social psychology final exam review

Imagine that you are a White participant in the experiment by Russell Fazio and his colleagues (1995). More specifically, after you are primed with pictures of African-American faces, you then complete a computer task in which you indicate whether words flashed on the screen are "good" or "bad" words. Finally, you are debriefed by an African-American experimenter. Were you a person high in implicit prejudice, your response time to ______ and you would treat the experimenter _______.

A. "bad" words would be faster; in a cold and disinterested way
B. "good" words would be faster; in a hostile way
C. the face pictures would be faster; in a cold and disinterested way
D. the face pictures would be slower; in an overly nice way

a. "bad words would be faster; in a cold and disinterested way

In the introduction to Chapter 13 (Prejudice: Causes and Consequences) the authors describe two events: Thurgood Marshall's experience with prejudice and discrimination in the South, and the aftermath of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. What do these two events have in common? They....

A. reflect a racial divide that persists in the United States.
B. show that because of race, national celebrities are not always treated the same.
C. reveal that consequences of prejudice are different, depending on the part of the country.
D. demonstrate the power of prejudice to distort our interpretations.

a. reflect a racial divide that persists in the United States.

According to the authors of your text, it is primarily the _______ aspect of prejudiced attitudes that make them relatively impervious to rational or logical arguments.

A. esteem-enhancing
B. cognitive
C. emotional
D. motivational

c. emotional

Stereotypes can be resistant to change because when we encounter behaviors that contradict our stereotypes, we often make _____ those behaviors.

A. situational attributions for
B. exceptional attributions for
C. ultimate attributions for
D. incorrect interpretations of

a. situational attributions for

Keep in mind Gordon Allport's (1954) description of stereotyping as "the law of least effort." From Allport's perspective, people are often

A. motivated tacticians.
B. cognitive misers.
C. prone to scapegoating.
D. lay scientists.

b. cognitive misers.

Which of the following statements is false? Hostility between two groups can be reduced by

A. having the two groups work together to achieve a common goal.
B. making sure that the two groups are of equal status.
C. having the groups interact in a formal setting with each group occupying half of the room.
D. making sure that it is clear that norms favor equality.

c. having the groups interact in a formal setting with each group occupying half of the room.

_____ refers to a negative attitude toward a distinguishable group of people, based solely on their group membership.

A. Discrimination
B. Stereotypes
C. Racism
D. Prejudice

d. prejudice

According to the authors, one reason why school desegregation efforts didn't have the anticipated positive effects is that the typical classroom

A. teachers hold negative stereotypes about minority children.
B. teachers support common goals, but the students do not.
C. is competitive and students do not participate on an equal footing.
D. is too large for teachers to give attention to all students who need it.

c. is competitive and students do not participate on an equal footing.

Stereotyping is a way of _____ the complex information around us, and thus is sometimes _______.

A. coding; destructive
B. simplifying; adaptive
C. justifying; reassuring
D. judging; decisive

b. simplifying; adaptive

When prejudiced people say, "they all look alike to me," they are illustrating the

A. out-group homogeneity bias.
B. in-group bias.
C. illusory correlation.
D. ultimate attribution error.

a. out-group homogeneity bias

Stereotypes are harmful to the extent they

A. exist.
B. are overgeneralized to members of a group.
C. are based on experience.
D. reduce cognitive effort.

b. are overgeneralized to members of a group.

Carl Hovland and Robert Sears (1940) conducted an archival study to determine whether there was a relation between cotton prices and lynchings in the South. They found a significant negative correlation (-.72) between those two variables. These findings suggest that when _____, out-group hostility _______.

A. in-group members experience economic hardship; increases
B. out-group members gain economic ground; decreases
C. in-group members experience cohesiveness; increases
D. out-group members increase in number; decreases

a. in-group members experience economic hardship; increases

_____ refers to the apprehension among minority group members that they might confirm existing cultural stereotypes.

A. Performance ambivalence
B. Stereotype threat
C. Stereotypic anxiety
D. Evaluation apprehension

b. stereotype threat

From a social cognitive perspective, the first step toward prejudice is

A. the categorization of people into groups.
B. the preference we give to in-groups.
C. our tendency to disparage out-groups.
D. identification with similar others.

a. the categorization of people into groups.

In the jigsaw puzzle classroom technique,

A. children work on jigsaw puzzles to foster cooperative interdependence.
B. lessons are structured so students' only access to most of the information they will be tested on is from other students.
C. lessons are structured so each student works at their own pace so that each student can feel a sense of mastery.
D. lessons are structured so that groups compete for small prizes to create incentives for learning.

b. lessons are structured so students' only access to most of the information they will be tested on is from other students.

"Klee style" versus "Kandinsky style," blue-eyes versus brown eyes, and "overestimators" versus "underestimators" all represent trivial, arbitrary criteria by which to

A. create in-groups and out-groups in the minimal group paradigm.
B. minimize the effects of group membership.
C. perpetuate stereotypes.
D. reduce prejudice.

a. create in-groups and out-groups in the minimal group paradigm.

