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Social Psychology and Human Nature Brief 4th Edition Test Bank
CHAPTER 1—The Mission and the Method
MULTIPLE CHOICE
; In one of the first social psychological experiments ever conducted, researcher Norman Triplett examined the records of teams of cyclists. He found that cyclists who raced against each other ____ than those who raced alone (against the clock).
a. | were more aggressive after the race |
b. | got into more accidents |
c. | cycled more quickly |
d. | enjoyed the race less |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; In one of the first social psychological experiments ever conducted, researcher Norman Triplett built a “competition machine,” in which children wind up a fishing reel. He found that the children were able to wind more quickly when ____.
a. | they worked as a group side by side than when they worked alone |
b. | they worked alone than when they worked as a group side by side |
c. | they were explicitly asked to work as fast as possible |
d. | they were explicitly asked to take their time to “get it right” |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; Based on early research by Norman Triplett, we should expect that children who work on math problems alone will ____ than children who work on math problems side by side with their classmates.
a. | work more slowly |
b. | work more quickly |
c. | second-guess themselves less |
d. | second-guess themselves more |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; Based on early research by Norman Triplett with racing cyclists, we should expect that people who exercise on rowing machines at gyms are more likely to ____ than people who exercise on the same machines in the privacy of their homes.
a. | burn more calories |
b. | burn less calories |
c. | feel a sense of accomplishment |
d. | feel a sense of failure |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; In one of the first social psychological experiments ever conducted, researcher Max Ringelmann observed men as they pulled on a rope either alone, as part of a small group, or as part of a large group. He found that as the size of the group increased, ____.
a. | individual effort increased |
b. | individual effort decreased |
c. | the task took longer to complete |
d. | the task took less time to complete |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; Suppose that you own a rowboat and enjoy going rowing on a nearby lake in the summer. In June, you are planning to go rowing with two of your friends (three people total in the boat), and in July, you are planning to go rowing with just one friend (two people total in the boat). Will you put in more effort (row harder) on the three-person trip or on the two-person trip?
a. | You will put in more effort on the three-person trip. |
b. | You will put in more effort on the two-person trip. |
c. | You will put in the same amount of effort on both trips. |
d. | It is impossible to say—no research has examined this question. |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; Given Max Ringelmann’s early research looking at group size and individual effort, should we expect Student X to put in a different amount of effort depending on whether she worked on a history project in a five-person group rather than a two-person group?
a. | Yes, we should expect her to work harder in the five-person group. |
b. | Yes, we should expect her to work harder in the two-person group. |
c. | No, we should expect her to work equally hard in both groups. |
d. | It is impossible to say; it appears group size effects depend on other variables. |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ; NOTES: Modified
; Early research in social psychology conducted by Max Ringelmann revealed that people ____ when they work as part of a group (, pushing a car off of the road with two other people) compared to when they work alone at the same task.
a. | do not work as hard |
b. | work harder |
c. | feel like they are doing more work |
d. | feel like they are doing less work |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field. NOTES: Modified
; The first social psychological experiments and the publication of the first book to bear the title Social Psychology both occurred around ____.
a. | 400 |
b. | 1750 |
c. | 1900 |
d. | 1965 |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; During the first half of the 20th century, who argued that attitudes were the most important and useful concept in social psychology?
a. | Kurt Lewin |
b. | Max Ringelmann |
c. | Norman Triplett |
d. | Gordon Allport |
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; Who proposed the idea that behavior is a function of both the person and the situation in the first half of the 20th century?
a. | Max Ringelmann |
b. | Norman Triplett |
c. | Kurt Lewin |
d. | Gordon Allport |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; You want to ask your friend Maya to help you with your sorority’s float for the competition in the homecoming parade next week. Maya is extremely reliable and trustworthy, but she is totally swamped with her internship and upcoming midterm exams. You decide not to ask her since she might be too busy to follow through. According to Kurt Lewin’s analysis of human behavior, knowing that Maya is reliable is an example of “____” information, and knowing she is busy is an example of “____” information.
a. | person; situation |
b. | situation; person |
c. | social; nonsocial |
d. | nonsocial; social |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; In the history of psychology and social psychology, the late 1800s and early 1900s marked ____.
a. | the very first social psychological experiments |
b. | social psychology’s independence from behaviorism |
c. | the beginnings of research in social cognition |
d. | the beginnings of research in social neuroscience |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field. NOTES: Modified
; When did social psychology begin to come into its own as a field?
a. | The 1910s and 1920s |
b. | The 1930s and 1940s |
c. | The 1950s and 1960s |
d. | The 1970s and 1980s |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ; NOTES: Modified
; Milgram’s famous studies of obedience to authority were motivated by which historical event?
a. | The Holocaust |
b. | The fall of Communism |
c. | The return of soldiers from Desert Storm |
d. | The Great Depression |
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; Today, both funded and unfunded studies conducted at universities must first obtain ____ approval.
a. | ABPP |
b. | IRB |
c. | APA |
d. | ERB |
ANS: B DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in ;
; Which of the following elements is particularly critical to include in a deception study, but is not usually required in other types of studies?
a. | IRB approval |
b. | demand characteristics |
c. | complete debriefing |
d. | informed consent |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand
OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular.
; Dr. Puni does not want the participants in his study to be aware of his hypothesis. What will he strive to reduce in his study?
a. | margin of error |
b. | divergent validity |
c. | measurement validity |
d. | demand characteristics |
ANS: D DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; In the 1950s and 1960s, mainstream psychology was divided between two main theoretical camps: ____.
a. | trait theory and behaviorism |
b. | Freudian psychoanalysis and humanism |
c. | humanism and trait theory |
d. | behaviorism and Freudian psychoanalysis |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; The influence of Freudian psychoanalysis on psychology is most readily seen in ____.
a. | the identification of neurological correlates |
b. | detailed studies of genotypes and phenotypes |
c. | elaborate interpretation of individual experiences |
d. | the systematic search for reinforcement contingencies |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field. NOTES: New
; Behaviorism seeks to explain human behavior in terms of ____.
a. | basic biological drives such as hunger and thirst |
b. | broad environmental influences such as historical time period |
c. | the natural tensions between biological drives and society |
d. | learning principles such as rewards and punishments |
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; How are social psychologists generally similar to behaviorists?
a. | They both tend to favor experiments and the scientific method. |
b. | They are both interested in the mind, thoughts, and emotions. |
c. | They are both originally rooted in psychoanalytic theory. |
d. | They are both interested in the unconscious mind. |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; Social psychologists are generally similar to Freudian psychoanalysts in that they both ____.
a. | are more interested in abnormal behavior than in normal behavior |
b. | tend to favor experiments and the scientific method |
c. | are primarily interested in external behaviors rather than the mind |
d. | have an interest in thoughts and feelings as well as behaviors |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; While social psychologists are interested in a wide variety of topics, three themes that have become increasingly important during the last 30 years are ____.
a. | psychoanalysis, meditation, and hypnosis |
b. | economic behavior, political behavior, and criminal behavior |
c. | social cognition, biological influences on behavior, and the self |
d. | personality measurement, organizational behavior, and spirituality |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Define social psychology.
; Which topic has been of the MOST interest to social psychologists during the last 30 years?
a. | Social cognition—concerned with how people think about other people and how people think about the social world in general |
b. | Behaviorism—concerned with basic principles of learning such as reward and punishment |
c. | The idea that modern life makes people vulnerable to alienation and exploitation |
d. | The idea that people act less on the basis of firm moral principles than they do on the basis of conformity, or “following the crowd” |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Define social psychology.
; Following the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989, social psychology’s focus on conflict ____.
a. | remained unchanged |
b. | emphasized racial/ethnic conflict |
c. | lessened |
d. | increased |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Define social psychology.
