Social Cognition Practice Questions
Course Introduction
Social Cognition explores how people perceive, interpret, and respond to the social world. This course delves into the mental processes underlying understanding of others thoughts, feelings, intentions, and behaviors. Key topics include attribution theory, social perception, stereotypes, prejudice, and the influence of culture and context on social judgments. Through examination of current research and classic studies, students learn how cognitive processes shape interactions, contribute to social biases, and affect relationships. The course emphasizes both the theoretical frameworks and practical applications of social cognition in everyday life and diverse social settings.
Recommended Textbook
Social Psychology 4th Edition by Tom Gilovich
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18 Chapters
1080 Verified Questions
1080 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: An Invitation to Social Psychology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe automatic and controlled processing and give one example of each.
Answer: Automatic processing is quick and nonconscious and is often based on emotional factors. Several examples of automatic processing are acceptable, including a fear reaction to an agitated person carrying a backpack at the airport. Controlled processing is systematic and conscious and is often based on careful thought. Several examples of controlled processing are acceptable, including considering that the agitated person carrying a backpack at the airport is probably just late for his or her flight.
Q2) In the United States, a large luxury sedan is marketed by the slogan "Feel good about yourself. Drive a Lexmark." According to broad generalizations surrounding the individualist-collectivist distinction, why might this slogan be LESS successful in Japan?
A) because people in Japan already have extremely high levels of self-esteem
B) because people in Japan tend not to base their self-worth on personal status
C) because people in Japan are less materialistic than Americans
D) because people in Japan prefer smaller, more intimate cars
Answer: B
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3
Chapter 2: The Methods of Social Psychology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the necessary components of a true experiment.
Answer: Several answers are acceptable, including the following: A True experiment involves randomly assigning participants to experimental and control conditions. The only difference between these conditions must be the level of the independent variable.
Q2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of experimental research compared with other types of research methods (observational, archival, survey, and correlational)?
Answer: Several advantages and disadvantages are acceptable, including the following: As compared to all other research methods, experiments alone allow researchers to determine causal relationships between variables. However, researchers must rely on these other methods when it is impossible or unethical to randomly assign participants to conditions. Moreover, in order to have a carefully controlled experiment, external validity may suffer-meaning that the results of the experiment may not generalize to real-life settings.
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4
Chapter 3: The Social Self
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Sample Questions
Q1) When our college football team wins, we are more likely to wear our school's colors the following Monday and to use the pronoun we when describing the game-winning touchdown or goal. According to Abraham Tesser's self-evaluation maintenance model, these behaviors illustrate how the process of ________ can be used to boost our self-esteem.
A) reflection
B) social comparison
C) positive reference
D) public self-consciousness
Answer: A
Q2) The quote "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" reflects which type of self-construal?
A) independent
B) interdependent
C) communal
D) distinctiveness
Answer: A
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Social Cognition: Thinking About People and Situations
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Sample Questions
Q1) Imagine you are part of a marketing team designing an ad campaign for an expensive new sneaker. Define spin framing and then design an ad for the sneaker using this approach.
Q2) People sometimes have to assess whether someone is a member of a particular group. In assessing whether someone is gay or a Republican, for example, we often rely on the ________ heuristic, which entails figuring out the degree to which ________.
A) availability; someone resembles a category prototype
B) availability; someone can be categorized quickly
C) representativeness; someone resembles a category prototype
D) representativeness; someone can be categorized quickly
Q3) Lauren is an attractive woman. She has large round eyes, a large forehead, high eyebrows, and a rounded small chin. When other people first meet Lauren, what are they likely to think about her?
A) That she is naïve.
B) That she is competent.
C) That she is dominant.
D) That she is artistic.
Q4) Explain how schemas can influence: (a) attention; (b) inferences about other people; and (c) behavior.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Social Attribution: Explaining Behavior
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Sample Questions
Q1) Hannah and Damian disagree on the cause of Damian's recent automobile accident. Describe how the actor-observer difference might explain the disagreement between the two.
