Social Psych

Question 1

Advocates for prayer in school hope to persuade other members of the community to support their position. According to “social judgment theory,” other community members are most likely to be convinced if the discrepancy between their initial position on this issue and the position of the advocates of school prayer is:
Select one:

A.
is low

B.
is moderate

C.
is high

D.
varies from person to person

Answer 1

The correct answer is B.

According to “social judgment theory, a person’s potential for attitude change can be described in terms of three dimensions or latitudes: latitude of acceptance, latitude of non-commitment, and latitude of rejection. When an attitude is within the person’s latitude of acceptance, that person already agrees with the position, so no attitude change occurs. When it is within the person’s latitude of rejection, the person is unlikely to change his/her attitude. Therefore, the greatest attitude change occurs when the attitude is within the person’s latitude of non-commitment, which occurs when there is a moderate discrepancy between the person’s initial position and the position of the communication.

Answers A, C, and D: The community members would be most likely to be persuaded on school prayer if the discrepancy between their initial position and the position of the advocates is moderate.

Question 2

In team sports, the “home advantage” phenomenon has most consistently been linked to:
Select one:

A.
the demoralization of the opposing team

B.
the impact of a supportive home audience

C.
the players expectations

D.
the players familiarity with the home court

Answer 2

The correct answer is B.

If you’re a sports fan, you probably know that the home advantage refers to the tendency of sports teams to win more often when they are playing on their home court. The most consistently supported explanation is that it is due to the social support that fans give the home team. (K. S. Courneya and A. V. Carron, The home advantage in sports competitions: A literature review, Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 14, 13-27, 1992.)

Question 3

__________ theory predicts that we tend to like others whose initially negative feelings toward us change to positive feelings more than we like those who have positive feelings toward us from the beginning.
Select one:

A.
Self-verification

B.
Gain-loss

C.
Social exchange

D.
Balance

Answer 3

The correct answer is B.

“Gain-loss theory” predicts that we tend to like others whose initial negative feelings toward us change to positive feelings more than those whose feelings are consistently positive and, conversely, that we tend to dislike others whose initially positive feelings toward us change to negative feelings more than those who have negative feelings toward us from the beginning.

Answer A: “Self-verification theory” predicts that people prefer others who provide them with accurate information about themselves (i.e., with information that is consistent with their self-evaluations).

Answer C: “Social exchange theory” focuses on the rewards and costs of a relationship and predicts that we are more likely to remain in a relationship when the rewards exceed the costs.

Answer D: “Balance theory’ uses the concept of cognitive consistency to explain attitude change and focuses on the relationships between three entities - the person, another person, and a third person or an idea, event, or object.