Applied Social Psychology Study Guide
Questions
Course Introduction
Applied Social Psychology explores how social psychological principles and research are used to address real-world issues and improve individual and societal well-being. This course examines topics such as attitude change, persuasion, prejudice, group dynamics, health behavior, environmental sustainability, legal processes, and organizational functioning. Through analysis of case studies and current interventions, students learn to critically assess and design evidence-based strategies that promote positive social outcomes and address challenges such as discrimination, conflict, and public health. The course emphasizes practical application, ethical considerations, and the role of social psychologists in various professional settings.
Recommended Textbook
Social Psychology and Human Nature Comprehensive Edition 3rd Edition by Roy F. Baumeister
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19 Chapters
2695 Verified Questions
2695 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Mission and the Method
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215 Verified Questions
215 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose that you are working as a research assistant for a social psychologist. To assist her with a research study, the social psychologist asks you to stand in a laboratory waiting room with research participants, act as though you are a research participant yourself, and then pretend to have an epileptic seizure. (The social psychologist is interested in how many people will try to help you.) In other words, your task is to be a ____ in the research.
A) confederate
B) mundane realist
C) reactant
D) dependent variable
Answer: A
Q2) Social psychologists typically derive ____ based on ____.
A) hypotheses; theories
B) hypotheses; observations
C) observations; hypotheses
D) observations; theories
Answer: A
Q3) Repeating an experiment is called ____________________.
Answer: replication
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Culture and Nature
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180 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The fact that collectivist cultures tend to spring up in places with abundant pathogens but individualist cultures tend to flourish in places with few pathogens best illustrates ____.
A) culture influencing nature
B) nature influencing culture
C) genetic mutation influencing evolution
D) evolution influencing the development of mutations
Answer: B
Q2) Among animal species that are meat-eating, ____.
A) humans are the only species in which some individuals choose to be vegetarian.
B) about 5% of the population of most species choose to be vegetarian.
C) about 50% of the population of most species choose to be vegetarian.
D) the tendency to follow a mostly vegetarian (rather than meat-eating) diet appears to be largely genetic.
Answer: A
Q3) More diseases cause people to be more ____________________, especially toward people who look different, as if the body automatically suspects strange-looking people of carrying illness.
Answer: prejudiced
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Chapter 3: The Self
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180 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) There is a moderately strong relationship between IQ and self-esteem; people with higher IQs tend to have higher self-esteem.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) When Wanda thinks about her childhood, she tends to remember herself as a sickly child. She recalls that she was at home with a cold at least six or seven times a year. However, if we were able to go back in time and see for ourselves, we would probably find that ____.
A) Wanda was not actually sick that often.
B) Wanda was probably sick even more often.
C) Wanda was not actually sick that often, but when she WAS sick, she was far more ill (had worse symptoms) than she later recalled.
D) Wanda was probably sick even more often, and was probably far more ill (had worse symptoms) than she later recalled.
Answer: A
Q3) The self-verification motive can also be called the ____________________motive.
Answer: consistency
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Choices and Actions: The Self in Control
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185 Verified Questions
185 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) When experimental manipulations have induced people to reject their free will, they tend to ____.
A) behave in a prosocial manner
B) become more cooperative and helpful
C) behave as if they are mentally ill
D) be more willing to cheat on a test or steal money
Q2) Research on the planning fallacy indicates that we tend to ____ when making predictions about ourselves and we tend to ____ when making predictions about other people.
A) be overly optimistic; be overly optimistic also
B) be overly optimistic; be realistic
C) be overly optimistic; be overly pessimistic
D) be realistic; be overly pessimistic
Q3) Social psychologists use the term _____ to self's capacity to alter its own responses.
A) self-regulation
B) self-monitoring
C) response modification
D) prosocial behavior
Q4) What factors tend to promote decision avoidance?
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Chapter 5: Social Cognition
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177 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) When people make external, unstable attributions for others' successes or failures, these attributions tend to concern questions of ____.
