Psychology Unit 11 Test ANSWER KEY
Psychology Unit 11 Test
Choose the best answer. (2 pts each).
1.
Nell tastes her food, then salts it. You assume that the food needed salt, therefore, you
attribute her actions to a(n)
a. internal cause.
b. external cause.
c. setting.
d. situational demand.
2.
_______________ is best known for his research on conformity.
a. Asch
b. Rubin
c. Schachter
d. Zimbardo
3.
Which is TRUE regarding choosing a mate?
a. People who marry are highly similar in age, education, race, religion, and ethnic
background.
b. The highest correlation, between people who marry involves their temperaments.
c. In the United States kindness and understanding are ranked as being the least important
qualities in a mate.
d. Men rate physical attractiveness as a less important quality in a mate than women do.
4.
The study in which college students attached a bumper sticker for a militant black organization
to their cars and then received frequent traffic citations demonstrates
a. group prejudice.
b. scapegoating.
c. personal prejudice.
d. discrimination.
5.
When we perform well, we typically attribute our success to ____________________.
a. internal characteristics
b. our group of colleagues
c. external circumstances
d. our personality type
6.
During the Stanford Prison study,
a. guards did not take their roles seriously.
b. guards readily assumed their roles as agents of force.
c. the prisoners and the guards quickly became friendly towards one another.
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Psychology Unit 11 Test ANSWER KEY
d. three prisoners were so severely beaten they had to be hospitalized.
7.
During research in a simulated prison situation
a. three prisoners were so severely beaten they had to be hospitalized.
b. guards did not take their roles seriously.
c. prisoners quickly became passive and dehumanized.
d. the prisoners and the guards quickly became friendly toward one another.
8.
According to the theory of cognitive dissonance, attitudes are changed because
a. emotionally persuasive arguments unfreeze beliefs.
b. logical arguments alter the belief component t of an attitude.
c. clashing thoughts cause discomfort.
d. acting contrary to one’s beliefs for a large reward causes dissonance.
9.
You are walking into a store when a man rudely cuts in front of you, almost shoving you, so that
he may enter the store first. “What a jerk!” you think to yourself. As you enter the store, you
see the same man performing an emergency tracheotomy on a woman with a collapsed
windpipe. You have just
a. discounted a person’s actions due to situational demands.
b. self-handicapped.
c. overemphasized the object in this action sequence.
d. made the fundamental attribution error.
10.
a.
b.
c.
d.
11.
a.
b.
c.
d.
According to evolutionary psychologists,
women tend to be concerned with whether mates will devote time and resources to a
relationship.
men place less emphasis on physical attractiveness.
women place more emphasis on sexual fidelity.
men are biologically driven to have multiple partners.
Which statement about physical attractiveness is FALSE?
Beauty is a factor mainly in initial acquaintances.
Looks are less related to dating frequency for men than for women.
For men, there is little relationship between attractiveness and the achievement of
status.
For marriage partners there is a tendency for attractive men to be paired with highly
educated women with high incomes.
12.
Solomon Asch’s classic experiment (in which subjects judged a standard line and
comparison lines) was arranged to test the limits of
a. social perception.
b. indoctrination.
c. coercive power.
d. conformity.
13.
Attribution theory concerns our tendency to explain our behavior and that of others
a. by external causes rather than internal causes.
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Psychology Unit 11 Test ANSWER KEY
b. by inferring causes on the basis of internal or external factors.
c. by internal rather than external causes.
d. based on personality factors.
14.
a.
b.
c.
d.
The _____________ hypothesis states that frustration tends to lead to aggression.
frustration-aggression
biological instinct
social learning
cognitive dissonance
a.
b.
c.
d.
Which of the following is a testament to the power of roles?
Cialdini’s door-in-the-face effect
Milgram’s message experiment
Zilstein’s shock research
Zimbardo’s prison experiment
15.
16.
Arabs are typically depicted in the media as oil-rich but ignorant and savage. In a time
of war with an Arab country, this image would be used
a. to make it easier for soldiers to kill the enemy.
b. to educate the population regarding the enemy.
c. to strip away the emotional insulation of our soldiers.
d. very little, since previous attempts at dehumanizing (during WWII, for example) were
ineffective.
17.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Zimbardo interpreted the results of his simulated prison study as an indication of the
powerful influence of roles on people.
tendency to show compassion to people in need.
weakness of social pressure in some situations.
tendency to displace aggression.
18.
Subjects in Milgram’s experiment who gave large shocks rationalized that they were
NOT personally responsible for their actions. This raises questions about our willingness to
commit inhumane acts as a result of
a. coercive power.
b. obedience to a legitimate authority.
c. expert power.
d. conformity to group pressure.
19.
a.
b.
c.
d.
20.
The process of changing your behavior to match that of others in a group is
norming.
forming a social contract.
conformity.
standardization.
The real danger of “groupthink” is that it
a. is contagious.
b. occurs in cohesive groups.
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Psychology Unit 11 Test ANSWER KEY
c. disrupts coordinated efforts at group problem solving.
d. leads to a suspension of critical thinking.
21.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Frustration probably encourages aggression because it
triggers genetic mechanisms.
raises arousal levels and sensitivity to cues for aggression.
triggers biological cues for aggression.
relieves tension.
22.
Which of the following statements concerning “jigsaw” classrooms is TRUE?
a. Jigsaw groups emphasize cooperation over competition.
b. Compared to children in traditional classrooms, children in jigsaw groups were less
prejudiced but had slightly lower grades.
c. Children in jigsaw groups initially learn “pieces” of information together as a group.
d. Even though the jigsaw groups as a whole perform better, high achievers tend to do
worse in such groups than when learning alone.
23.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Negative attitudes that are tinged with fear, hatred, or suspicion is a definition of
prejudice.
authoritarianism.
discrimination.
displaced aggression.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Cognitive dissonance theory is based on the human need for
self-actualization.
gain-loss.
cognitive dissonance.
consistency.
24.
25.
When making the “attribution error”, we tend to overestimate the importance of
____________ in judging the behavior of others.
a. personal factors
b. situational factors
c. intelligence
d. motivation
26.
The demonstration by Jane Eliot with blue-eyed and brown-eyed children suggests that
an effective way to generate conditions of prejudice is to
a. require persons to compete for scarce resources.
b. physically isolate two groups from each other.
c. produce inequalities of power, prestige, or privileges of group members.
d. demand that members of two groups cooperate to achieve a common goal.
27.
How individuals are affected by the presence of others is the focus of study in the field
of
a. sociology.
b. social psychology.
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Psychology Unit 11 Test ANSWER KEY
c. experimental psychology.
d. sociobiology.
28.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Shows such as Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street demonstrate TV’s ability to
teach prosocial behavior.
desensitize children.
disinhibit antisocial behavior.
reduce tension and frustration.
29.
Zimbardo’s prison experiment suggests that many destructive human relationships have
their source in
a. role diffusion.
b. role conflict.
c. learned roles.
d. group cohesiveness.
30.
Stanley Milgram’s experiment in which a “teacher” gave shocks to a “learner” was
designed to test the limits of
a. expert power.
b. coercive power.
c. obedience.
d. conformity to a majority.
31.
a.
b.
c.
d.
32.
they
a.
b.
c.
d.
Milgram’s shock study showed people to be surprisingly
rebellious.
intelligent.
sexist.
obedient.
Studies of conformity indicate that people are more apt to be influenced by others if
are concerned about the approval of others.
have low needs for certainty and structure.
are in temporary rather than established groups.
are in very large groups.
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