EPPP Practice Questions: Social Flashcards
A salesperson at a department store treats you in a rude, unfriendly manner. If you, like
many other people, are susceptible to the “fundamental attribution bias,” you will probably
conclude that:
a. the salesperson is having a bad day.
b. you remind the salesperson of his mother.
c. the salesperson is essentially a rude person.
d. you acted in some way that elicited rudeness.
c. the salesperson is essentially a rude person
The fundamental attribution bias refers to the tendency to overestimate the effects of
dispositional factors when making attributions about the actions of other people. Of the
responses given, only this one reflects a dispositional attribution for the behavior of the
salesperson.
When asked to answer a probabilistic question (e.g., “what is the probability that object
X belongs to category Y?), people often rely on the __________ heuristic, which involves
considering the similarity of X and Y.
a. framing
b. anchoring and adjustment
c. availability
d. representativeness
d. representativeness
The representativeness heuristic is the tendency to categorize a person or event based on the
similarity of the person or event to a category. For example, if you are given a brief
description of a person and asked the likelihood that he/she is engaged in each of several
occupations, you’re likely to rely on the degree to which the person’s characteristics fit the
stereotype associated with each occupation to derive your estimates rather than other factors
such as the number of people employed in each occupation.
Social exchange theory predicts that:
a. when we do not have objective standards for evaluating our opinions and behaviors,
we tend to do so by comparing our opinions and behaviors to those of others.
b. we are more likely to continue a relationship when the rewards of the relationship
exceed its costs.
c. our liking for another person is maximized when that person’s initial evaluation of us
is negative but subsequently becomes positive.
d. we prefer to interact with others who provide us with feedback that is consistent with
our self-views.
b. we are more likely to continue a relationship when the rewards of the relationship
exceed its costs.
Social exchange theory is one of several theories that attempts to explain why people stay or
leave relationships, and it focuses on the rewards and costs of a relationship. Some research
suggests that social exchange theory applies more to relationships with strangers,
acquaintances, and business associates than of relationships with family members and close
friends.
According to Bem’s self-perception theory, our:
a. attitudes and behaviors are unrelated.
b. attitudes shape our behaviors.
c. attitudes are inferred from our behaviors.
d. attitudes and behaviors are both shaped by our beliefs.
c. attitudes are inferred from our behaviors
According to Bem, people infer their own attitudes and emotions from their behaviors.
R. Martin (1978) proposed that which of the following bases of social power are most
important for the success of mental health consultation?
a. referent and informational
b. legitimate and expert
c. legitimate and informational
d. expert and referent
d. expert and referent
R. Martin proposes that expert and referent power are most important for consultation
success [Expert and referent power: A framework for understanding and maximizing
consultation effectiveness, Journal of School Psychology, 1978, 16(1), 49-55].
In a group decision-making situation, one of the seven group members holds a different
opinion than the other six members. If that member continues to “stick to” his initial
position in a consistent manner:
a. he will be ostracized or eventually expelled from the group.
b. members will attempt to “pacify” him by appearing to agree with his position.
c. the pressure for him to change his opinion will gradually increase.
d. he may eventually change the opinions of other group members.
d. he may eventually change the opinions of other group members
Work on minority influence has demonstrated that, if a minority sticks to his position,
eventually he may change the opinions of others and that this change in opinion often reflects
a real change rather than simple compliance or conformity.
A message is likely to be most persuasive when:
a. the listener is in a bad mood and the message is in the listener’s latitude of
acceptance.
b. the listener is in a neutral mood and the message is in the listener’s latitude of
noncommitment.
c. the listener is in a good mood and the message is in the listener’s latitude of
acceptance.
d. the listener is in a neutral mood and the message is in the listener’s latitude of
acceptance.
c. the listener is in a good mood and the message is in the listener’s latitude of acceptance
People are more likely to be persuaded when they are in a good mood and when the message
targets an opinion that they find tolerable and are willing to consider (i.e., is in their latitude
of acceptance).
In the context of attitude change, “inoculation” is a method for:
a. reducing the likelihood that a listener will be persuaded by a message.
b. increasing a listener’s attention to a message.
c. reducing the likelihood that a listener will forget a message.
d. increasing the attractiveness of the person delivering the message.
a. reducing the likelihood that a listener will be persuaded by a message
The purpose of inoculation is to reduce a listener’s susceptibility to a persuasive message. It
involves three steps: warning the listener of the impending persuasive message; making a
weak attack against the listener’s position; and having the listener actively defend his/her
position.
Festinger concluded that research participants paid $1 subsequently described a dull
experiment as interesting because:
a. they were forced to comply with the attitude of a confederate.
b. their judgments were affected by a “self-serving” bias.
c. they concluded that their behavior was the result of the context in which it occurred.
d. they made a dispositional attribution because the context did not provide them with
an explanation for their behavior.
d. they made a dispositional attribution because the context did not provide them with an
explanation for their behavior
In Festinger’s original study, the $1.00 subjects said they enjoyed the dull experiment after
trying to convince others to participate in the experiment. Festinger believed this was because
there was no external justification for describing the experiment as interesting, and the
subjects actually changed their attitudes to reduce their “cognitive dissonance.”
When making attributions about our own actions we ordinarily attribute actions that
have positive outcomes to dispositional factors but those that have negative outcomes to
situational factors. This tendency is referred to as the:
a. Barnum effect.
b. self-serving bias.
c. confirmation bias.
d. Rosenthal effect.
b. self-serving bias.
As its name implies, the self-serving bias is the tendency to take responsibility for our actions
when the actions have positive outcomes (i.e., to make dispositional attributions) but to
blame external events for our actions when they have negative outcomes (i.e., to make
situational attributions).
Research on gender and crowding has found that, in laboratory (experimental)
settings:
a. males are more stressed than females by crowded conditions.
b. females are more stressed than males by crowded conditions.
c. males and females do not differ consistently with regard to response to crowded
conditions.
d. males are more stressed than females by crowded conditions when the crowd
consists only of other males but not when it consists of males and females.
a. males are more stressed than females by crowded conditions
Studies conducted in laboratory settings have found that males are not only stressed more by
crowded conditions than females but are also more likely to react to crowded conditions with
increased aggressiveness. The relationship between gender and crowding is modified by the
setting, however, with men doing worse in laboratory settings and women responding more
negatively in naturalistic settings.
The approach-avoidance conflict model predicts that as you get closer to a goal:
a. the positive aspects of the goal continue to increase, while the negative aspects
decrease.
b. the negative aspects of the goal continue to increase, while the positive aspects
decrease.
c. the positive and negative aspects of the goal both increase, but the negative aspects
increase more.
d. the positive and negative aspects of the goal both increase, but the positive aspects
increase more.
c. the positive and negative aspects of the goal both increase, but the negative aspects
increase more.
In an approach-avoidance conflict, as the distance from the goal decreases, the strength of
both the “approach gradient” and “avoidant gradient” increase, but the strength of the
avoidant gradient increases more rapidly.