Q2) Bo has repeatedly tried to find a job. After each unsuccessful attempt, he concludes that there is just something about him that will always get in the way of success in his life. Bo is displaying a ________ explanatory style.
A) self-defensive
B) maladaptive
C) pessimistic
D) self-protecting
Q3) People tend to make ________ attributions when levels of consensus and distinctiveness are low and consistency information is high.
A) specific
B) unstable
C) external
D) internal
Q4) What are the advantages of having an optimistic explanatory style?
Q5) Explain the fundamental attribution error. Provide three explanations for why it occurs.
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Chapter 6: Emotion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Gilbert and colleagues (1998) asked people in a relationship ("Luckies") to predict how they would feel if they broke up. They compared these estimates with the happiness levels of people who had recently ended a relationship ("Leftovers"). What did they find?
A) Luckies estimated they would be happier compared to Leftovers.
B) Luckies estimated they would be less happy compared to Leftovers.
C) There was no difference between the estimated happiness of Luckies and Leftovers.
D) The unhappier the Luckies thought they would be, the less likely they were actually to break up with their relationship partners.
Q2) Describe two effects of emotion on perception that have been documented through research.
Q3) Darwin's principle of serviceable habits suggests that facial expressions of emotion
A) arose randomly as a result of genetic mutations.
B) reliably solve challenges in contemporary society.
C) derived from behaviors that proved useful and adaptive to our ancestors.
D) are present only in humans because only humans experience emotions.
Q4) Describe the five components of emotion and give an example of each.
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Attitudes, Behavior, and Rationalization
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Sample Questions
Q1) Lenora's parents always taught her that she ought to "put on a happy face" even when she is not. According to research on self-perception theory, what effect does this behavior have on her corresponding internal state?
A) It makes her seem like a fake.
B) It works-behaving as if she is happy can actually make Lenora feel happier.
C) It does not work and actually makes some people even unhappier.
D) None of the above are correct.
Q2) Why is it a good idea for incumbent politicians to campaign for maintaining the safety and security of their countries?
A) because it allows people to maintain balance
B) because people are motivated to maintain the status quo, particularly when their own mortalities are made salient
C) because it helps people justify their efforts
D) because it facilitates self-perception processes, particularly when their own mortalities are made salient
Q3) Challenge the widely held belief that attitudes do a good job of predicting a person's behavior.
Q4) Define attitude and describe the components of an attitude.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Persuasion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Jamie is the sort of person who likes to think, puzzle, ponder, and consider multiple perspectives. Compared with people who do not like these activities, Jamie is
A) more likely to be influenced by the tangential aspects of a persuasive communication.
B) equally likely to be influenced by peripheral aspects of a persuasive communication.
C) less likely to be influenced by peripheral aspects of a persuasive communication.
D) less likely to be influenced by the quality of the arguments used in a persuasive communication.
Q2) Recall that Ziva Kunda (1990) conducted research on selective evaluation and resistance to persuasion. She asked male and female participants to read a newspaper article about how caffeine consumption by females is associated with increased risk of fibrocystic disease. Kunda's results showed that
A) high-caffeine-using males were most critical of the article.
B) high-caffeine-using females were most critical of the article.
C) males, irrespective of caffeine use, were most critical of the article.
D) low- and high-caffeine-using females were equally critical of the article.
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Social Influence
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the textbook, conformity can be beneficial for society because it
A) encourages people to think hard about every possible action.
B) makes group distinctions more clear.
C) leads to smoother social interactions.
D) makes people more likely to challenge unfair laws.
Q2) Explain how norm-based social influence can play a role in increasing symptoms of bulimia (binge eating and purging) in sororities.
Q3) ________ is the first step in the foot-in-the-door technique.
A) Giving people a small gift
B) Giving people a large gift
C) Making a small request
D) Making a large request
Q4) Dave's roommates call him a "moocher," a "parasite," and a "leech." These names suggest that Dave
A) is an exceptionalist.
B) violates the norm of reciprocity.
C) lacks negative state relief.
D) is reactive.
Q5) Describe the phenomenon of automatic mimicry and give two reasons why it occurs.