A) ability or talent
B) effort or hard work
C) ease or difficulty of the task
D) luck or chance
Q2) As discussed in the textbook, research participants who read a story about a character named "Donald"-a character who engages in skydiving, demolition derby driving, and other similar activities-tend to think that Donald is especially reckless when they have been ____.
A) primed with words like "dangerous" and "risky"
B) primed with words like "fun" and "adventurous"
C) asked to avoid the fundamental attribution error
D) asked to avoid the ultimate attribution error
Q3) The state of having too much information to make a decision or remain informed about a topic is known as ____________________.
Q4) Define scripts and schemas, explain how they enable us to better process information, and give an example of each.
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Emotion and Affect
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191 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The feeling of ____________________ will lead a person to lower a selling price and increase a payment price.
Q2) Explain the difference between the following terms: emotion, mood, and affect. Why do scientists NOT use them interchangeably?
Q3) According to the ____ hypothesis, people tend to evaluate things as good or bad in part by asking themselves: "How do I feel about it?"
A) affective forecasting
B) affect balance
C) affect-as-information
D) emotional intelligence (EQ)
Q4) Emotions are inner processes that help promote ____________________ relations.
Q5) In a well-known study conducted by Schachter and Singer, wherein participants were injected either with a stimulant or a placebo and were then exposed to a highly emotional stimulus, it was found that participants showed the strongest emotional reactions when ____.
A) they were injected with a stimulant (and knew it)
B) they were injected with a stimulant (but didn't know it)
C) they were injected with a placebo (and knew it)
D) they were injected with a placebo (but didn't know it)
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Attitudes, Beliefs and Consistency
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Sample Questions
Q1) Operant conditioning is also sometimes referred to as ____.
A) instrumental learning
B) effort justification
C) vicarious learning
D) learning by example
Q2) Which if the following is a FALSE statement about attitudes?
A) Attitudes help guide decision-making processes.
B) Attitudes help us adjust to new situations.
C) Attitudes require more than a "gut-level" response.
D) Attitudes are adaptive.
Q3) When advertisers need to help sell a low-quality product, they often make ads that use loud music and distracting images (as opposed to ads that explicitly and straightforwardly discuss the features of the product). This is probably a good strategy because it is likely to foster ____ processing of the ad's claims, and in turn to ____.
A) automatic; encourage emotional attachment to the product
B) automatic; prevent people from doubting the validity of the claims
C) deliberate; encourage emotional attachment to the product
D) deliberate; prevent people from doubting the validity of the claims
Q4) Explain the conditions under which the mere exposure effect holds true.
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Chapter 8: Social Influence and Persuasion
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183 Verified Questions
183 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) One-sided messages tend to be more persuasive among ____ than ____.
A) less-educated people; more-educated people
B) people who are passionate about the topic at hand; people who are not passionate about the topic at hand
C) people who have not yet made up their minds on an issue; people who have already made up their minds on an issue
D) experts; non-experts
Q2) According to the text, public health messages that are fear-based (e.g., messages about the dangers of smoking) are not always effective. They most often backfire because ____.
A) they tend to be too scary, causing people to become defensive
B) people don't believe the media anymore
C) people don't like to be put in a bad mood
D) most people are already well-educated about important public health issues
Q3) Compared to advertisers who communicate using repetition with variation, advertisers who use simple repetition are more likely to run the risk of advertising wearout.
A)True
B)False
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Prosocial Behavior: Doing Whats Best for Others
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184 Verified Questions
184 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If a workgroup operates under the ____________________ norm, then each person in the group will be rewarded in direct proportion to the amount that he or she contributed.
Q2) Based on Vohs et al.'s (2006) findings, wealthy people are ____.
A) less likely to ask for help when they need it
B) more likely to ask for help when they need it
C) as likely to ask for help when needed as anyone else
D) more likely to give help to a neighbor in need
Q3) Suppose that two cats take turns grooming one another (cleaning one another's fur). This would be an example of the cats demonstrating ____.
A) altruistic codes
B) diffusion of responsibility
C) reciprocity norms
D) rule of law
Q4) Conformity to social norms is likely to be highest when ____.