Stereotypes are the _____ component of a negative attitude toward a group of people.

A. denotative
B. behavioral
C. cognitive
D. affective

c. cognitive

The tendency to make dispositional attributions for undesirable behaviors or negative outcomes about members of an outgroup is called the

A. fundamental attribution error
B. ultimate attribution error
C. out-group homogeneity bias
D. actor/observer effect

b. ultimate attribution error

Recall that Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski (1985) showed participants a debate between an African-American and a European-American, and asked them to rate the debaters' skills. After the debate, in one condition, a confederate made a hostile racist comment about the debaters' skills; in another, a confederate made a nonracist comment; and in a third condition, no comment was made. These researchers found that when participants overheard a racist comment, their ratings of the African-American were lower on a number of dimensions. The results suggest that

A. competition can activate negative stereotypes.
B. stereotype activation can affect future judgments.
C. the power of the situation can override the activation of negative stereotypes.
D. visual cues to distinctive characteristics activate stereotypes.

b. stereotype activation can affect future judgments.

A number of controlled experiments have provided support for the scapegoat theory of prejudice. For example, frustrated Anglo-American students in Alabama delivered stronger shocks to an African-American than to a fellow Anglo-American (Rogers & Prentice-Dunn, 1981), and frustrated students high in anti-Semitism wrote more hostile stories about targets with Jewish surnames (Weatherly, 1961). These controlled studies suggest that

A. realistic competition is not a prerequisite for scapegoating.
B. when no scapegoat is available, people will turn against in-group members.
C. out-group members are less likely than in-group members to engage in scapegoating.
D. frustration is a sufficient cause for scapegoating.

d. frustration is a sufficient cause for scapegoating.

Suppose that Herman is prejudiced toward members of Group A. Increasing Herman's contact with Group A is most likely to reduce his prejudice if:

A. he develops a friendship with one member of Group A, but never meets any other members of this group.
B. his basketball team often plays other teams that have lots of Group A members.
C. he volunteers to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity, and several of his coworkers are members of Group A. At the end of each day, he and all the other workers often go out to dinner together.
D. he gets a job with a company that hires lots of Group A members. Herman has a management position, whereas all of the Group A workers have lower status jobs.

c. he volunteers to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity, and several of his coworkers are members of Group A. At the end of each day, he and all the other workers often go out to dinner together.

British social psychologist Henri Tajfel (1982) asserted that in-group bias is

A. an automatic product of information processing.
B. motivated by the desire to enhance self-esteem.
C. a result of the need to perceive the world accurately.
D. more likely in people who are "cognitive misers."

b. motivated by the desire to enhance self-esteem.

Based on the research of Clark and Clark (Black children's doll choice), one nearly inevitable consequence of being the target of relentless prejudice is

A. genocide.
B. discrimination.
C. lower self-esteem among those in the stigmatized group.
D. rebellion.

c. lower self-esteem among those in the stigmatized group.

Conditions under which contact situations reduce prejudice include

A. biased attenuation, schematic interference, and hierarchical status.
B. common goals, mutual interdependence, and equal status.
C. stereotype suppression, enhanced independence, and positive affect.
D. affective suppression, mutual dependence, and repeated contact.

b. common goals, mutual interdependence, and equal status.

A(n) ______ refers to the tendency to see relations between objects or events that are not actually related, for example between undesirable behaviors and social categories.

A. artificial association
B. incidental inference
C. illusory correlation
D. bogus association

c. illusory correlation

Even nonprejudiced participants in research by Patricia Devine (1989) can recognize such negative stereotypes as "Jews are materialistic" or "African-Americans are hostile." Still, nonprejudiced participants do not endorse those stereotypes. This is suggests that activation of stereotypes is ______, whereas the refutation of stereotypes is ______.

A. automatic; controlled
B. controlled; automatic
C. difficult; effortless
D. distressing; a relief

a. automatic; controlled

Informational (i.e., cognitive) attempts to "re-educate" prejudiced people are often ineffective . This is probably primarily because

A. prejudice is an inevitable part of our sociobiological heritage.
B. prejudice is an affectively-based attitude.
C. stereotypes are a product of erroneous information.
D. it is difficult to influence or control economic forces.

b. prejudice is an affectively-based attitude.

As the only African-American in his class, LaMont tends to worry about committing errors because he does not want all of his white counterparts to think that all African-Americans are intellectually inferior. LaMont is experiencing

A. class anxiety.
B. stereotype threat.
C. group hostility.
D. attribution error.

b. stereotype threat

Social psychologist Janet Swim (1994) has collected data that suggest that gender stereotypes

A. tend to overestimate true gender differences.
B. are held by men, but not by women.
C. are generally quite accurate, but sometimes tend to underestimate true gender differences.
D. are more often positive than negative, unlike racial stereotypes.

c. are generally quite accurate, but sometimes tend to underestimate true gender differences.

Modern racism is _____ than "traditional" prejudice.

