Buffalo State College



1. According to our discussion in class regarding self justification and self perception theories of attitudes, teachers and parents should use _____ to elicit a desired behavior.

A) reminders of their legitimate authority

B) only social punishments and rewards

C) promises rather than threats

D) the smallest possible incentive

2. For a school debate, Jade has chosen to argue in favor of teen body piercing. Research on the fundamental attribution error suggests that observers of Jade's speech (who are all aware she has been chosen this position) will conclude that her arguments

A) reflect her true internal attitude on the topic.

B) reflect a tendency to present herself favorably.

C) are weak because she was assigned to present a particular position on the topic.

D) will lead her to experience cognitive dissonance.

3. Jade believes that she will be highly successful in medical school if she works hard and carefully manages her time. Her belief most clearly illustrates

A) integrative ability.

B) an internal locus of control.

C) an interdependent self.

D) the self-reference effect.

4. In selecting a random sample from a population, a researcher must

A) allow chance to determine the size of the sample.

B) sacrifice control by disregarding information about the population.

C) make sure every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen for the sample.

D) select most sample members from the middle of any ordered listing.

5. Which of the following best describes the relationship between expressed attitudes and behavior?

A) Expressed attitudes lead to behavioral intentions, which perfectly predict behaviors.

B) Past behaviors lead to behavioral intentions, which lead to expressed attitudes.

C) Expressed attitudes perfectly predict behaviors.

D) They are imperfectly related because both are subject to other influences.

6. Variable X is correlated with Variable Y. Which of the following could explain this correlation?

A) X causes Y.

B) Y causes X.

C) A third variable causes or influences both X and Y.

D) All of the above.

7. Saying is very unlikely to become believing when

A) we have said something positive but not negative.

B) we already tend to believe it anyway.

C) we are not forced into saying it.

D) we are forced into saying it.

8. Contrary to popular opinion, scientists investigate nature

A) from a position of pure objectivity, with no personal motives or social agenda.

B) by interpreting it according to their own mental categories.

C) for its aesthetic value with little or no regard for the artificial value of objectivity.

D) with no preconceptions.

9. In a study of self handicapping, participants guessed answers to very difficult aptitude questions and some were told they had done very well while others were told nothing. They were then given a choice of drugs to take before answering the remaining questions. Most of those who thought they had done well chose to take the drug they believed would

A) improve their intellectual functioning.

B) disrupt their thinking.

C) reduce anxiety.

D) keep them awake and alert.

10. Anderson, Lepper, and Ross provided people with evidence that either risk-prone or cautious people make better firefighters. Those who wrote their own explanation for the findings were particularly susceptible to -___________ even after being presented with contrary findings.

A) the fundamental attribution error.

B) the hindsight bias.

C) behavioral confirmation.

D) belief perseverance.

11. Making a good impression is a way of life for people

A) low in self-monitoring.

B) high in self-monitoring

C) low in self-perception.

D) high in self-perception

12. Research evidence suggests that prisoners given some control over their environments—being able to move chairs, control TV sets, and switch the lights—

A) become more manipulative of prison officials over time.

B) commit less vandalism.

C) experience greater stress and more health problems.

D) experience stronger guilt feelings over past misconduct.

13. When our expectations lead us to act in ways that induce others to confirm those expectations, _______ is at work.

A) illusory correlation

B) counterfactual thinking

C) behavioral confirmation

D) illusion of control

14. Which theory assumes that, when uncertain of our attitudes, we observe our actions for clues about our own attitudes and beliefs?

A) self serving

B) cognitive dissonance

C) self-justification

D) self-perception

15. A person's overall self-evaluation or sense of self worth constitutes his or her

A) self-efficacy.

B) self-awareness.

C) possible self.

D) self-esteem.

17. Fletch often cheats on his income taxes and consoles himself with the thought that everyone else probably cheats a little, too. This rationalization represents

A) the fundamental attribution error.

B) the false uniqueness effect.

C) unrealistic optimism.

D) the false consensus effect.

18. We experience dissonance when we have

A) made a decision between two equally attractive alternatives.

B) acted in ways that are not consistent with previously stated attitudes.

C) insufficient justification for performing a costly act.

D) All of the above.

19. Fletch typically reads information and watches programming that tends to support his existing beliefs. He's less inclined to seek information that might disprove his preconceptions. Fletch's approach illustrates

A) the confirmation bias.

B) the misinformation effect.

C) the base-rate fallacy.

D) the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.

20. When the laboratory experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations, the experiment is said to be high in

A) mundane realism.

B) experimental realism.

C) quality control.

D) situational validity.

21. Social psychology is to ____________ as sociology is to ______________.

A) cognition; influence

B) manipulation; control

C) individuals; groups

D) social theory; social problems

22. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. Yet in a study of 137 applying for a marriage license, most rated their own chance of divorce as zero. This finding illustrates

A) false consensus.

B) self-efficacy.

C) unrealistic optimism.

D) self-verification.

23. The I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon can often lead students of social psychology

A) to over-prepare for an exam.

B) to study just the right amount for an exam.

C) to under-prepare for an exam.

D) None of the above.

24. Our tendency to judge the likelihood of an event on the basis of how readily we can remember instances of its occurrence is called the

A) confirmation bias.

