Question 1

Within the field of social cognition, scripts can be thought of as ____.

Accepted Answer

Scripts are considered schemas about certain kinds of events, guiding expectations and behaviors in specific situations. They are not necessarily more complex versions of schemas, nor are they preliminary or finalized versions of schemas; instead, they are a specific type of schema related to sequences of events.

Question 2

Within the field of social cognition, the term "priming" refers to ____.

Accepted Answer

Priming in social cognition involves activating particular representations or associations in memory just before carrying out an action or task. This process can influence perceptions, behaviors, and responses without the individual being consciously aware of the influence.

Question 3

Polina is three years old. She is just beginning to understand concepts such as "dog," "cat," "chair," and "sofa," and how they differ from one another. In other words, she is just beginning ____.

Accepted Answer

At three years old, Polina is developing schemas, which are mental structures that help individuals understand and categorize the world around them. Learning concepts like "dog," "cat," "chair," and "sofa" involves forming schemas about what these items are and how they differ from one another.

Question 4

When you go to a restaurant, you know that there is a certain sequence of things that you need to do: (a)wait to be seated, (b)order, (c)eat, and then (d)pay. In other words, you have a ____ for what needs to be done at restaurants.

Accepted Answer

A "script" is a cognitive framework that outlines the expected sequence of events in a particular context, such as dining at a restaurant.

Question 5

When most people think of the concept "sleeping," they also tend to think about concepts like "dreaming," "being tired," and "yawning." That is, when they think about "sleeping," related concepts are ____.

Accepted Answer

When people think about "sleeping," related concepts such as "dreaming," "being tired," and "yawning" are primed. Priming is a psychological phenomenon where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus, often in a way that makes related concepts or memories more accessible.

Question 6

Which of the following is a difference between automatic and deliberate thoughts?

Accepted Answer

Automatic thoughts occur spontaneously and are not guided by intention, making them different from deliberate thoughts, which are intentional and often the result of a more conscious decision-making process.

Question 7

Whenever you smell coconut oil, you tend to think about your recent vacation in the Bahamas (where you and your friends used lots of coconut suntan oil). This also makes you think about all of the fun and crazy things you did on your trip. That is, the smell of coconut oil ____ memories of your trip.

Accepted Answer

The smell of coconut oil primes memories of your trip because it acts as a trigger or a cue that brings those memories to the forefront of your mind, a process known as priming in psychology.

Question 8

If you have a schema about graduate students, then ____.

Accepted Answer

A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. So, if you have a schema about graduate students, it means you have a general understanding or set of expectations about what graduate students are like, including their behaviors, habits, and how they might differ from other groups.

Question 9

People are faster to classify the target word "flower" when it is preceded by the word "plant" than when it is preceded by the word "elephant." This effect is due to ____.

Accepted Answer

This effect is due to priming, where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus. In this case, "plant" is semantically related to "flower," making it easier and faster for people to classify "flower" after seeing "plant."

Question 10

Compared to deliberate thinking, automatic thinking involves a greater level of ____.

Accepted Answer

Automatic thinking is characterized by its efficiency, requiring less effort, control, and intention than deliberate thinking.

Question 11

What will people most likely do when they encounter information that is at odds with an existing schema?

Accepted Answer

When people encounter information that conflicts with their existing schemas, they are more likely to engage in deliberate thought to reconcile the discrepancy. This process involves evaluating the new information and considering how it fits with or challenges their pre-existing beliefs or schemas.

Question 12

Social psychologists use the term ____ to refer to a process by which a given stimulus activates mental pathways, thereby enhancing their accessibility.

Accepted Answer

Priming is the psychological process where exposure to a stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, by activating mental pathways related to the stimuli, making certain responses more accessible.

Question 13

The Stroop test can be thought of as a demonstration of ____.

Accepted Answer

The Stroop test demonstrates the duplex mind, which involves the interaction between automatic and controlled processes in the brain. It shows how automatic processes can interfere with controlled processes, such as when the automatic reading of a word conflicts with the task of naming the color of the ink.

Question 14

Suppose you have a certain idea about what a tropical island should be like: It should be a tourist destination, have palm trees, enjoy a warm climate, and contain plenty of bars that serve cocktails with paper umbrellas. Your general understanding of what a tropical island is all about is most clearly an example of a ____.

Accepted Answer

A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. In this case, your general understanding of what a tropical island should be like is a schema because it organizes your expectations and knowledge about tropical islands.

Question 15

Which of the following is the best example of a schema?

Accepted Answer

A schema is a mental framework that organizes and interprets information. It helps us to make sense of the world around us and to predict what will happen next. The best example of a schema is D, which describes a general sense of what cats are like, how they behave, and how they are different from other animals. This schema helps us to understand and interact with cats in a meaningful way.

Question 16

In theory, it would be possible for a child to have a script of ____.

Accepted Answer

Scripts in psychology refer to schemas or cognitive structures that represent sequences of actions or events. Children can develop scripts for routine activities or events they frequently encounter, such as going to a restaurant. This involves understanding the sequence of actions involved in the activity, such as arriving, being seated, ordering food, eating, and paying the bill. Scripts for abstract concepts or specific personal or technological comparisons, like those mentioned in the other options, are not typically developed in the same way.

Question 17

Schemas and scripts are both examples of ____.

Accepted Answer

Schemas and scripts are cognitive frameworks or structures that help individuals organize and interpret information. They are examples of knowledge structures that guide understanding and expectations about various aspects of the world, including events, objects, and social interactions.

Question 18

People who have severe brain damage sometimes approach objects in the world as if they are seeing them for the first time. That is, instead of seeing a "chair," for example, these people see "a wooden object with four legs." Similarly, instead of seeing two dogs, such people might see "a small black animal with fur and a large brown object with its tongue hanging out." One might conclude that people with this kind of brain damage ____.

Accepted Answer

People with this kind of brain damage do not use schemas, which are mental structures that help individuals organize and interpret information. Schemas allow people to see objects not just as their physical attributes but as known concepts (e.g., recognizing a wooden object with four legs as a "chair"). When someone approaches objects as if seeing them for the first time, it suggests they are not applying these pre-existing mental frameworks to interpret their observations.

Question 19

A knowledge structure that contains information about a concept and its relationship to other concepts (e.g., a structure that contains information about judges and how judges relate to lawyers, criminals, the general public, and so forth)is known as a ____.

Accepted Answer

A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Schemas can be used to represent concepts and the relationships between them, such as the roles and relationships between judges, lawyers, criminals, and the general public.

Question 20

When William James spoke of "wakening of associations," he was referring to ____.

Accepted Answer

William James's concept of the "awakening of associations" refers to the process by which certain stimuli can trigger related thoughts, memories, or emotions, a phenomenon that is closely related to what is now known as priming in psychological literature.

Quiz 5: Social Cognition