Practice Exam from Brightspace

Question 1

For your thesis project, you run a study where you observe the helping behavior of men who you assign to either play a first-person-shooter game, or to play a dating sim. Some time later you enact that a woman in the waiting room needs help and observe what the men do. In what category would this study fall?

• Observational research & Correlational studies​
• Prospective, longitudinal, and retrospective designs​
• Randomized controlled trials & Experiments

Answer 1

Randomized controlled trials & Experiments

Question 2

The study by Cheung, Sia, and Kuan (2012) on review credibility showed that people with higher expertise were more influenced by reviews that were two-sided rather than one-sided. This was an unexpected finding because the elaboration likelihood model suggests that high ability (expertise) should REDUCE reliance on peripheral cues (review sidedness). What explanation did the authors offer for their unexpected finding?

• For people with higher expertise, review sidedness was a central cue because two-sided reviews provide a more comprehensive argument.
• People with higher expertise were more involved and thus more motivated to process a two-sided message than people with lower expertise.
• People with lower expertise were less influenced by two-sided reviews because it made the review difficult to process.

Answer 2

For people with higher expertise, review sidedness was a central cue because two-sided reviews provide a more comprehensive argument.

Question 3

You look someone deep in their eyes as you ask them to perform a complex calculation. The pupil diameter does not change. According to Kahneman, what can you conclude from this observation?

• The calculation is either too easy or too complex.
• The calculation is too easy.
• The calculation is too complex.

Answer 3

The calculation is either too easy or too complex.

Question 4

According to the glucose model of ego depletion, sugary drinks help you think. According to the evidence presented in Lecture 2, does this seem correct?

• No, the scientific evidence for the effect of glucose on willpower is very limited and awaits further testing.
• Yes, but only if people believe that they need to refuel their energy after a strenuous mental activity.
• Yes, because willpower has been shown to depend on a limited resource, which is the glucose level in our blood.

Answer 4

No, the scientific evidence for the effect of glucose on willpower is very limited and awaits further testing.

Question 5

You ask a participant to tense their cheeks. You then tell a joke that she finds truly hilarious, although your friends in the hallway didn’t find it amusing. This is likely a result of which of the following processes?

• Confirmation bias.
• Embodied cognition.
• Norm violation.

Answer 5

Embodied cognition.

Question 6

Yang & Roskos-Ewoldsen (2007) base their hypotheses on the landscape model. This model takes advantage of the well-established finding that greater levels of semantic activation of a particular concept result in greater explicit memory for that concept. The model assumes that not all the information that is activated in memory is activated at the same level. What information is activated at the highest level?

• Concepts that are necessary for the scene to make sense.
• Information that is central to the scene.
• Objects that are visually salient such as objects used by the character.

Answer 6

Information that is central to the scene.

Question 7

In the study by Briñol, Petty and Tormala (2006), participants had to come up with four arguments against a new university exam policy. The policy and the arguments that participants typed in were shown either in black font on a white background, or in yellow font on a pink background. Participants also learned that thinking about a new subject feels more easy vs. more difficult for unintelligent people than for intelligent people. Which participants were most negative about the exam policy?  

NB: the arguments were all negatively framed (against the exam policy).  

• Participants who read the text in black on white, and who thought that thinking about a new subject feels easier for unintelligent people. 
• Participants who read the text in yellow on pink, and who thought that thinking about a new subject feels easier for unintelligent people. 
• Participants who read the text in yellow on pink, and who thought that thinking about a new subject feels more difficult for unintelligent people.

Answer 7

Participants who read the text in yellow on pink, and who thought that thinking about a new subject feels easier for unintelligent people. 

Question 8

According to appraisal theory, attributions of causality are central to certain emotions. How is guilt related to attribution?

• Guilt is associated with denying internal attribution (I did not do this!).
• Guilt is associated with external attribution (blaming others).
• Guilt is associated with internal attribution (I did this!).

Answer 8

Guilt is associated with internal attribution (I did this!).

Question 9

You are walking in a crowded street and are thinking about a heated argument that you had with a friend this morning, where you too were shouting at each other. Then, out of nowhere someone on the street starts shouting. According to Wegner’s theory of apparent mental causation, you…

• Are likely to feel that you caused this person to shout, because the thought of shouting occurred just before you heard the person on the street shouting.
• Are unlikely to feel that you caused this person to shout, because the time between the heated argument and the shouting is too long (violation of priority principle).
• Are unlikely to feel that you caused this person to shout, because there are many other people who may have caused this person to start shouting (violation of exclusivity principle).

Answer 9

Are unlikely to feel that you caused this person to shout, because there are many other people who may have caused this person to start shouting (violation of exclusivity principle).

