Chapter 12

1. Social psychology differs from psychology in its focus on ______.a) people’s susceptibility to clever advertising c) abnormal behaviorb) the influences of the social world in which we exist d) conformity

2. You get a free sample of a new cereal in the mail. The company hopes you will try the cereal and then feel obligated to buy it. What term do psychologists use to describe this phenomenon?

a) norm of reciprocity c) augmented return b) indebtedness d) social facilitation

4. Which of the following would result in cognitive dissonance? a) Wearing glasses is dignified; a respected political leader wears glasses. b) Dresses are feminine; Britney Spears wears dresses.

c) Pink shirts are effeminate; Bruce Willis wears pink shirts. d) Orange juice is healthy; I love orange juice.

5. Your best friend has been acting rather cool toward you lately. As you try to figure out why, you are engaging in the process called ________________.

a) attribution c) ascribing valuesb) causal analysis d) nonverbal communication

9. What term do psychologists use for the phenomenon that occurs when people are less likely to aid a person in trouble if there are other people around who are also potential helpers?

a) bystander effect c) subtle aggressive effect b) sole-witness effect d) antisocial behavior effect

10. According to the research of Latané and Darley, which of the following situations would be the most likely in which someone would offer to help?

a) person on the side of the road with a flat tire during rush hour b) person asking for help in a crowded stadium parking lot c) person falling down coming out of an elevator with only one other person in it d) a student falling off a ladder outside a full classroom

11. Voluntarily yielding to social norms, even at the expense of one’s own preference, is called ______.a) obedience c) conformity

b) submission d) compliance

13. Some have suggested that the results of Milgram’s obedience study may have been due to the __________ effect.a) reciprocity c) foot-in-the-door

b) indebtedness d) returning-a-favor

14. How can a coach get his football team to perform better if he suspects they are exhibiting social loafing?a) introduce new challengesb) get the captain to apply pressurec) grade their individual performancesd) ignore the behavior

15. What do we call judgments about people, situations, objects, or thoughts?a) cognitions c) attitudesb) stereotypes d) attributions

16. What process describes the use of social influence to cause other people to change their attitudes and behavior?a) enticement c) conversionb) persuasion d) affectance

17. Which term refers to a set of characteristics believed to be shared by all members of a particular group? a) stereotype c) classification b) expectation d) categorization

18. Attributions are __________________.a) explanations that account for one’s own behaviors and/or the behaviors of others.b) innate personality traits

c) genetic predispositions to behave a certain wayd) physical qualities people have such as attractiveness

20. The hormone associated with aggression seems to be ___________.a) testosterone

b) estrogen c) MDH d) peptone

TRUE OR FALSE

3. Research has found a substantial difference in the tendency of men and women to show conformity, with women being far more likely to demonstrate conformity in all situations.

6. You receive a call at home from a telemarketer who wants you to listen to a pitch for aluminum siding. If you agree to listen, you are more likely to buy siding—a phenomenon known as the foot-in-the-door technique.

7. A common strategy for gaining compliance used by car salespeople is the door-in-the-face technique.

8. The purpose of Milgram’s study on obedience was to find out how many people would obey an authority figure when directly ordered to violate their own ethical standards.

10. Upon review of their participation in Milgram’s obedience study, 84% of the participants reported that they regretted having been involved, and that they felt that their discovery that they were, in fact, cruel people had lasting damage on their self-esteem.

11. Social loafing occurs when a member of a team slows down, letting others work harder.

13. Research suggests that we are more easily influenced by an attractive speaker than by an unattractive speaker.

15. The greater the level of fear in a message, the more effective it will be in changing attitudes.

16. One technique that a person may use to reduce cognitive dissonance is changing their conflicting behaviors to match their attitudes.

17. Following their classic study, Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) reported that those who got $1 for a boring task said it was more interesting than those who got $20.

19. Stereotypes assume that members of the same group must have distinct differences between them.

21. Alex is standing in line at Wal-Mart waiting to pay for his purchases. A man cuts in front of the line and drops his items on the counter. Alex says, “That man is incredibly rude." Alex just made a situational attribution.

23. The basis of the realistic conflict theory is that arguments that occur over genuine problems lead to more violence than arguments that occur over petty or irrelevant issues.

26. Research supports the idea that we tend to be most attracted to people who are our opposites instead of people to whom we are very similar.