A) you are alone
B) when others are watching you
C) when you are confident
D) when you are in an unambiguous situation
Q5) ____________________ is going along with the crowd.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Aggression and Antisocial Behavior
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184 Verified Questions
184 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Research indicates that violence is most associated with ____.
A) extremely low self-esteem levels
B) slightly low self-esteem levels
C) neither high self-esteem nor low self-esteem
D) grandiose, inflated opinions of oneself
Q2) The number of people in a given area reflects ____.
A) density
B) crowding
C) bullying
D) noise pollution
Q3) Alcohol reduces the amount of ____ throughout the brain and body, which reduces the level of energy available for self-control.
A) testosterone
B) serotonin
C) glucose
D) insulin
Q4) Describe the evidence that suggests that poor self-control is the primary cause of crime.
Q5) What are the characteristics of people who frequently swear?
Q6) Instinct theories argue that aggression is ____________________.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Attraction and Exclusion
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188 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Rejection sensitivity is a personality trait that involves a(n) ____.
A) obsessive tendency to avoid offending others
B) complete disinterest in social interactions
C) expectation of being rejected by others
D) complete lack of emotional intelligence
Q2) Describe the necessary ingredients for a sense of belongingness.
Q3) Compared to other people, people who are lonely tend to ____.
A) possess fewer social skills in general
B) be less adept at figuring out others' emotional states
C) be less interested in having relationships with others
D) be less intelligent in general
Q4) Research suggests that, when it comes to unrequited love, ____.
A) men have more experience than women do in being rejected
B) women have more experience than men do in being rejected
C) men and women have about the same amount of experience being rejected
D) neither men nor women ever really think they are rejected
Q5) Explain the emotional differences between a person who is experiencing unrequited love and the person who is rejecting that individual.
Q6) Social exclusion can also be called ____________________.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Close Relationships: Passion, Intimacy, and Sexuality
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178 Verified Questions
178 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is based on the view that sex is a resource that women have and men want?
A) The social plasticity hypothesis
B) Social constructionist theories
C) Social exchange theory
D) The gender competition theory
Q2) Social exchange theory seeks to understand social behavior, including sexual behavior, ____.
A) based on the principles of evolutionary theory
B) by analyzing the costs and benefits of social interactions
C) based on the principles of classical and operant learning theories
D) by examining the impact of social interactions on a society's overall level of well-being
Q3) Some research has suggested that women eat less than usual when they are in the presence of an attractive male. They seem to do this because ____.
A) they want to make a good impression-in particular, to seem feminine
B) they want to make a good impression-in particular, to seem polite
C) they become nervous and lose their appetites
D) they become nervous and literally forget about the presence of food
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the relationship between salience and stereotype formation?
A) Salience is necessary but not sufficient for the formation of stereotypes.
B) Salience is necessary and sufficient for the formation of stereotypes.
C) Salience is sufficient for the formation of stereotypes, but not necessary (i.e., because stereotypes can be formed in the absence of salience as well).
D) Salience is neither necessary nor sufficient for the formation of stereotypes.
Q2) Research on prejudice and self-esteem suggests that ____.
A) contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence for a link between prejudice and self-esteem
B) people may hold prejudices, in part, because doing so bolsters their self-esteem
C) engaging in prejudice tends to lower people's self-esteem, and people seem, at some level, to know this
D) people expect that engaging in prejudice will make them feel better about themselves, but it actually tends to lower self-esteem
Q3) Describe the strategies available to overcome stereotypes and reduce prejudice.
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Chapter 14: Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) Based on early research by Norman Triplett with racing cyclists, we should expect that people who exercise for half an hour on rowing machines at a gym, among other people, would be more likely to ____ than people who exercise for half an hour on a rowing machine in the privacy of their home.
A) burn more calories
B) burn less calories
C) feel a sense of accomplishment
D) feel a sense of failure
Q2) Patterns of binge eating were rarely noted prior to ____.