Question 10

You work at the advertising department of a tech company and want to promote a new protective smartphone case. You decide to use a prank. You ask people on the street to hand you their smartphone, after which you apply the protective case, and throw the smartphone in front of a driving bus. The target is startled, but the smartphone remains all intact, showing the effectiveness of the product. Based on the findings by Chang (2021), this prankvertisement would be:

• Effective, because the prank induces fear, but is also meaningful, relaxing moral scrutiny.
• Ineffective, because the prank has strong risks and no benefits.
• Ineffective, because the surprise element triggers moral reasoning, and the prank is likely to be perceived as immoral due to the induced fear.

Answer 10

Effective, because the prank induces fear, but is also meaningful, relaxing moral scrutiny.

Question 11

Several musical artists are described as “one-hit wonders”. Their first hit song or album is incredibly popular, but their second album passes under the radar. Which of the following best describes such occurrences?

• Expected Utility Theory
• The Dilution Effect
• Regression to the Mean

Answer 11

Regression to the Mean

Question 12

John and Marek are asked by a researcher from Apple about how much they like the brand. The researcher asks John to write down fifteen reasons why Apple is such a nice brand, and at the same time he asks Marek to write down three reasons. When thinking about research about the availability heuristic, which is more likely to happen?

• Marek views Apple as a very nice brand as it is easy to come with three examples.
• John views Apple as a very nice brand as he now has many examples available.
• John views Apple as a very nice brand as he is anchored by the large number.

Answer 12

Marek views Apple as a very nice brand as it is easy to come with three examples.

Question 13

Imagine you see a person who is extraverted, personable, skilled at leading groups, excellent at public speaking, and a good negotiator. You quickly judge this person to be a CEO. Which of the following processes are you most likely to be using as a basis for your judgment?

• Simulation heuristic
• Conjunction fallacy
• Representativeness heuristic

Answer 13

Representativeness heuristic

Question 14

Which of the following is more likely to happen when people are highly motivated to think?

• Base rate fallacy
• Dilution effect
• Decoy effect

Answer 14

Dilution effect

Question 15

Unconscious thinking can be good in some consumer situations. According to Dijksterhuis et al. 2006, when are people the most satisfied with their purchases?

• When the consumer choice is complex, and the choice is made consciously.
• When the consumer choice is complex, and the choice is made unconsciously.
• When the consumer choice is simple, and the choice is made unconsciously.

Answer 15

When the consumer choice is complex, and the choice is made unconsciously.

Question 16

Just for entertainment, Sophie read some conspiracy theory on some shady websites. She especially had to laugh about the idea that earth was flat and completely rejected the idea. However, some weeks later she was not so sure anymore. This most likely happened due to….

• The availability heuristic
• The sleeper effect
• The inoculation hypothesis

Answer 16

The sleeper effect

Question 17

Which of the following does not describe the Halo effect?

• Teacher Mary thinks Timo is a ‘late-bloomer’ and thus gives Timo more attention. At the end of the year Timo performs better than average.
• Felix and Erik are both equally qualified for a job, yet at the job interview the more handsome Felix made a much more favorable impression than the average looking Erik.
• Amber is the CEO of a new but successful tech company. Vanity fair writes an article how great of a person she is because she is so successful.

Answer 17

Teacher Mary thinks Timo is a ‘late-bloomer’ and thus gives Timo more attention. At the end of the year Timo performs better than average.

Question 18

In which environments are experts best at making predictions based on intuition?

• A turbulent, low certainty environment, but only if the experts feel confident enough in their judgement.
• A stable, high certainty environment, but the experts must be very confident about their judgement.
• A stable, high certainty environment, and when experts can learn from their experiences by getting feedback.

Answer 18

A stable, high certainty environment, and when experts can learn from their experiences by getting feedback.

Question 19

Pauline and Eli are starting their own candle selling business. Combined, they already have twenty years of experience in this business. They want to have a full working website before the end of next year. For their planning they look at how much experience they already have with selling candles, making websites, and doing business in general. What mistake are they making?

• They fail to take the outside view into account.
• They are overconfident in their expertise.
• They suffer from outcome bias.

Answer 19

They fail to take the outside view into account.

Question 20

In their article about word of mouth (WOM) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Vo, Xiao, and Ho (2019) shows that Positive word of mouth (PWOM) often decreases after flight-delays. They hypothesized that CSR could help alleviate the negative effect of flight delays on PWOM. They, however, observed no moderating effect of CSR on the relation between flight-delays and (PWOM). What did they offer as a possible reason for the absence of this moderating effect of CSR?

• CSR causes a Halo effect, which leads to higher expectations in a company, which when these expectations are not met, causes more disappointment, and thus less positivity.
• CSR is only seen as something positive when the core business of the company is running impeccable. If there is a problem such as a flight-delay, people want the company to focus on fixing those, before engaging in CSR.
• CSR can lead to the dilution effect in which people focus more on the CSR activities than the core activities and brand of the company, and thus fail to talk about the company positively.

Answer 20

CSR causes a Halo effect, which leads to higher expectations in a company, which when these expectations are not met, causes more disappointment, and thus less positivity.