; Social psychology is best defined as the study of ____.
a. | how we learn to behave in accordance with the rules of society |
b. | how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by other people |
c. | how cultures are created in order to serve the interests of the powerful |
d. | how societies work to allocate resources and responsibilities |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
MSC: KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Define social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; As a rule, social psychologists are MOST interested in ____.
a. | normal adult human beings |
b. | severe mental illness |
c. | normal childhood development |
d. | diagnoses in abnormal behavior |
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Define social psychology.
; In social psychology, the “ABC triad” consists of ____.
a. | attitudes, beliefs and commitments |
b. | ambiances, biology, and culture |
c. | affects, behaviors and cognitions |
d. | attributions, boundaries, and corrections |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; In psychology, an “affect” is most similar to ____.
a. | an emotion or mood |
b. | a belief or attitude |
c. | a behavior or reaction |
d. | a motivating force or drive |
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; Which of the following is an example of an “emotion”?
a. | A stomach ache |
b. | A nervous twitch |
c. | Happiness |
d. | Political activism |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; When psychologists talk about “cognitions,” they are typically referring to ____.
a. | unconscious motivations |
b. | thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes |
c. | abnormal thoughts or experiences |
d. | emotions or feelings |
ANS: B DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; Which of the following is the best example of “cognition”?
a. | Experiencing an auditory hallucination |
b. | Having a hunger pang |
c. | Thinking that you are a valuable employee |
d. | Exhibiting a nervous twitch |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; Martin believes that his blue coat is warmer than his red coat. Ted thinks that he might want to have kids sometime in the next few years. Yesi remembers playing baseball with her friends as a child. These are all examples of ____.
a. | delusions |
b. | schemas |
c. | affects |
d. | cognitions |
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; When attempting to explain a person’s behavior, what do social psychologists tend to assess first?
a. | The person’s unconscious motivations |
b. | The person’s personality |
c. | The person’s situation |
d. | The person’s childhood |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; Social psychology focuses especially on the power of ____.
a. | genetics |
b. | reinforcement |
c. | situations |
d. | unconscious |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; Ed just stole $50 from his parents. In assessing Ed’s motives, which of the following questions would a social psychologist be MOST likely to ask?
a. | Is Ed unconsciously motivated to hurt his parents? |
b. | Is Ed a person with a weak moral character? |
c. | Does Ed have friends or other role models who are also stealing? |
d. | Is Ed mentally healthy enough to realize what he has done? |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; Roger holds a number of negative stereotypes about women; specifically, he thinks that most women are manipulative, vain, and lazy. In trying to understand why Roger holds these stereotypes, which of the following questions would a social psychologist be MOST likely to ask?
a. | Does Roger feel so intimidated by women that he expresses these negative stereotypes in order to “cover up” his deep-seeded lack of self-esteem? |
b. | Did Roger have a difficult relationship with his mother as a young child that might have fostered negative attitudes toward all women? |
c. | Does Roger have a physical brain abnormality? |
d. | Has Roger been exposed to these stereotypes in the media, or has he perhaps had a few limited (but negative) interactions with women that might have helped to perpetuate these stereotypes? |
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; Most social psychologists perform research by ____.
a. | engaging in historical analyses |
b. | conducting case studies (individual interviews) |
c. | conducting experiments |
d. | using nonexperimental observational methods |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; Which of the following fields is best defined as “the study of human culture—the shared values, beliefs, and practices of a group of people”?
a. | history |
b. | political science |
c. | social psychology |
d. | anthropology |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Which of the following fields is MOST concerned with understanding different human cultures?
a. | economics |
b. | political science |
c. | social psychology |
d. | anthropology |
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Anthropologists would posit that social psychologists cannot understand human behavior fully unless they understand the ____.
a. | genetic makeup of the populations under study |
b. | relationship between humans and animals |
c. | biological basis of the behavior |
d. | cultural context in which that behavior occurs |
ANS: D DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; The social psychological theory known as “social exchange theory” is based MOST obviously on which of the following other social sciences?
a. | economics |
b. | history |
c. | political science |
d. | anthropology |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Which of the following fields is concerned with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services?
a. | anthropology |
b. | history |
c. | economics |
d. | political science |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; With which of the following social sciences has social psychology had the LEAST interaction until recently?
a. | sociology |
b. | anthropology |
c. | economics |
d. | history |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Laela is interested in studying how our thoughts and behaviors are influenced by the groups to which we belong. Laela’s work will MOST closely intersect with which other social science?
a. | economics |
b. | sociology |
c. | neuroscience |
d. | history |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Johnna is examining how attitudes predict voting behavior. Her research will MOST likely involve an intersection of social psychology and what other social science?
a. | anthropology |
b. | sociology |
c. | political science |
d. | economics |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Political science is BEST described as the study of ____.
a. | organizations and institutions, especially governments |
b. | human societies and groups that form those societies |
c. | past events |
d. | human culture |
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Which field is BEST defined as “the study of human societies and the groups that form those societies”?
a. | anthropology |
b. | political science |
c. | sociology |
d. | psychology |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of ;
; Dr. Otten studies the relationship between crime rates and childrearing practices. Dr. Otten is MOST likely a(n) ____.
a. | anthropologist |
b. | economist |
c. | sociologist |
d. | social psychologist |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Although sociologists and social psychologists are both interested in group behavior, sociologists tend to focus on ____, whereas social psychologists tend to focus on ____.
a. | individual members within the group; the group as a single unit |
b. | the group as a single unit; individual members within the group |
c. | how groups are unique; how various groups are similar to one another |
d. | how various groups are similar to one another; how groups are unique |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; According to the simile in your text, if psychology is like a tree, then social psychology is like ____.
a. | the trunk |
b. | a branch |
c. | a leaf |
d. | a root |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; What do we best call the field that combines the interests of social and biological psychology?
a. | Neuroscience |
b. | Physiological psychology |
c. | Social neuroscience |
d. | Social cognition |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of ;
; Which of the following fields is LEAST focused on what happens in the brain, nervous system, and other bodily processes?
a. | Biological psychology |
b. | Physiological psychology |
c. | Neuroscience |
d. | Social neuroscience |
ANS: D DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
55. During the “Decade of the Brain” in the ____, social psychologists became particularly interested in the biological aspects of social behavior.
a. | 1960s |
b. | 1970s |
c. | 1980s |
d. | 1990s |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study. NOTES: Modified
; How has the textbook described the historical relationship between clinical psychology and social psychology?
a. | Clinical psychology grew out of social psychology. |
b. | Both clinical psychology and social psychology grew out of cognitive psychology. |
c. | The two fields have historically been at odds and argued with one another. |
d. | The two fields have historically exchanged ideas and viewpoints. |
ANS: D DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Within psychology, ____ typically focus on “abnormal” behavior (, mental disorders and behavioral disorders).
a. | only clinical psychologists |
b. | both clinical psychologists and personality psychologists |
c. | only personality psychologists |
d. | psychologists from all branches of psychology |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Dr. Kay researches the effectiveness of different therapies for treating severe anxiety disorders. He is MOST likely a ____.
a. | personality psychologist |
b. | clinical psychologist |
c. | cognitive psychologist |
d. | Freudian psychoanalyst |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Which branch of psychology is primarily concerned with thought processes (, how memory works and what people notice)?
a. | developmental psychology |
b. | social psychology |
c. | cognitive psychology |
d. | biological psychology |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; In recent years, what has emerged as an important subfield of social psychology that explores the ways in which people think about social situations?
a. | cognitive sociology |
b. | social cognition |
c. | cognitive psychology |
d. | socioneurology |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of ;
; Which of the following topics would a cognitive psychologist be MOST likely to study?
a. | The heritability of depression |
b. | Male-female differences in sexual behavior |
c. | How people learn to memorize complex musical compositions |
d. | Altruistic behavior among chimpanzees |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Which of the following topics is a personality psychologist MOST likely to study?
a. | The development of schizophrenia |
b. | Gender differences in the acquisition of language skills |
c. | Individual differences in leadership ability |
d. | Cross-cultural differences in mating and courtship behaviors |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Until recently, what was the relationship between developmental and social psychology?
a. | The two subfields mutually influenced each other. |
b. | Developmental psychology tended to draw more on social psychology. |
c. | Social psychology tended to draw more on developmental psychology. |
d. | The two fields had relatively little influence on each other. |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; The study of how people change across their lives from conception to death is the purview of ____.
a. | developmental psychology |
b. | cognitive psychology |
c. | clinical psychology |
d. | biological psychology |
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Dr. Gem studies individual differences in introversion (a trait similar to shyness). Dr. Gem is MOST likely a _____ psychologist.
a. | social |
b. | personality |
c. | clinical |
d. | developmental |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Which of the following branches of psychology is MOST closely affiliated with social psychology?
a. | developmental psychology |
b. | clinical psychology |
c. | personality psychology |
d. | biological psychology |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; The top research journals in social psychology have substantial overlap, content-wise, with which of the following?
a. | developmental psychology |
b. | clinical psychology |
c. | personality psychology |
d. | biological psychology |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; In recent years, the line between social psychology and ____ has become especially blurred.
a. | developmental psychology |
b. | biological psychology |
c. | clinical psychology |
d. | personality psychology |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of ;
; According to the textbook, what is one major reason people study social psychology?
a. | It is fun and interesting, and can help make the world a better place. |
b. | It provides an important foundation for understanding clinical psychology. |
c. | It helps people overcome their personal problems and become happier. |
d. | It is an easy topic to understand that offers opportunities for good jobs. |
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; According to the textbook, the key distinction between philosophy and psychology is the fact that psychology ____.
a. | is concerned with observable phenomena (, behaviors) rather than unobservable phenomena (, thoughts) |
b. | is concerned with unobservable phenomena (, thoughts) rather than observable phenomena (, behaviors) |
c. | primarily relies on the scientific method |
d. | primarily relies on the case study method |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; According to the textbook, psychology can be thought of as a kind of “experimental philosophy” because psychology ____ while relying on the experimental method.
a. | addresses many of the same questions that interest philosophers |
b. | is as popular today as philosophy was in ancient times |
c. | also grew out of the mathematical sciences |
d. | is also a highly controversial field |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Social scientists who focus on concrete problems—such as how to boost literacy rates in schools or how to increase energy conservation—are known as ____.
a. | counselors |
b. | applied researchers |
c. | psychometricians |
d. | social workers |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Dr. Hon is a researcher who studies methods for increasing condom usage among sexually active teens. Dr. Hon would probably be BEST described as a(n) ____.
a. | personality psychologist |
b. | applied researcher |
c. | social worker |
d. | developmental psychologist |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Applied researchers are BEST defined as social scientists who ____.
a. | work in “real life” settings—such as in workplaces, schools, or zoos |
b. | focus on concrete problems—such as how to boost literacy rates or how to increase water conservation |
c. | seek to “test out,” or apply, others’ theories rather than develop their own theories |
d. | study the process of research itself—how researchers go about selecting research questions, conducting studies, and reporting findings |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Many areas of study in social psychology evoke a lot of passion from the researchers invested in that arena. Although doing research to make the world a better place is great motivation, one of the hazards of this motive is that ____.
a. | only correlational studies can be conducted |
b. | ideals and political beliefs may cloud scientific judgment |
c. | the research is hard to replicate |
d. | the research will not be reported accurately |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; When social psychologist Kurt Lewin said that “there is nothing so practical as a good theory,” he meant that ____.
a. | many theories are overly abstract; a good theory should be based on directly observable facts |
b. | many theories are overly abstract; a good theory should make predictions about directly observable phenomena |
c. | although they may seem impractical, theories can be very important in helping to stimulate practical ideas and practical research |
d. | he was opposed to overly theoretical work and a major proponent of applied research |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Which of the following would a basic researcher MOST LIKELY study?
a. | A theory that explains the causes of aggression |
b. | The plight of welfare mothers |
c. | Why people don’t wear seat belts |
d. | How to get people to conserve electric power |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Basic research is to applied research as ____ is to ____.
a. | general; specific |
b. | specific; general |
c. | hard; easy |
d. | easy; hard |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Consider the following two American adages, which seem to contradict one another: “Birds of a feather flock together” and “opposites attract.” The authors of the textbook would probably say that ____.
a. | this contradiction is an anomaly since Americans tend to be extremely single-minded in their “common sense” views about social psychology |
b. | most people in the probably believe one of these adages to be true—but not both—since most people have very clear personal theories about social psychology |
c. | the contradiction is not surprising at all, since “common sense” theories are often poorly defined, , most people would probably say that both of these things are true (if you asked them at different times) |
d. | most people would not see the contradiction if it were pointed out to them, since the average person is not a strong logical thinker |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; According to the textbook, “common sense” theories about social psychology are ____.
a. | almost always wrong |
b. | often misleading or contradictory |
c. | very often correct |
d. | very often correct when they have to do with dyadic (two-person) relationships, but usually wrong when they have to do with group behavior |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; The scientific method used by social psychologists is ____.
a. | conceptually the same as the scientific method used by clinical psychologists, biologists, and chemists |
b. | conceptually the same as the scientific method used by clinical psychologists, but fundamentally different from the scientific method used by biologists, chemists, and other “hard scientists” |
c. | fundamentally different from the scientific method used in other fields |
d. | conceptually the same as the scientific method used by clinical psychologists, biologists, and chemists—except for the fact that social psychologists do not usually use statistical significance testing |
ANS: A DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; The first step in the scientific method is to ____.
a. | state a problem for study |
b. | state a hypothesis |
c. | determine the research sample |
d. | collect data |
ANS: A DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; As typically conceptualized, the scientific method consists of approximately ____ basic steps.
a. | three |
b. | five |
c. | nine |
d. | twelve |
ANS: B DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific ;
; Dr. Shar wants to test her theory that people feel less stressed after exercising. She measures students’ stress levels and then has them perform 30 minutes of moderate exercise on a treadmill. After the treadmill segment, she measures their stress levels again. This is an example of a(n) ____ design.
a. | factorial |
b. | between-subjects |
c. | within-subjects |
d. | survey |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply
OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; “An idea or explanation for something that is based on known facts but not yet proven” is known as a(n) ____.
a. | hypothesis |
b. | theory |
c. | ad hoc test |
d. | independent variable |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific ;
; A hypothesis is BEST described as a(n) ____.
a. | worldview |
b. | educated guess |
c. | random guess |
d. | post-hoc explanation |
ANS: B DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific ;
; What is a hypothesis?
a. | A statistical procedure |
b. | An established scientific fact |
c. | A testable prediction |
d. | A type of sample |
ANS: C DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Dr. Brown conducts an experiment to examine the effects of mentorship programs on children’s academic achievement. She finds that children who are given mentors receive significantly higher grades than children who are not. The result is statistically significant at the .05 level. What does this mean?
a. | The finding probably occurred by chance; mentorship programs probably DO NOT really improve academic achievement. |
b. | The finding probably did NOT occur by chance; mentorship programs probably DO boost academic achievement. |
c. | The finding was larger than expected; mentorship programs appear to be even more effective than Dr. Brown suspected. |
d. | The finding was smaller than expected; mentorship programs appear to be less effective than Dr. Brown suspected. |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; In social psychology, researchers typically test hypotheses using the ____ confidence level.