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Q6) Define conformity, compliance, and obedience and provide an example of each.
Chapter 10: Relationships and Attraction
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Sample Questions
Q1) Jerome heard that Liza has a great sense of humor. On meeting her for the first time, Jerome encourages Liza to share jokes she has heard and to tell him about comedy films she has seen. Although Liza does not see herself as especially funny, she obliges Jerome, and he concludes that what he had heard about Liza is true. Which of the following phenomena is most closely reflected in the exchange between Jerome and Liza?
A) the mere exposure effect
B) sociometry
C) proximity
D) self-fulfilling prophecy
Q2) According to the textbook, what kinds of studies provide the strongest evidence for the evolutionary approach to human attraction? Describe one of these studies in detail and explain how it supports the evolutionary perspective.
Q3) Infants characterized as securely attached in Mary Ainsworth's strange situation paradigm tended to
A) comfortably explore a novel environment.
B) prefer to stay in close contact with their caregivers.
C) show no distress when their caregivers left the room.
D) reject attention from their caregivers.
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination
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Sample Questions
Q1) Research suggests that stereotyping can sometimes be ________ because it can ________ our social environment.
A) justified; increase our attention to the details of B) useful; decrease the time and effort needed to deal with
C) destructive; lead us to introspect too much about
D) harmful; decrease the predictability of
Q2) Research suggests that people tend to perceive ________ variability of habit and opinion among members of the ingroup than they do among members of the outgroup because people are ________.
A) more; motivated to feel dissimilar to ingroup members
B) less; more likely to notice the idiosyncrasies of outgroup members
C) more; more likely to notice the idiosyncrasies of ingroup members
D) less; motivated to feel similar to ingroup members
Q3) Which of the following scenarios illustrates "basking in reflected glory"?
A) feeling happy when you receive an A on your paper
B) congratulating a friend on a job well done
C) exaggerating how much effort you put into a group project
D) wearing your school's T-shirt whenever its football team wins
Q4) Define modern racism and give an example of one method that researchers have used to measure it.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) With his roommates, Jason participates in a group discussion on the merits of gun control. Once the discussion is over, Jason finds that he and his roommates have all adopted similarly strong pro-gun control attitudes. This is an example of A) groupthink.
B) social loafing. .
C) group polarization.
D) social facilitation.
Q2) Define group polarization and describe how modern forms of communication might increase its prevalence.
Q3) In which of the following situations can the presence of others mask the typical social facilitation effects?
A) when employees have powerful norms against working too hard, and "rate busters" are chastised
B) when African American students put out less effort in the presence of other African American students to avoid "acting white"
C) when adolescent boys want to convey a lack of interest in a childlike task when others are present
D) All of the above are correct.
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Chapter 13: Aggression
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT one of the characteristics of rape-prone cultures, as described in research by Peggy Reeves Sanday?
A) Rape is used as an act of war against enemy women.
B) Rape is portrayed in movies, television, or other cultural products.
C) Rape is part of a ritual act, such as a rite of passage to adulthood.
D) Rape is used as a threat against women to keep them subservient.
Q2) Clayton grew up in a so-called culture of honor. Research conducted by Richard Nisbett, Dov Cohen, and their colleagues suggests that, relative to someone who did not grow up in this kind of culture, Clayton is more likely to act aggressively
A) after strenuous exercise.
B) after playing a violent video game.
C) when someone calls his girlfriend ugly.
D) when he is drunk.
Q3) Peggy Reeves Sanday's research indicates that rape-prone cultures
A) are located in southern regions.
B) are sexually repressed.
C) tend to value men and women similarly.
D) tend to exhibit high levels of many types of violence.
Q4) Describe two characteristics of rape-prone cultures.
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Chapter 14: Altruism and Cooperation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Of the following individuals, who would be most likely to volunteer to take homework to a group of injured children in the hospital?
A) Anne, who shows little emotion when she learns about the children's situation
B) Dani, who shows a concerned gaze and a slowing of her heart rate when she learns about the children's situation
C) Gabby, who shows a painful wince in the face and an increased heart rate when she learns about the children's situation
D) Tina, who frowns when she learns about the children's situation
Q2) Diane is an economics major. Research suggests that, compared to her colleague Sally, a social psychology major, Diane is more likely to give
A) little or nothing to support public services but take advantage of these services.
B) little or nothing to support public services and not utilize these services.
C) generously to support public services and take advantage of these services.
D) generously to support public services but not utilize these services.
Q3) Describe how pluralistic ignorance impacts altruism and explain why seeing other people's facial expressions can reduce the effects of pluralistic ignorance.
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Application Module-Social Psychology and Health
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Sample Questions
Q1) Mikell has been thinking over and over again about a conflict she had with a coworker. As a consequence, she has allowed that stressful conflict to pervade her evenings and weekends when she is not at work. Her sister, Tori, also had a conflict with a coworker but seemed to forget about it almost immediately. When their friends are catching the common cold, which of these two will be more vulnerable to catching the cold as well?
A) Mikell, because her elevated stress levels will make her immune system less effective
B) Tori, because her elevated stress levels will make her immune system less effective
C) Tori, because she is likely to spend more time socializing with her sick friends
D) Mikell, because she is likely to spend more time socializing with her sick friends
Q2) Explain how rumination may contribute to chronic stress and then describe one way that rumination can be reduced.
Q3) Describe research that supports the role of perceived control in promoting good physical health.
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Page 17
Chapter 16: Application Module- Social Psychology and Personal Finance
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Sample Questions
Q1) Maria insists that she go see a movie for which she purchased nonrefundable tickets, even though she is exhausted and has no desire to see the movie. This best illustrates A) risk avoidance.
B) the sunk cost fallacy.
C) loss aversion.
D) the influence of fatigue on decision-making abilities.
Q2) Define sunk cost fallacy and describe one research finding that demonstrates this phenomenon.
Q3) Behavioral economists have revealed what about people's financial decision making?
A) People hardly ever consider the long-term consequence of their financial decisions. B) People do not always act rationally when making decisions about money.
C) People are always selfish and rational when it comes to their financial decisions.
D) People do not want to be tied to their money.
Q4) Challenge the long-held assumption that people make rational financial decisions. Provide two pieces of evidence in support of your position.
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Application Module- Social Psychology and Education
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Sample Questions
Q1) As the smartest kid in his class, Caleb believes that his intelligence is innate, permanent, and relatively unchangeable. His classmate, Brian, believes that with effort and many hours of studying, he can increase his intelligence. Which of the following statements about Caleb and Brian is accurate?
A) Caleb has an incremental theory of intelligence; Brian has an entity theory of intelligence.
B) Caleb has an entity theory of intelligence; Brian has an incremental theory of intelligence.
C) Caleb is more likely than Brian to work hard at school and to seek out new learning opportunities.
D) Caleb and Brian are not likely to behave differently from one another.
Q2) How do incremental and entity theories of intelligence differ? How can a person's theory of intelligence impact his or her behavior?
Q3) Drawing on research described in the textbook, evaluate the claim that teacher expectations influence student performance. What study designs provide the most rigorous test of this hypothesis? For what groups of students is the influence of teacher expectations likely to be strongest?
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Application Module- Social Psychology and the Law
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Sample Questions
Q1) Research has shown that merely hearing the questions typically asked in the death-qualification part of jury selection tends to bias potential jurors toward conviction, because
A) those jurors are already biased toward conviction before they begin the death-qualification process.
B) the death-qualification questions contain misleading information about the suspect, which changes jurors' opinions.
C) the death-qualification questions contain an implication of guilt, so the jurors are biased into thinking of the suspects as guilty.
D) the death-qualification questions weed out jurors who can be fair, leaving only biased jurors.
Q2) Tina is a defense attorney working on a grand larceny (i.e., stealing a large amount of money) case. Given what you know about jury selection concerns, who does Tina NOT want to be placed on the jury?
A) Laura, a mother of three
B) Dung, a social worker
C) Marco, a physical therapist
D) Lyn, a wealthy executive
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