SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
PSY 330 - Spring 2000
Test 1

Multiple Choice:  Circle the letter corresponding to the single most correct answer (@ 1 point).

1. What is the general topic of most interest to social psychologists?
 A. attitudes and beliefs
 B. anti-social behaviors
 C. interpersonal relationships
 D. social influence

2. Jeremy is in love with Carol and views her temper as an endearing example of her “feistiness.”  Her coworkers, however, interpret Carol’s temper as rude and insensitive.  This example illustrates:
 A. construals                         C. influence attempts
 B. behaviors                          D. relationships

3. Jamal was confused by his sister’s relationship with her boyfriend.  They just didn’t seem to have anything in common.  “Oh well,” Jamal figured, “I guess opposites really do attract.”  Jamal’s explanation is an example of:
 A. folk wisdom                         C. sociology
 B.  philosophy                           D. social psychology

4. Social psychologists differ from anthropologists and sociologists in that social psychologists:
 A. are interested in how people are influenced by their social environments.
 B. are concerned with people’s construals of their social environments.
 C. advocate the use of common sense.
 D. are reliant on the insights of philosophers.

5. Social psychologists differ from philosophers in that philosophers:
 A. engage in creative and analytical thinking.
 B. ask different questions that do social psychologists.
 C. assume the worst about human nature, and social psychologists assume the best.
 D. rely on logical arguments, and social psychologists on empirical arguments.

6. Professor Forster is a personality psychologist interested in divorce.  Which question is she most likely to investigate?
 A. Have the changing roles of women contributed to divorce?
 B. Why are divorce rates higher among the better educated?
 C. Are some types of people more likely to divorce than others?
 D. Do children reduce the odds of divorce?

7. When we commit the fundamental attribution error, we ________ the power of _______.
 A. overestimate …….. the situation
 B. overestimate …….. personality characteristics
 C. ignore …….. personality characteristics
 D. both A & C.

8. The behaviorist approach
 A. has its historical roots in Gestalt psychology.
 B. revolutionized psychology by introducing cognitive concepts.
 C. claims that all learning occurs through reinforcement and punishment.
 D. claims that although thinking and feeling cannot be directly observed, such concepts are essential for a complete understanding of human behavior.

9. The whole is more than the sum of its parts.  This statement reflects a tenet of _______ psychology.
 A. cognitive
 B. Gestalt
 C.  behavioral
 D. physiological

10.  Social psychologists have identified two motives that are of primary importance in explaining our thoughts and behaviors.  These are the need to ______ and the need to _______.
 A. enhance our power ……… be as accurate as possible
 B. be as accurate as possible ……… feel good about ourselves
 C. feel good about ourselves ……… belong
 D. be as accurate as possible ……… maintain social control

11. During the 1970s, PBS aired a show called An American Family, similar to the contemporary MTV program, The Real World.  In both programs, cameras record the activities of people living in the same house.  These are most like _______ research in social psychology.
 A. observational                         C. experimental
 B. archival                                  D. cross-sectional

12. Which one of the following is the best example of participant observation?  A researcher
 A. attends a meeting of Alcoholics’ Anonymous to observe how people respond to excuses.
 B. uses automobile insurance records to record how drivers explain their accidents.
 C. videotapes the kinds of complaints that shoppers make at a customer service desk.
 D. is rude to some people in line at a movie theater and polite to others, and observes how they react.

13. Observational research allows a researcher to
 A. make statements about causality.
 B. make predictions about one variable based on knowledge of another.
 C. describe the nature of a phenomenon.
 D. randomly assign participants to conditions of an experiment.
 E. All of the above.

14. In order to examine the prevalence of drug use in several different generations of Americans, a researcher decides to collect the lyrics from the fifty most popular songs from each decade, 1940-2000, and to code those lyrics for how often drug-related themes were present.  Which of the following methods is this researcher using?
 A. correlational                              C. archival
 B. observational                             D. cross-sectional

15. Are people who are better educated more or less prejudiced than people who have less education?  This question is best answered by
 A. archival analysis.
 B. structured interviews.
 C. systematic observation.
 D. correlational research.

16. Which of the following pairs of variables is most likely to be negatively correlated?
 A. education ……… income
 B. amount of practice ……… quality of performance
 C. calories consumed ……… weight loss
 D. phase of the moon ……… number of births

17.  Which of the following correlations shows the strongest relation between two variables?
 A. +.68
 B. +.07
 C. -.74
 D. -.19

18. Imagine that researchers have found a correlation of .72 between the frequency of disagreements that couples have and how long they stay together.  Based on this correlation, would you start arguments with your significant other in order to sustain your relationship?
 A. yes, because the correlation is positive
 B. no, because the correlation is positive
 C. no, because although the two may be correlated, causation has not been proved
 D. no, because in your group of friends, the correlation is negative

19. Why is the experiment the method of choice for many social psychologists?  Experiments
 A. are inexpensive to conduct.                         C. afford cause-and-effect statements.
 B. ensure random sampling.                             D. are the only way to test hypotheses.