a. | 80% |
b. | 85% |
c. | 90% |
d. | 95% |
ANS: D DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific ;
; Social psychologists routinely test research hypotheses using the .05 level of significance. This means that so-called “significant” findings are actually “flukes” about ____ of the time.
a. | .05% |
b. | 1% |
c. | 5% |
d. | 20% |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; If a researcher tested 1000 people and found that women received significantly higher scores on the verbal portion of the SAT than did men, this would mean that ____.
a. | among the sample that was tested, women’s scores were definitely higher than men’s (even if the difference is very small)—though there might not be a difference in the population at large |
b. | among the sample that was tested, women’s scores were at least 5% higher than men’s—though there might not be a difference in the population at large |
c. | in the population at large, women’s scores are likely higher than men’s (even if the difference is very small) |
d. | in the population at large, women’s scores are likely higher than men’s—by a score difference of at least 5% |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; According to the textbook, if you conduct a research study, write up all of the results in a paper, and submit the paper to a top academic journal, you have a ____ chance of getting your paper published in one of the best social psychology journals.
a. | 0-1% |
b. | 10-20% |
c. | 30-40% |
d. | 50-60% |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific ;
; Social psychologists typically derive ____ based on ____.
a. | hypotheses; theories |
b. | hypotheses; observations |
c. | observations; hypotheses |
d. | observations; theories |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; If you conduct a study and predict that X causes Y, then X is the ____ variable.
a. | internal |
b. | external |
c. | independent |
d. | dependent variable |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; If you conduct a study and predict that A causes B, then B is the ____.
a. | internal variable |
b. | external variable |
c. | independent variable |
d. | dependent variable |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Dr. Khanmohamed is conducting a research project with young children to examine the effect of the exposure to different cultural groups on the development of empathy. The independent variable in this research is ____.
a. | young children |
b. | exposure to different cultural groups |
c. | empathy |
d. | the development of empathy |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Dr. Tsuei is studying the effects of sleep deprivation on interpersonal skills. He is testing the interpersonal skills of 20-25 year-old males who have been sleep deprived for 24 hours, 36 hours, or 48 hours. In this study, the dependent variable is the ____.
a. | age of the research participants |
b. | interpersonal skills of the research participants |
c. | length of time that the research participants are deprived of sleep |
d. | type of interpersonal skills test used in the study |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Suppose that you conducted an experiment to test the effects of violence in TV shows on the aggressiveness in children. The dependent variable in this study would be ____.
a. | how violent the TV shows were |
b. | how many hours of violent shows the children needed to watch before they became violent |
c. | how violent the parents of the children were |
d. | how aggressive the children were |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Which of the following would be the BEST operational definition for tiredness?
a. | An increase in fantasies about sleeping |
b. | The number of hours since one has last slept |
c. | Irritability, poor motor skills, and weak concentration |
d. | How tired someone looks to an “average” observer |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; In the context of research, an operational definition of a variable is a precise description of ____.
a. | how the variable will be manipulated or measured |
b. | how data from the variable will be statistically analyzed |
c. | what the variable is expected to “do” according to the research hypothesis |
d. | what definition of the variable has been used in past studies |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Suppose that you are conducting an experiment to see whether receiving negative feedback from an authority figure will increase eating behavior. After writing an essay, half of your research participants are given negative feedback from a professor, and half are given encouraging feedback. All participants are then placed in a room with a large container of cookies and their eating behavior is observed. In this study, an operational definition for the dependent variable might be ____.
a. | whether participants received critical or encouraging feedback |
b. | the number of words in each participant’s essay |
c. | the number of cookies each participant ate |
d. | how many minutes the professor spent giving each participant feedback |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply
OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; A(n) ____ is someone who works for a researcher by serving as an “actor” in the research (, pretending to be another research participant, and being mean to other research participants in order to see how participants respond to meanness).
a. | confederate |
b. | allied respondent |
c. | infiltrator |
d. | behaviorist |
ANS: A DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular.
; In psychology, the word “confederate” is used to refer to ____.
a. | a research assistant who poses as a participant during the course of a research study in order to help create a certain situation |
b. | a research participant who is purposely disruptive during a study (, a participant who lies on questionnaires or refuses to complete an experimental task) |
c. | a statistician or data analyst |
d. | a prototypical research participant (, the “confederate response” is a term used to refer to the “average response” or “mean response”) |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in ;
; In one well-known social psychological study, research participants were asked to make very easy perceptual judgments (“Is Line A longer than Line B?”). The catch was that they were asked to do this while sitting around a table with people who continually gave incorrect responses—people who appeared to be other regular research participants. In reality, however, the other people at the table were not real participants at all; they were actually actors who were working for the experimenter and just posing as participants. The question in this research was whether or not the real research participant would conform to the group’s opinion (even though the group’s opinion was obviously wrong) or whether the real participant would stick to the right answer. In psychological jargon, the “actors” in this study would be referred to as ____.
a. | confederates |
b. | participant players |
c. | activators |
d. | role testers |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular.
; Suppose that you are working as a research assistant for a social psychologist. To assist her with a research study, the social psychologist asks you to stand in a laboratory waiting room with research participants, act as though you are a research participant yourself, and then pretend to have an epileptic seizure. (The social psychologist is interested in how many people will try to help you.) In other words, your task is to be a ____ in the research.
a. | confederate |
b. | mundane realist |
c. | reactant |
d. | dependent variable |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular.
; Dr. Zink and Dr. Vasquez are designing a new study. They have come up with a good hypothesis for the study, but they are having trouble thinking of operational definitions for their variables. In other words, they are concerned that their research might be low in ____.
a. | internal validity |
b. | external validity |
c. | construct validity |
d. | face validity |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Suppose that you are planning to conduct a study to look at the effect of pet ownership on empathy, but that you cannot find any good measures of empathy (all of the measures that you find seem to fall short of your understanding of what empathy is, or to miss the mark completely). Unless you can find a measure that you are satisfied with, your research may end up being low in ____.
a. | internal validity |
b. | external validity |
c. | construct validity of the cause |
d. | construct validity of the effect |
ANS: D DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; If a researcher conducts an experiment in which the independent variable is poorly defined (, has a poor operational definition), then the experiment can be said to have ____.
a. | low internal validity |
b. | low external validity |
c. | low construct validity of the cause |
d. | low construct validity of the effect |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; True experiments have two key features that make them different from other studies. First, in a true experiment, the researcher manipulates (varies) one or more independent variables. Second, the researcher makes use of _____.
a. | statistical testing |
b. | random assignment |
c. | interactions |
d. | priming |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Dr. Taylor is conducting a study to test the effect of a new drug on people’s ability to concentrate at work. His research sample consists of 100 US adults. During a 14-week period, half of the sample is administered the drug and the other half is administered a placebo, and participants’ concentration abilities are continually tracked. In the context of this study, if Dr. Taylor uses random assignment, it means that ____.
a. | his study will be high in external validity |
b. | the 100 adults in his study are likely to be representative of the larger population of interest |
c. | each research participant has an equal chance of being assigned to each level of the independent variable |
d. | his research findings are likely to be statistically significant |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; Dr. Pow is interested in whether exposure to TV advertisements has a different impact on girls’ self-image than it does on boys’ self-image. To examine this question, she conducts a quasi-experiment. Why doesn’t Dr. Pow conduct a true experiment instead?
a. | She cannot conduct a true experiment, because people cannot be randomly assigned to be “girls” or “boys.” |
b. | She cannot conduct a true experiment, because self-image is not directly observable. |
c. | She could conduct a true experiment if she wanted to, but she probably has a very small sample size, so in this case a quasi-experiment is better. |
d. | She could conduct a true experiment if she wanted to, but she is probably interested in “real-life” TV exposure (and probably doesn’t want to manipulate this variable). |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Researchers tend to use quasi-experimental research designs when they are able to manipulate an independent variable but NOT able to ____.
