance