Unit 9 Practice Questions: Social Psychology

1. If mike wants to make the best possible decision about how to vote in the upcoming
presidential elections, he should watch the presidential debates while processing on the
____.

a. central route b. peripheral route

c. algorithmic route d. shortest route

2. A politician is attempting to persuade people to vote for her in an upcoming election.

All other things being equal, with which group do you expect her to have the most
success?

a. middle-aged health-care workers

b. senior citizens
c. housewives 25-45 years old
d. young voters 18-21 years old

3. Thelma recently discovered that her favorite actress supports a radical political group
that Thelma despises. According to dissonance theory, what is MOST likely to happen?

a. she will begin to like the actress more

b. she will begin to like the actress less
c. she will begin to like the political group more
d. her attitudes will not change

4. Our tendency to overuse trait attributions and to ignore the situational influences on
behaviour is known as the ____.

a. fundamental attribution error

b. self-serving bias
c. social desirability bias
d. actor / observer bias

5. Which of the following people would be LEAST likely to exhibit the fundamental
attribution error?

a. Henri from Canada

b. Kiko from Japan
c. Lamont from the U.S.
d. Greta from Germany

6. Jasper was quick to assume that Susan was intelligent when he saw her A on her last
exam. However, when he got an A, he was not so quick to assume he was intelligent.
Which of the following biases in social cognition best explains his behaviour?

a. the fundamental attribution error

b. the self-serving bias
Unit 9 Practice Questions: Social Psychology

c. the social desirability bias

d. the actor / observer bias

7. Kelly works for a firm that has been troubled by considerable prejudice between its
male and female employees. Kelly wants to institute a program that will reduce the level
of prejudice between the sexes. Which of the following plans has the best chance of
working?

a. appoint opposite-sex managers to supervise workers

b. have a “battle of the sexes” to see which sex can outperform the other on the
job
c. form work teams to solve company problems, and make sure that each team
contains both male and female members
d. threaten to fire anyone who says or does anything prejudicial, and post this
message all around the work place so everyone knows

8. Relative to in-group members, we tend to view out-group members as being ____.

a. less like us b. more homogeneous

c. less favorable d. all of the above

9. Which of the following is the best example of cooperative contact?

a. teachers supervising students taking a math test

b. a manager meeting with employees to discuss sales figures
c. a police officer lecturing to a school class about the dangers of drugs
d. a citizens’ group meeting to find ways to reduce crime in their neighbourhood

10. Based on the psychological research, you are MOST likely to end up in a romantic
relationship with ____.

a. a neighbour who shares your values

b. a person from another state who shares your values
c. a fellow student who does not share your values
d. a coworker who has opposite values

11. Attractive people are assumed to be all of the following things, EXCEPT ____.

a. interesting b. sociable
c. nurturing d. proud

12. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

a. women are unconcerned with physical attractiveness when choosing a romantic

partner
Unit 9 Practice Questions: Social Psychology

b. women and men are equally interested in physical attractiveness when choosing
romantic partners
c. neither men nor women pay much attention to physical attractiveness when
choosing romantic partners
d. men pay more attention to physical attractiveness when choosing a romantic
partner

13. Which of the following would NOT typically increase conformity in a group?

a. high cohesiveness among the group members

b. unanimity of the majority
c. anonymity of group members
d. all of the above would increase conformity

14. Which of the following is an example of conformity?

a. donating to a charity after receiving a request for funding in the mail

b. driving 55 km / hour in a 45 km/hour zone
c. wearing fashionable clothes
d. cleaning your room because your parents ask you to clean it

15. You want your friend to lend you 50,000 won. If you want to use the door-in-the-face
compliance technique, what should you do?

a. first ask for 100,000, then ask for the 50,000 when they say no
b. first ask for 10,000, then ask for the 50,000 after they say yes
c. wash your friend’s car before you ask for the 50,000
d. tell your friend you’ll pay them back in 1 week

16. In Milgram’s original experiment, what percentage of participants went all the way to
the 450 volt shock level?

a. 35% b. 55%
c. 65% d. 75%

17. Which of the following compliance techniques best explains Milgrim’s findings in his
obedience study?

a. foot-in-the-door b. door-in-the-face
c. reciprocity d. debriefing

18. Which neurotransmitter has been implicated as possibly playing a role in aggressive
behaviour?

a. testosterone b. serotonin
c. dopamine d. estrogen
Unit 9 Practice Questions: Social Psychology

19. Road rage incidents are more likely to occur in heavy traffic. This fact can best be
explained as due to the increase in ____ that occurs among drivers in heavy traffic.

a. frustration b. fatigue
c. fear d. anxiety

20. Little Sabrina wants to play with her sister’s doll, but her sister won’t let her. She
therefore hits her sister and takes the doll away while her sister cries. This is BEST an
example of ______.

a. hostile aggression b. instrumental aggression

c. biological aggression d. learned aggression

21. You are sitting in the library when the fire alarm goes off. To your surprise, everyone
else seems to ignore the sirens, and no ones leaves the building until the teachers come in
to push everyone out. Which of the following best explains the reluctance of the people to
leave?

a. diffusion of responsibility
b. pluralistic ignorance
c. apathy
d. a lack of conformity

22. If you are ever the victim of an accident, and there are many witnesses, what should
you do to help ensure that one of them will help you?

a. scream for help

b. remain quiet so you don’t scare them
c. single out one of the witness, and request that they specifically help you
d. yell “fire”