a. | use random sampling |
b. | use random assignment |
c. | perform statistical tests on their results |
d. | use more than 20 research participants |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; A study is said to have internal validity if the researcher can be relatively confident that ____.
a. | the same results would occur if the experiment were replicated |
b. | changes in the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable |
c. | the operational definitions used in the study were chosen well |
d. | the sample was representative of the broader population of interest |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; In a ____, the researcher is able to manipulate an independent variable but NOT able to use random assignment.
a. | field experiment |
b. | quasi-experiment |
c. | correlational study |
d. | case study |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; What is the main advantage of an experiment over a correlational study?
a. | The researcher knows the participants are representative of the population. |
b. | The researcher is better able to draw conclusions about cause and effect. |
c. | The researcher is able to study phenomena within their natural context. |
d. | The researcher can legitimately use a much smaller sample size. |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; Which of the following research designs allows researchers the MOST control over the variables they are studying?
a. | Quasi-experiments |
b. | Laboratory experiments |
c. | Field experiments |
d. | Correlational studies |
ANS: B DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; If a study is high in internal validity, then the researcher can be fairly certain that changes in the ____ were indeed due to changes in the ____.
a. | construct validity of the cause; construct validity of the effect |
b. | independent variable; dependent variable |
c. | external variable; internal variable |
d. | hypothesis; theory |
ANS: B DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; When a researcher conducts an experiment and is fairly certain that changes in the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable, that experiment is said to be high in ____.
a. | construct validity |
b. | construct validity of the effect |
c. | internal validity |
d. | external validity |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Suppose that a cereal manufacturer tried out a new cereal box design for a few months, and—during the same time period—notices that its sales have tripled. One of the cereal executives, Mr. Correl, boasts that the new cereal box must have sparked the increase in sales. But another executive, Mr. Scien, points out that the increase could be due to the new advertising campaign that the company is using, or to new distribution practices that have taken hold, or to the fact that more and more people are eating cereal these days. That is, Mr. Scien suggests that the company’s “test” of the new cereal box design is low in ____.
a. | operationalizing |
b. | generalizability |
c. | internal validity |
d. | external validity |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; Jackson is interested in the effects of violent movies on aggressive behavior. He has some participants in his study watch Grand Torino (his “violent” movie) and others watch Marley and Me (his “nonviolent” movie). Unfortunately, in addition to these movies being very different in their violence level, they also differ in a lot of other ways (one is a comedy, the other isn’t, and so forth). This means that Jackson’s study has a ____.
a. | factorial design |
b. | confound |
c. | nonrandom assignment |
d. | random assignment |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; When the effects of two variables cannot be separated, ____ has been said to occur.
a. | confounding |
b. | random variability |
c. | an interaction |
d. | a main effect |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; Using more than one exemplar of a stimulus (such as more than one violent video game in a study investigating violent video content on aggression) is known as ____.
a. | stimulus sampling |
b. | meta-analysis |
c. | factorial design |
d. | the interaction effect |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Research studies that withhold information from participants or intentionally mislead them about the purpose of the study are referred to as ____ studies.
a. | deception |
b. | confederate |
c. | falsification |
d. | fraudulent |
ANS: A DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular. NOTES: New
; After participants have been deliberately deceived in an experiment, ethical standards require that they be ____.
a. | compensated |
b. | debriefed |
c. | allowed to withdraw consent |
d. | permitted to confront the experimenter |
ANS: B DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular. NOTES: New
; The purposes of the oral or written statement participants receive at the end of a psychological study include _____.
a. | explaining to them what informed consent actually is |
b. | ensuring that they receive appropriate compensation |
c. | reducing or eliminating harm caused by their participation |
d. | allowing them to refuse to allow their data to be used |
ANS: C DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular.
; Almost all research requires that researchers provide participants with a(n) ____.
a. | offer of compensation |
b. | copy of the research report |
c. | preliminary debriefing |
d. | consent form |
ANS: D DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular. NOTES: New
; In the ____, medical doctors from the Public Health Service studied the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the government from 1932-1972.
a. | Tuskegee study |
b. | Stanford experiment |
c. | obedience experiment |
d. | Hastings study |
ANS: A DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular. NOTES: New
; Today, ____ studies conducted at universities must first obtain institutional review board approval.
a. | only publicly-funded |
b. | only privately-funded |
c. | only federally-funded |
d. | both funded and unfunded |
ANS: D DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply
OBJ: : Analyze the ethical issues associated with psychological research in general and social psychological research in particular.
NOTES: New
; Suppose that a researcher asked you to answer a series of incredibly personal questions about your sexual life. You might (justifiably) feel annoyed and intruded upon, and find yourself being rude to the researcher, or even purposely giving the researcher incorrect information. Your response would be an example of ____.
a. | experimental realism |
b. | confederate behavior |
c. | mundane realism |
d. | reactance |
ANS: D DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; The term “reactance” is used to refer to the tendency for people to ____.
a. | revert to simplistic, childlike ways of dealing with situations when they are under stress |
b. | try to “look good” or say the “right” thing when their behavior is being observed |
c. | pretend to feel the opposite of how they are really feeling when they are ashamed or embarrassed about their true feelings |
d. | have an unpleasant emotional response when others are trying to restrict their freedom |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; In which of the following situations would Igor be MOST likely to experience reactance?
a. | He is out on a first date with an attractive person and trying to make a good impression. |
b. | He comes home and finds his older brother reading his journal—where he has written deep, dark secrets that he does not want anyone to see. |
c. | He sleeps through an important job interview, and only has himself to blame. |
d. | He finds out that his mother has cancer, but that she has been hiding it from him for several years because she didn’t want him to worry about her. |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; When experiments are conducted outside of the laboratory, in real-world settings, they are called ____.
a. | correlational studies |
b. | field experiments |
c. | quasi-experiments |
d. | deception studies |
ANS: B DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; Can correlational studies or experiments ever be conducted outside of the laboratory?
a. | No, both of these types of studies are always performed in the lab. |
b. | Correlational studies can be conducted inside the laboratory or out in the “real world,” but experiments are always conducted in the lab. |
c. | Correlational studies are always conducted in the “real world” and experiments are always conducted in the lab. |
d. | Both correlational studies and experiments can be performed in the lab or in the “real world.” |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; Suppose that a researcher decided to study everyday altruism towards men versus towards women by leaving (fake) fully addressed college applications in airport lobbies (identical except with male versus female applicant names), and then tracking the number of people who send in the application. What kind of study of this?
a. | A laboratory study |
b. | A field experiment |
c. | A correlational study |
d. | A quasi-experiment |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Researchers often attempt to design studies that will be high in both experimental realism and mundane realism. However, ____.
a. | experimental realism is generally considered to be far more important |
b. | mundane realism is generally considered to be far more important |
c. | experimental realism is really only important in true experiments |
d. | mundane realism is almost impossible to achieve in practical terms |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; If an experiment gets participants psychologically involved and engaged, but the setting does not resemble the real world, then the experiment would be said to be ____.
a. | low in experimental realism and low in mundane realism |
b. | low in experimental realism and high in mundane realism |
c. | high in experimental realism and low in mundane realism |
d. | high in experimental realism and high in mundane realism |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; If an experiment does NOT get participants psychologically involved and engaged, even though the setting of the experiment closely resembles the real world physically, then the experiment would be said to be ____.