B) representativeness heuristic.

C) belief perseverance phenomenon.

D) availability heuristic.

25. American Psychological Association ethical principles dictate that potential research participants should be told enough about the experiment to

A) make inaccurate guesses about its true purpose.

B) accurately perceive demand characteristics.

C) be able to give their informed consent.

D) detect the researcher's hidden values.

Short Answer:

Explain , using examples, the “vicious cycle” of low self esteem discussed in class.

• The key to these types of questions is to provide all the steps or stages or “parts” that are being asked for (i.e. in this case each of the steps in this cycle) and then give the details to EXPLAIN what each of those components mean on their own and in relation to the overall question (in this case the cycle of low self esteem). The context of the question is still important.

One of your friends comes to you with a problem and asks your advice. They have been having trouble sleeping lately because they cheated on a term paper in class – for the first time ever in their life. They are extremely smart and always seem to get high marks in all their classes. It seems so out of character for them. Knowing what you do about cognitive dissonance theory (be specific to their situation), explain what’s happening to them. What are two methods that could be used to reduce their “suffering” (be sure that they are realistic and actionable).

• For applied questions remember to read the entire question and pick out the different aspects – there will always be multiple parts to the question so multiple parts to your answer (e.g. the context, the application, the theory, the explanation).

• Be aware that I am never asking your opinion. I’m asking you to use some model, theory, or research outcome – something based on the science – to ultimately answer the question. So you will ALWAYS need to give details on that model/theory/research – for example if I ask you about cognitive dissonance you need to tell me what cognitive dissonance actually is. Then use that in the application to the specific situation/context/example I’m giving in the question. But be aware, the most common mistake here is that people just drop the term into the question with no details or direction (or evidence they understand the concept). A bad answer is “cognitive dissonance theory talks about how people can have trouble sleeping because of something they did like cheating”. Nope. That doesn’t show me in any way that you understand cognitive dissonance.

• And you ALWAYS need to answer in terms of this situation that I’m giving you – in this case why then cognitive dissonance is creating sleeping problems/anxiety. The suggestions need to have details on HOW it would reduce dissonance in THIS particular situation.

• Don’t bother BSing because I’m BS proof.

• Answer Key

1. D

2. A

3. B

4. C

5. D

6. D

7. D

8. B

9. B

10. D

11. B

12. B

13. C

14. D

15. D

17. D

18. D

19. A

20. A

21. C

22. C

23. C

24. D

25. C

Explain , using examples, the “vicious cycle” of low self esteem discussed in class.

A person gets a new job and starts off with a low level of Self Esteem

Because of this low SE, they expect very little from themselves (based on their experience that they are not really a person of worth and value, hence neither is their ability to do a good job)

Because they expect themselves to fail or do poorly, they don’t put out a whole lot of effort in doing their job.

As a result, they fail at different tasks that are assigned in their new role.

They see this failure as confirmation of their original expectations of doing poorly at their new job (i.e. they say “see I knew I would fail)

This feeds back on the idea of low self worth and blame (the self schema filters this through the idea that they are a failure and not a person of worth or value).

And the cycle continues.

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One of your friends comes to you with a problem and asks your advice. They have been having trouble sleeping lately because they cheated on a term paper in class – for the first time ever in their life. They are extremely smart and always seem to get high marks in all their classes. It seems so out of character for them. Knowing what you do about cognitive dissonance theory (be specific to their situation), explain what’s happening to them. What are two methods that could be used to reduce their “suffering” (be sure that they are realistic and actionable).

Cognitive dissonance theory says that when we have ideas that are inconsistent (dissonant) or in “logical opposition” we will experience some form of cognitive arousal and discomfort. When this discomfort is great enough (dissonant is more extreme) we are then motivated to reduce this discomfort in some way.

This person has dissonant cogntition – Cheating is wrong and I cheated. Knowing that they are typically smart, these 2 ideas would be troublesome and their coexistence would create discomfort (the trouble sleeping is probably due to them thinking about cheating) and wanting to do something to reduce the discomfort.

Ways to reduce dissonance in this case (you would give 2):

1. Change the behavior – while they can’t go back and “not cheat”, they could confess and hence reverse the cheating.

2. Change the Dissonant Cognition – they could change the idea that cheating is bad. They might “upgrade” their decision to cheat by saying things to themselves like “what I did was OK because it isn’t really that wrong – it’s not REAL cheating”.

3. Minimize Importance - Trivialize – they could say that this wasn’t a big part of their grade. It was only a term paper in one course and not that big of a deal even if they did cheat on it (this reduces the threat to themselves even if they admit to themselves they cheated).

4. Add a consonant cognition – Rationalize – Say to themself that everyone did the same thing in their class. This adds another idea that reduces the tension between the original 2 ideas that cheating is wrong and they cheated but it was part of the typical routine of how things were done in that class by others.

5. Reduce Perceived Choice - Say to themself that it was an unfair paper and in order to get a grade that reflects what they deserve or are capable of, they had to cheat. So they can say they cheated and cheating is wrong but they really had no choice but to cheat.

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Low SE

Negative Expectations

Low effort

Failure

Self Blame

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