A) 1960
B) 1975
C) 1980
D) 1990
Q3) Research has found that as assertiveness increases, ____.
A) leadership quality first increases and then decreases
B) leadership quality increases
C) leadership quality decreases
D) leadership quality first decreases and then increases
Q4) What are the pros and cons of diverse groups as opposed to homogeneous groups?
Q5) In general, how does the presence of an audience affect task performance?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Applying Social Psychology to Consumer Behavior
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Sample Questions
Q1) When consumers experience loud music, in-store crowding, or other shopping stressors, they tend to ____.
A) enact their dominant response
B) enact their non-dominant response
C) purchase more
D) purchase less
Q2) Conspicuous consumption refers to cases in which people ____.
A) buy things just so they can "show them off"
B) buy things that they cannot afford
C) buy things that they never end up using
D) buy things for other people
Q3) Tony is too cheap to buy weights to do weight-lifting. He therefore decides to use bottled water instead. Consumer psychologists would say that this is an example of ____.
A) shrinkage
B) lateral cycling
C) product misuse
D) unbranded creativity
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Chapter 16: Applying Social Psychology to Health
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Sample Questions
Q1) The tend-and-befriend response is ____.
A) a female pattern of responding to general stress
B) a style of responding to aggressive threats that is often taught in anger-management therapies
C) a style of responding to aggressive threats that is characteristic of some (non-human) animals when confronted by dominant opponents
D) a general orientation toward others that many people take on when encountering new, ambiguous situations
Q2) The health belief model discussed in the text proposes that ____.
A) we form our health beliefs on the basis of observational information and our sense of self-efficacy
B) our beliefs about the effectiveness, ease, and consequences of doing (or not doing) a certain behavior determine whether we do (or do not do) that behavior
C) our beliefs about what others are doing vis-à-vis their health (whether accurate or not) guide our health-related behavior
D) we form our health beliefs by relying too much on what "feels good" either psychologically or physically
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Chapter 17: Applying Social Psychology to the Workplace
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Sample Questions
Q1) The identification of critical elements to do a job is accomplished through ____.
A) job analysis
B) workforce planning
C) performance review
D) organizational climate
Q2) The degree to which group members like each other, feel pride in being part of the group, and are committed to their group goals is known as ____.
A) group homogeneity
B) group cohesiveness
C) organizational citizenship behavior
D) job satisfaction
Q3) Mia has pictures of half-naked men all over her cubicle, and she is constantly making lewd jokes about sex and men as sex objects. Mia is engaged in ____.
A) affective commitment
B) quid pro quo harassment
C) hostile work environment harassment
D) leadership
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Chapter 18: Applying Social Psychology to the Law
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is an example of a system variable that might lead to inaccuracies in eyewitness identifications in lineups?
A) The number of people chosen to appear in the lineup alongside the suspect
B) Whether the eyewitness is confident about his or her identification of the eyewitness during the lineup procedure
C) Whether the eyewitness and the criminal are of the same race/ethnicity
D) Whether the witness is confident about the original statement that he or she gave to the police
Q2) During the jury selection process in jury trials, attorneys often rely on ____ in an effort to figure out what demographic characteristics, personality traits, lifestyle characteristics, and behaviors correlate with jury opinions and jury verdicts.
A) countertransference
B) implicit personality theories
C) attribution theory
D) groupthink
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Chapter 19: Applying Social Psychology to the Environment
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Sample Questions
Q1) A high-context culture is ____ than a low-context culture.
A) more territorial
B) less territorial
C) less tied to nature
D) more concerned about security
Q2) A teenager riding in the backseat of a car watches someone throw a match onto a hillside. The fire will not be detected by local authorities for several hours, at which point acres and acres of land will have been scorched. The teenager, having not reported what he saw to anyone, apparently fell into the social trap known as ____.
A) the individual good-collective bad trap
B) the one-person trap
C) the missing hero trap
D) the secret buddy trap
Q3) At what age does awareness of personal space boundaries usually begin?
A) one
B) two
C) four
D) ten
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