a. | low in experimental realism and low in mundane realism |
b. | low in experimental realism but high in mundane realism |
c. | high in experimental realism but low in mundane realism |
d. | high in experimental realism and high in mundane realism |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; Suppose that you are a research participant in a laboratory study that is looking at fear and social support. The researcher shows you an extremely scary movie and then asks you whether you feel like talking to anyone (and if so, who) once the movie is over. Although you are in a laboratory setting the whole time, which does not resemble “real life” at all, you become engrossed in the procedures of the study and almost forget that you are in a study. Thus, in your experience, this study is ____.
a. | low in experimental realism and low in mundane realism |
b. | low in experimental realism and high in mundane realism |
c. | high in experimental realism and low in mundane realism |
d. | high in experimental realism and high in mundane realism |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Compared to laboratory experiments, field experiments tend to be ____.
a. | low in internal validity and low in external validity |
b. | low in internal validity and high in external validity |
c. | high in internal validity and low in external validity |
d. | high in internal validity and high in external validity |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; When findings from a study are likely to generalize to other people and other settings, the study is said to have ____.
a. | external validity |
b. | internal validity |
c. | construct validity |
d. | mundane realism |
ANS: A DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; If a study is high in external validity, then ____.
a. | the findings are likely to generalize to other people and other settings |
b. | the researcher can conclude that there is a cause-and-effect relationship |
c. | participants are exposed to only one level of the independent variable |
d. | participants are exposed to all levels of the independent variable |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; Zhao’s research interest is to determine if poverty causes one to be more politically liberal. However, he cannot randomly assign people to conditions of poverty versus wealth because (aside from the practical difficulty) it would be unethical to do so. Zhao will have to ____.
a. | conduct a field experiment |
b. | take a correlational approach |
c. | do a meta-analysis |
d. | develop a factorial design |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Dr. Hurtado and Dr. Yashari have recently conducted a study and found a positive correlation between music-listening and dancing ability: People who listen to lots of music tend to be excellent dancers. The correlation is statistically significant. Can they conclude that listening to music causes people to be better dancers? Why or why not?
a. | Yes, because there is a positive correlation |
b. | Yes, because there is a statistically significant correlation |
c. | No, because the evidence is correlational, not experimental |
d. | No, because the correlation probably does not hold true for deaf people |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; If you know that achievement is positively correlated with life satisfaction, then you can conclude that ____.
a. | one of two things MUST be true: either achievement causes life satisfaction OR life satisfaction causes achievement |
b. | a third variable (such as commitment or passion) MUST cause both achievement and life satisfaction |
c. | as achievement increases, happiness also increases |
d. | the relationship between the two variables must be statistically significant |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; There is a moderately strong, positive relationship between different forms of prejudice: People who are prejudiced against Group X also tend to be prejudiced against Group Y. Given this information, we should expect the correlation between anti-Jewish prejudice and anti-Asian prejudice to be about ____.
a. | .04 |
b. | |
c. | |
d. | 40 |
ANS: B DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Psychologists typically use a statistic called ____ to denote the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables.
a. | a p-value |
b. | lambda |
c. | coefficient alpha |
d. | a correlation coefficient |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; Correlation coefficients are statistics used to denote ____.
a. | the amount of variability in a dataset |
b. | the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables |
c. | the degree to which the observed differences are due to chance |
d. | the strength of the relationship among three or more variables |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ; NOTES: Modified
; Suppose that there is a perfect negative correlation between the amount of money that Jane spends and the amount of money that she has in her bank account: for every dollar that she spends, she has exactly one less dollar in her bank account (assuming no interest, fees, or credits). Thus the correlation between Jane’s spending and savings can be represented as ____.
a. | r = -100 |
b. | r = |
c. | r = |
d. | r = 100 |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; When there is no relationship between two variables, the correlation coefficient is ____.
a. | -100 |
b. | -1 |
c. | 0 |
d. | + |
ANS: C DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Correlation coefficients are used to describe the relationship between two variables. They are usually denoted using the letter ____.
a. | n |
b. | p |
c. | r |
d. | q |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; A correlation coefficient communicates two pieces of information about the relationship between two variables: The ____ communicates the direction of the relationship, and the ____ communicates the strength of the relationship.
a. | value; sign |
b. | sign; value |
c. | slope; value |
d. | sign; slope |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; The main weakness with correlational research (as opposed to experimental research) is that ____.
a. | researchers cannot conduct tests of statistical significance |
b. | researchers cannot draw conclusions about cause and effect |
c. | correlational research tends to have low external validity |
d. | correlational research tends to be low in mundane realism |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Compared to true experiments, MOST correlational studies are low in ____.
a. | internal validity |
b. | external validity |
c. | construct validity of the cause |
d. | construct validity of the effect |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Suppose that you are interested in knowing whether there are gender differences in suicide (, whether one gender commits suicide more frequently than the other). The only way to study this precise question would be to conduct ____.
a. | a true experiment, using random assignment |
b. | a quasi-experiment, using no random assignment |
c. | a field experiment, using random assignment |
d. | correlational research looking at archival data (existing data) |
ANS: D DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; A literature review that averages together the statistical results from different studies conducted on the same topic is called a ____.
a. | factorial design |
b. | meta-analysis |
c. | replication |
d. | correlational approach |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Mirena wants is interested in the effects of gender on aggression. She collects all the studies she can find that have been conducted on this topic, and averages their results to generate a big picture of what the findings in that area reveal. Mirena has conducted a ____.
a. | correlational study |
b. | field experiment |
c. | quasi-experiment |
d. | meta-analysis |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; You notice a headline that proclaims that over 68% of convicted male rapists viewed pornography before the age of 17. What can you conclude from this?
a. | Viewing pornography increases sexual violence. |
b. | Rapists are frequent consumers of pornography. |
c. | Nothing can be concluded without a comparison. |
d. | Abnormal sexual expression begins early in life. |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Analyze OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: New
; The Literary Digest poll that predicted Alf Landon would resoundingly win the presidential election when, in fact, Franklin Roosevelt won, was flawed by ____.
a. | too small a sample |
b. | a non-random sample |
c. | poorly worded questions |
d. | errors in data analysis |
ANS: B DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Analyze OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Polls that use large random samples yield very accurate predictions. Since 1936, Gallup poll results taken just before National election days have diverged from actual election results by an average of only about _____.
a. | 2% |
b. | 4% |
c. | 6% |
d. | 8% |
ANS: A DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: New
; In survey research, the total number of people under consideration is called the ____.
a. | sample |
b. | cohort |
c. | population |
d. | frame |
ANS: C DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
NOTES: New
; A random sample of 1,200 can give results that are ____ accurate.
a. | 85% |
b. | 90% |
c. | 95% |
d. | 99% |
ANS: C DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
NOTES: New
; The margin of error of a poll is a measure of the amount of ____ in a survey’s results.
a. | systematic bias |
b. | random sampling error |
c. | Type I error |
d. | construct variance |
ANS: B DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: New
; Reliability is to ____ as validity is to ____.
a. | consistency; measuring what something claims to measure |
b. | measuring what something claims to measure; consistency |
c. | temporal consistency; internal consistency |
d. | internal consistency; temporal consistency |
ANS: A DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; The measure of the amount of random sampling error in a survey’s result is known as ____.
a. | r |
b. | the p-value |
c. | the correlation coefficient |
d. | the margin of error |
ANS: D DIF: Easy
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Which of the following would constitute the BEST random sample of a university population?
a. | The residents who live in the dorms, which represents 70% of the university population |
b. | The students who take classes during the day, which represents 85% of the university population |
c. | The students whose names were drawn from a list of all students enrolled in classes, a sample representing 30% of the university population |
d. | The students attending a popular athletic event, which represents 10% of the university population |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; The textbook discusses the “self-correcting nature of science” as it applies to social psychology. The idea here is that, over time, erroneous conclusions are revised appropriately, because ____.