20. In a study of group dynamics, participants were randomly placed in groups consisting of either three or ten people.  During the study, group members worked together trying to solve a puzzle.  After completing the task, participants reported how satisfied they were with the other members of their group.  _______ is the independent variable in this study.
 A. Group dynamics                             C. Group size
 B. The puzzle                                      D. Satisfaction

21. Which of the following threatens the internal validity of an experiment?
 A. using more than one dependent variable
 B. failing to use a representative sample
 C. not having a real-life setting.
 D. failing to assign participants randomly to conditions

22. It is important to know the probability level for a given set of experimental findings because higher p-values
 A. alert experimenters to stronger relationships.
 B. inform experimenters whether their results might have happened by chance.
 C. indicate that experimenters have used the correct manipulation of the independent variable.
 D. greater than .10 indicate that there is no need to replicate the experiment.

23.  ____________ refers to the way people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions about themselves and others.
 A. Social cognition
 B. Schemas
 C. Counterfactual thinking
 D. Decision rules

24. Mental structures that organize information in our social world are called
 A. heuristics.                                C. cognitive filters.
 B. schemas.                                 D. counterfactuals.

25. In most cases, when we encounter a fact that is inconsistent with our schemas, we
 A. revise our schemas.                         C. overlook the inconsistent fact.
 B. abandon our schemas.                     D. ponder the source of the Inconsistency.

26. Why do we use schemas?
 A. Humans are born with schemas.
 B. Schemas are taught to us in our early childhood.
 C. Without schemas, the world would seem inexplicable and confusing.
 D. Schemas enable us to interpret the world accurately.

27. Adele is from France, where rabbits are eaten regularly.  She can tell you the most tender part of the rabbit, how long to cook one, and how big a rabbit you would need to feed five people.  Marsha is from the United States, where rabbits are pets, and bring colored eggs to children in the spring.  She hasn’t  a clue about how to cook one, even if she wanted to.  This example best illustrates
 A. the cultural determinants of schemas.
 B. the universality of schemas.
 C. that rabbits are ambiguous stimuli.
 D. individual differences in the contents of schemas.

28. You hear on the radio that a prominent local businessman has been accused of adjusting his company’s financial records to embezzle money.  You later hear that the man has been acquitted of all charges; however, when he runs for mayor the following year, you can’t bring yourself to vote for him.  This is an example of the
 A. stereotype effect.
 B. schema effect.
 C. self-fulfilling prophecy.
 D. perseverance effect.

29. Warren believes that Tom is an outgoing, gregarious person.  “How many parties did you go to this weekend?”  Warren asks Tom.  “Tell me about all of the fun and crazy things that you have planned for the summer,” Warren continues.  Although Tom is usually rather quiet and reserved, he responds to Warren in an outgoing, friendly manner.  This is an example of
 A. the perseverance effect.
 B. the primacy effect.
 C. reconstructive memory.
 D. a self-fulfilling prophecy.

30. You stayed up all night cramming for this examination and didn’t do as well as you had hoped.  “If only I had started studying sooner and gotten a good night’s rest, I’d have done much better,” you think to yourself.  You have just engaged in
 A. self-justification.
 B. counterfactual thinking.
 C. wish fulfillment.
 D. unrealistic fantasy.

KEEP THIS SHEET - You may record your multiple-choice answers on it.

Write answers to these questions in your blue-book.

KEY TERMS & NAMES.  Select 5.  For each term, supply a precise definition including the context and a clear example.  For each name, supply the context and any 2 other pieces of information about their research.  (@ 3 points)
                Norman Triplett                            Script
                Kurt Lewin                                   p < .10
                External Validity                            Heuristic
                3 x 3 factorial                                Sociobiology
 

ESSAY.  Select and answer 1 (@ 5 points).

1.  Compare & contrast each pair by identifying 1 major similarity & 1 major difference:
        a) between-subjects vs reversal-replication
        b) sensory vs short-term memory
        c) person vs role schema

2.  List and briefly describe 4 major theories in psychology including a theorist's name for each.  Which 1 is most similar to Social Psychology and why?  Which 1 is most different and why?