Question 1

Neuroscience research using fMRI brain imaging has shown that making direct eye contact with an attractive person activates a brain area called the ventral striatum.

Accepted Answer

Studies have shown that making direct eye contact with attractive individuals activates the ventral striatum, which is associated with the reward and motivation system in the brain.

Question 2

The "what is beautiful is good" myth is an implicit personality theory reflecting the tendency of people to associate beauty with goodness and evil with ugliness.

Accepted Answer

The statement correctly identifies the "what is beautiful is good" myth as an implicit personality theory. It also accurately describes the tendency of people to associate beauty with goodness and ugliness with evil.

Question 3

Although many people believe otherwise, physical attractiveness is not correlated with intelligence, happiness, or self-esteem.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Although many people believe otherwise, physical attractiveness...

Question 4

According to research described in the Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," both the orbital frontal cortex and the amygdala are responsive to the reward value of attractive faces.

Accepted Answer

The research described in the Focus on Neuroscience box found that both the orbital frontal cortex and the amygdala are responsive to the reward value of attractive faces.

Question 5

The automatic, nonconscious mental processes that influence perceptions, judgments, decisions, and reasoning are called schemas.

Accepted Answer

The automatic, nonconscious mental processes that influence perceptions, judgments, decisions, and reasoning are referred to as heuristics, not schemas. Schemas are cognitive structures that help us organize and interpret information.

Question 6

In relation to person perception, relegating someone to a social category on the basis of superficial information is a maladaptive process and often leads to the wrong conclusions about the person.

Accepted Answer

The answer of In relation to person perception, relegating someone...

Question 7

The ability to make rapid judgments about strangers on the basis of very limited information is probably an evolved characteristic that conferred survival value in our evolutionary past.

Accepted Answer

This is a widely accepted theory in evolutionary psychology, as quick judgments about potential threats or opportunities would have been advantageous for survival and reproduction in ancestral environments.

Question 8

Physical appearance cues play an important role in person perception, and the implicit personality theory that most people have for attractive people is particularly influential.

Accepted Answer

Research has shown that physical appearance cues can shape first impressions and influence our perceptions of a person's personality traits. Attractive individuals are often attributed with positive traits such as being friendly, confident, and competent, while less attractive individuals may be perceived as less competent or less likable. This implicit personality theory for attractive people can be a result of societal and cultural norms that associate beauty with positive qualities.

Question 9

According to the fMRI study described in the Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," if we see an attractive person a brain area called the ventral striatum is activated, and this is the same brain area that predicts reward.

Accepted Answer

The statement is true according to the fMRI study described in the Focus on Neuroscience box.

Question 10

Psychologists use the term attribution to refer to the mental process of explaining or determining the causes of someone's behavior, including our own.

Accepted Answer

Attribution is indeed the mental process of explaining the causes of someone's behavior, as well as our own behavior. Psychologists use attribution theories to understand how people make these explanations, and how they can differ based on the situation and individual factors.

Question 11

As a general rule, we tend to perceive good-looking people as self-centered, less intelligent, and less well-adjusted than most people.

Accepted Answer

This statement is false. Research has actually shown that people often perceive attractive individuals as more successful, confident, and socially skilled, although there may be some negative perceptions related to their perceived arrogance or entitlement. However, these perceptions are not universal and can vary based on individual attitudes and cultural factors.

Question 12

According to the fMRI study described in the Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," if we see an attractive person but cannot make eye contact with the person, there is decreased activity in a brain area called the ventral striatum.

Accepted Answer

The fMRI study found that when participants saw an attractive person but could not make eye contact, there was decreased activity in the ventral striatum, which is a brain area involved in reward processing. This suggests that making eye contact with attractive people is a rewarding experience for the brain.

Question 13

When the student in front of her bumped the edge of the doorway and dropped most of her books in the classroom doorway, Vanessa immediately thought to herself, "What a klutz!" Vanessa's response illustrates the fundamental attribution error.

Accepted Answer

Vanessa's immediate assumption that the student is a "klutz" suggests that she is attributing the cause of the student's behavior to a dispositional (internal) factor rather than considering situational (external) factors that may have caused the student to drop her books. This is a classic example of the fundamental attribution error.

Question 14

From an evolutionary perspective, the process of making rapid judgments about other people on the basis of superficial information would have been maladaptive because our social categorizations would have been wrong in most cases.

Accepted Answer

Rapid judgments based on superficial information would have been adaptive from an evolutionary perspective because they allowed our ancestors to make quick decisions for survival, such as identifying friend from foe, without the need for detailed analysis in potentially dangerous situations.

Question 15

In the fMRI study discussed in the Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," researchers found that when we make direct eye contact with an attractive person activity levels in a brain area called the ventral striatum decrease.

Accepted Answer

In the fMRI study discussed in the Focus on Neuroscience box, researchers found that when we make direct eye contact with an attractive person activity levels in the ventral striatum increase, suggesting a reward response.

Question 16

According to research described in the Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," there is significantly reduced activity in both the orbital frontal cortex and the amygdala when we view attractive faces.

Accepted Answer

The research actually shows increased activity in the brain's reward centers, such as the orbital frontal cortex, when individuals view faces they consider attractive, indicating a positive response to attractiveness.

Question 17

Relying on social categories is a natural, adaptive, and efficient cognitive process that may have had survival advantages in our evolutionary past.

Accepted Answer

Social categorization allows us to quickly and efficiently process information about others and make predictions about their behavior, which may have helped our ancestors navigate social interactions and make decisions about who to trust or ally with. This can have survival advantages in situations where quick decision-making is necessary for survival or resource acquisition.

Question 18

According to research described in the Focus on Neuroscience box, "Brain Reward When Making Eye Contact with Attractive People," there is significantly increased activity in both the orbital frontal cortex and the amygdala when the attractive person's eye gaze is shifted away from the viewer (the non-eye-contact condition).

Accepted Answer

The research actually shows increased activity in the orbital frontal cortex and the amygdala when making eye contact with attractive people, not when the attractive person's gaze is shifted away. This suggests that direct eye contact with someone perceived as attractive is more rewarding and engaging to the brain.

Question 19

The fundamental attribution error refers to the strong and automatic tendency to attribute the behavior of other people to internal, personal characteristics while ignoring or underestimating the effects of external, situational factors.

Accepted Answer

The statement correctly defines the fundamental attribution error as the tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations for behavior and minimize the role of situational factors.

Question 20

When it comes to explaining our own behavior we tend to use external, situational attributions, rather than internal, personal attributions.

Accepted Answer

This phenomenon is known as the actor-observer bias, where people are more likely to attribute their own actions to external, situational factors, while attributing others' actions to internal, personal characteristics.

Quiz 11: Section 3: Social Psychology