a. | most research in social psychology builds off of prior research relatively slowly and systematically |
b. | common sense will override conclusions that are obviously incorrect |
c. | most psychologists study a single topic for their entire careers, and will notice if they made mistakes earlier |
d. | every 20-30 years, researchers revisit old topics and replicate all of the old research |
ANS: A DIF: Easy REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
NOTES: Modified
; Replication refers to ____.
a. | the joint effects of two or more independent variables |
b. | the technique of meta-analysis |
c. | repeating an experiment to see if the same results can be obtained |
d. | an experimental setting seeming like the real-world |
ANS: C DIF: Easy REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Replication is an important part of ____.
a. | the self-correcting nature of science |
b. | experimental design |
c. | measuring a correlation |
d. | experimental realism |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; MOST research in social psychology is based on ____.
a. | prison inmates and the elderly |
b. | adult samples from the general population |
c. | high school student samples |
d. | college student samples |
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Research on the ways in which college students differ from others has found that college students ____.
a. | have intelligence levels similar to non-students |
b. | have more experience with responsibility than non-students |
c. | have less firmly-established self-concepts than do non-students |
d. | are more likely to be ethnic minorities than are non-students |
ANS: C DIF: Moderate REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: New
; Your textbook and the study of social psychology is based on the assumption that ____.
a. | it is important to understand how to manipulate and control behavior |
b. | there are far more cultural differences than there are similarities |
c. | intraindividual variability far exceeds interindividual variability |
d. | human nature has some basic, universal features |
ANS: D DIF: Moderate REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: New
; Suppose that you are conducting a research project for a social psychology class. Due to the fact that you have no budget for the research, you are forced to rely on a college student population. How big of a problem is this in terms of your ability to later generalize your findings to other groups of people?
a. | It is completely unimportant for the majority of topics studied by social psychologists. |
b. | It is a very serious problem for most, but not all topics, within social psychology. |
c. | It is a very serious problem if your sample size is under 1000, and thus, lacks a measure. |
d. | It is generally not a very serious problem unless you are studying certain topics. |
ANS: D DIF: Easy REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: Modified
; Most research in social psychology is based on Western European and Northern American samples, though some research has also been conducted in other areas of the world. Based on what is known to date, it appears to be reasonably safe to generalize social psychological research findings to the vast majority of ____.
a. | people living in the who are Caucasian |
b. | people living in the |
c. | people living in Western nations |
d. | people from all cultures in the world |
ANS: C DIF: Difficult REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Most social psychological research has been conducted in the and a few very similar nations. According to the textbook, how well do findings generalize to other cultures?
a. | With only one notable exception, no cross-cultural differences have been found in any area of social psychology. |
b. | In general, there appear to be many large and important cross-cultural differences across areas of social psychology. |
c. | In general, there appear to be many large and important cross-cultural differences for women, but very few cross-cultural differences for men. |
d. | Because not enough research has been replicated cross-culturally, it is not well understood what will or will not generalize. |
ANS: D DIF: Difficult REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; MOST social psychological research has been conducted in ____.
a. | the and a few similar western European nations |
b. | the and China |
c. | England |
d. | Austria and France |
ANS: A DIF: Moderate REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
TRUE/FALSE
; When people work on a task jointly with someone else (, putting together a large bookcase), each person tends to put in less effort than he or she would if working alone.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; Social psychology was in existence as a distinct field roughly 100 years before Freudian psychoanalysis.
ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; Social psychology primarily relies on the experimental method.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; The “ABC triad” in social psychology refers to social psychology’s focus on attribution, behavior, and culture, respectively.
ANS: F DIF: Difficult REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social ;
; Social psychology has been more influenced by the study of history than by any other social science.
ANS: F DIF: Moderate REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Neuroscience integrates the fields of social psychology and biological psychology.
ANS: F DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; According to the textbook, human intuition is typically an excellent guide to understanding human behavior.
ANS: F DIF: Easy REF: Why People Study Social Psychology
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Social psychologists usually derive their hypotheses from existing theories.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Researchers usually test their hypotheses at the .05 level of significance.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Random assignment is one of the defining features of correlational research.
ANS: F DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; The two defining features of an experiment are control and random assignment.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; If the effects of two variables cannot be separated from each other, the variables are said to be confounded.
ANS: T DIF: Difficult
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: New
; The term “experimental realism” refers to whether the physical setting of a research study resembles the “real world.”
ANS: F DIF: Moderate
REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social ;
; Replication is essential to the self-correcting nature of science.
ANS: T DIF: Moderate REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Most contemporary research in social psychology is based on college student samples.
ANS: T DIF: Easy REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
COMPLETION
; When people work on a task jointly with someone else (, putting together a large bookcase), each person tends to put in ____________________ effort than he or she would if working alone.
ANS: less
DIF: Easy REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology KEY: Bloom’s: Apply OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the ;
; The school of thought known as ____________________ seeks to explain human behavior in terms of learning principles such as rewards and punishments.
ANS: behaviorism
DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; In social psychology, the “ABC triad” refers to ____________________, ____________________, and____________________.
ANS: affects behaviors cognitions
DIF: Difficult REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; The study of human culture—the shared values, beliefs, and practices of a group of people—is known as ____________________.
ANS: anthropology
DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of ;
; Social psychology has been LEAST influenced by the branch of psychology known as ____________________ psychology until recently.
ANS: developmental
DIF: Difficult REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; What separates psychology from philosophy is psychology’s emphasis on the ____________________.
ANS: scientific method
DIF: Moderate REF: Why People Study Social Psychology KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific ;
; In social psychology, the notation “p <.05″ signifies ____________________.
ANS: statistical significance
DIF: Moderate REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; If you conduct a study and predict that excessive computer use causes social awkwardness, then social awkwardness is the ____________________ variable.
ANS: dependent
DIF: Moderate REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; A person who is secretly working for an experimenter to help create a particular situation is called a(n) ____________________.
ANS: confederate
DIF: Easy REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember
OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; By exercising ____________________, the researcher tries to make sure that any differences observed on the dependent variable were caused by the independent variable and not by other factors.
ANS: experimental control
DIF: Easy REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology. NOTES: New
; Suppose that you participate in an experiment that is designed to examine the effects of sadness on creativity. Even though the sadness manipulation used by the experimenters is very artificial, you nonetheless experience deep sadness during the study. Thus, the study was apparently high in ____________________.
ANS: experimental realism
DIF: Difficult REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; When a researcher conducts an experiment, and is fairly certain that changes in the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable, that experiment is said to be high in ____________________.
ANS: internal validity
DIF: Difficult REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; True experiments have two key features that make them different from other studies. First, in a true experiment, the researcher manipulates (varies) one or more independent variables. Second, the researcher makes use of ____________________.
ANS: random assignment
DIF: Moderate REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; As discussed in the textbook, the main weakness with correlational research (as opposed to experimental research) is that the researcher cannot draw conclusions about ____________________.
ANS: cause and effect
DIF: Moderate REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Repeating an experiment is called ____________________.
ANS: replication
DIF: Easy REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True? KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
ESSAY
; During the era in which social psychology was emerging as a discipline, it was caught between two opposing camps: behaviorism and Freudian psychoanalysis. Explain how social psychology did not fit neatly into either of those camps, and how it ultimately integrated features from both as it emerged as an independent field.
ANS:
a. | Behaviorism sought to explain all human behavior in terms of learning principles and reinforcement contingencies (, rewards and punishments). Behaviorists were opposed to talking about inner processes such as thoughts and feelings as they felt such processes were unobservable and thus “; They preferred to study human behavior using observation and the scientific method. Social psychology, however, was interested in how thoughts and feelings influenced, and were influenced by, social context. |
b. | Freudian psychoanalysis sought to generate elaborate interpretations of individuals’ subjective experiences. In contrast to behaviorists, psychoanalysts were very interested in examining inner processes. However, scholars from this camp rarely engaged in scientific study of these processes; rather, they relied on case analyses from clinical patients. Social psychology appreciated the emphasis on inner processes, but was not aligned to the more subjective methodologies the Freudian psychoanalysts tended towards. |
c. | As social psychology came into its own in the 1970s, it was able to integrate the Freudian interest in inner processes with the behaviorist commitment to the scientific method. Social psychologists found ways to study thoughts, feelings and behaviors using the scientific method rather than case studies. |
DIF: Moderate REF: A Brief History of Social Psychology KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Name the early influences and key ideas that had a lasting influence on the field.
; Describe the ABC triad and give examples of each component with respect to the experience of falling in love.
ANS:
a. | Affect: The A in the triad stands for affect. Affect refers to feelings or emotional experiences. For example, when a person falls in love, they have the overwhelming emotional experience of passion for another person. |
b. | Behavior: The B in the triad stands for behavior. Behavior refers to actions that people do. For example, when a person falls in love, they alter their schedule to spend more time with their beloved or find themselves talking on the phone more frequently than they do when they are not in such an intense relationship. |
c. | Cognition: The C in the triad stands for cognition. Cognition refers to thoughts or beliefs. For example, when a person falls in love, they find themselves thinking of the object of their affection constantly. |
DIF: Moderate REF: What Do Social Psychologists Do? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the ABC triad of social psychology.
; Compare and contrast social psychology with two other branches of psychology (, cognitive psychology, personality psychology).
ANS:
a. | Biological psychology: The study of what happens in the brain, nervous system, and other aspects of the body; increasingly overlapping with social psychology. |
b. | Clinical psychology: The study of behavior disorders and other forms of mental illness, and how to treat them; has a long history of fruitful exchange with social psychology. |
c. | Cognitive psychology: The study of thought processes, such as how memory works and what people notice; linked with social psychology via research in social cognition. |
d. | Developmental psychology: The study of how people change across their lives, from conception and birth through old age and death; relevant to social psychology but an area with little overlap historically. |
e. | Personality psychology: The study of important individual differences; very intertwined with social psychology. |
DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Compare and contrast social psychology with two related fields outside of psychology (, sociology, anthropology).
ANS:
a. | Anthropology: The study of human culture—the shared values, beliefs, and practices of a group of people. |
b. | Economics: The study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, and the study of money. |
c. | History: The study of past events. |
d. | Political science: The study of political organizations and institutions, especially governments. |
e. | Sociology: The study of human societies and groups that form those societies; differs from social psychology in that sociologists focus on groups while social psychologists focus on individuals within groups. |
DIF: Easy REF: Social Psychology’s Place in the World KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Explain how social psychology relates to other fields of study.
; Explain the difference between applied and basic research.
ANS:
a. | Applied research is focused on a particular, substantive problem found in the real world. For example, a scientist may be very interested in reducing discrimination in urban housing. Basic research, in contrast, focuses more on identifying principles of behavior that will generalize across contexts of study. For example, a scientist may be interested in understanding the cognitive processes that underlie stereotyping, prejudice, and ultimately discrimination without focusing on a particular setting (like urban housing) in which these processes take place. |
DIF: Difficult REF: Why People Study Social Psychology KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
; Outline the scientific method, describing each of the different steps involved.
ANS:
a. | State a problem for study. |
b. | Define a hypothesis. |
c. | Design a research study and collect data. |
d. | Conduct statistical analyses of data. |
e. | Communicate study results (write up a journal article and submit it for publication). |
DIF: Moderate REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Remember OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific ;
; Compare and contrast the experimental method with the correlational method. How do these two approaches differ, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
ANS:
a. | Experimental method: Involves manipulation of at least one independent variable and measurement of at least one dependent variable. The two defining features are random assignment (to conditions, or levels, of an independent variable) and control (over the independent variable). Experiments are typically preferred to other studies within social psychology because they allow the researcher to draw causal conclusions with a relatively high degree of confidence (, they are high in internal validity). They are sometimes not feasible for practical or ethical reasons, however, and they are often low in external validity and mundane realism. |
b. | Correlational method: Involves measuring the relationship between two or more variables, without manipulation and without random assignment. Correlational studies are relatively low in internal validity (compared to experiments) but they are often a researcher’s only option (, when variables cannot be manipulated for logistic or ethical reasons). Correlational studies are also often relatively high in external validity and mundane realism. |
DIF: Difficult REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Explain the difference between reliability and validity.
ANS:
a. | Reliability is focused on consistency in measurement. Consistency can be measured in several ways. With test-retest reliability, the consistency is temporal in nature. A psychologist measures a characteristic at one time, and then measures it at a later time to see if the measure is stable across times. Alternately, consistency can be measured as “internal consistency” of a measure. If a measure has multiple items on it, all of them purporting to measure the same thing, the items should be highly inter-correlated. Validity, however, focuses more on the degree to which a survey scale measures what it claims to measure. For example, face validity is the degree to which a scale appears on the face of it to measure what it says it measures. Of course, this is not alone sufficient to establish validity. Convergent validity speaks to a measure correlating with other, related measures, while divergent validity speaks to a measure failing to correlate with unrelated measures. Measurement validity deals with whether or not a measure is predictive of outcomes it should be able to predict. An instrument cannot be valid unless it first is reliable. If a measure is inconsistent (either temporally or internally) then we cannot know for certain what exactly is being measured. |
DIF: Difficult REF: How Do Social Psychologists Answer Their Own Questions?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; According to the textbook, is most social psychological research high in external validity? Why or why not? How big of a problem is cultural relativity for social psychology as a field, and what steps are researchers taking to address it?
ANS:
a. | Most research in social psychology is experimental in nature, and conducted on college students in the or western Europe, such that it is often vulnerable to low external validity. While the college student samples used in research do not appear to pose a major problem—at least for most areas within social psychology—there is reason to believe that research findings may not always generalize to different cultures and/or time periods (, that cultural relativity is an issue in social psychology). That being said, not enough cross-cultural research has been done to know the extent of this problem. However, because science is self-correcting—the fact that research slowly and systematically builds off of past research, and the fact that the peer review process is in place at most major journals, help to ensure that errors in past research will be brought to light—any cultural biases/limitations in social psychological research should, over time, be corrected. Social psychologists have become increasingly aware that their research could be culturally biased, and they are more and more often seeking to replicate their research cross-culturally (and with diverse samples/methods within cultures), as well as to conduct more research on the role of culture and cross-cultural differences themselves. |
DIF: Difficult REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True? KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Assess the different methods of data collection in social psychology.
; Explain the self-correcting nature of science.
ANS:
a. | Often in social psychology, two opposing sides of a position can point to experimental data that seems to support conflicting perspectives. Furthermore, some data may be flawed, leading to erroneous conclusions. Because science is an iterative process, each new study builds on previously published ones, correcting design flaws and erroneous conclusions along the way. Additionally, when new researchers replicate old studies, they are able to establish if the results are repeatable. If they are, we can have all the more confidence in them. If they are not replicated, then we may have to question if the results from the original study were a statistical fluke, and more research will be required. Over time, as researchers correct flaws and replicate previous studies, science can approximate the truth more and more ; |
DIF: Moderate REF: How Much of Social Psychology Is True?
KEY: Bloom’s: Understand OBJ: : Describe the components and steps of the scientific method.
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