A. more blatant
B. more indirect
C. more explicit
D. less serious

b. more indirect

_____ posits that increased prejudice and discrimination result from competition between groups for limited resources and social goods, and the consequent group inequalities that ensue

A. The self-fulfilling prophecy
B. Relative deprivation theory
C. Attribution theory
D. Realistic group conflict theory

d. Realistic group conflict theory

Elizabeth Loftus' "Lost in the Mall" effect is an example of which of the following?

A. A schema-based construal of ambiguous social experience that occurred in the past
B. A case of stereotype-based knowledge overriding the use of individuating information.
C. A use of the availability heuristic that results in a false memory.
D. A reality-monitoring error.

d. A reality-monitoring error.

Recall that Rod Lindsay and his colleagues (1981) staged a calculator theft witnessed by students. These students were videotaped as they were questioned about their eyewitness identifications, and the videotapes were later viewed by students playing the role of jurors. These researchers found that student jurors

A. considered circumstances in which the eyewitnesses encountered the alleged thief.
B. believed the eyewitnesses, even when their identifications were inaccurate.
C. discounted circumstantial evidence when eyewitness testimony was available.
D. discounted inaccurate eyewitness testimony when the alleged thief confessed.

b. believed the eyewitnesses, even when their identifications were inaccurate.

Own-race bias may occur because, when people look at same-race faces, they focus on _____________, whereas when they look at different-race faces, they focus on _________________.

A. the whole face all together; features one at a time
B. individual features; the whole face all together
C. features that distinguish individuals from each other; features that distinguish the races from each other
D. noses and mouths; eyes

c. features that distinguish individuals from each other; features that distinguish the races from each other

In which of the following ways should lawyers present their case to a jury?

A. story order
B. story order, but only for the prosecution lawyer
C. witness order
D. witness order, but only for the defense lawyer
E. both strategies are equally effective

a. story order

The own-race bias refers to the finding that

A. jurors are unlikely to convict a member of their own race.
B. people are better at recognizing faces from members of their own race.
C. crime rates are lower in neighborhoods in which same-race police patrol.
D. lawyers are more successful in defending people of their own race.

b. people are better at recognizing faces from members of their own race.

Considerable social psychological research has demonstrated that jurors tend to

A. disregard eyewitness testimony when there is powerful circumstantial evidence.
B. overestimate the accuracy of eyewitnesses.
C. prefer expert testimony to eyewitness testimony.
D. discount eyewitness testimony when it is presented last in a trial.

b. overestimate the accuracy of eyewitnesses.

Empirical research suggests that the most common cause of false convictions is

A. incompetent or overworked defense counsel
B. prejudice among the jury members
C. erroneous eyewitness identification
D. jurors' inability to understand technical aspects of forensic evidence

c. erroneous eyewitness identification

Chris recently robbed a liquor store and is now scheduled to be in a police lineup where witnesses will try to identify him. Which of the following things would social psychologists NOT recommend to police in order to avoid the "best guess" problem wherein witnesses pick the person who looks most like the suspect?

A. tell witnesses that the person suspected of the crime may or may not be in the lineup
B. do not always include the suspect in an initial lineup
C. present pictures of the suspects all at once rather than one at a time so simultaneous comparisons can be made
D. make sure everyone in the lineup resembles the witness's description of the suspect
E. present witnesses with both photographs and audio recordings of their voices so they can better identify suspects

c. present pictures of the suspects all at once rather than one at a time so simultaneous comparisons can be made

Despite the fact that normative and informational conformity pressures often convince dissenting jurors to adopt the majority point of view, unanimous verdicts are desirable because this requirement encourages jurors to

A. consider the evidence more carefully.
B. discuss their original biases.
C. convict on the more serious offense.
D. reach a speedy and accurate verdict.

a. consider the evidence more carefully.

Recall that Elizabeth Loftus and her colleagues (1978) showed participants a series of slides that depicted an automobile accident. Some participants saw a yield sign in the photos, and other participants saw a stop sign. Later, participants were asked questions that contained information that either matched or did not match what they had actually seen (i.e., a stop sign versus a yield sign). Results demonstrated that participants were least accurate in remembering what they had actually seen when

A. they had a very short time to view the slide series.
B. question contents contradicted what they had actually seen.
C. question contents reflected what they had actually seen.
D. they reported what they had seen after being questioned, rather than before.

b. question contents contradicted what they had actually seen.

Social psychological research has revealed a _______ relation between eyewitness confidence and accuracy.

A. weak negative
B. nonexistent
C. strong positive
D. weak positive

d. weak positive

The process whereby information obtained after an event alters memories of the event is known as

A. misinformation effect.
B. unconscious transference.
C. selective memory.
D. integrative amnesia

a. misinformation effect.

Which of the following is a shortcoming of relying on hypnosis to improve eyewitness testimony?

A. Few eyewitnesses consent to be hypnotized.
B. Hypnotists can plant false memories through post-hypnotic suggestion.
C. People who have been hypnotized become more confident, but not more accurate.
D. Eyewitnesses who have been hypnotized are not allowed to take the stand.

c. People who have been hypnotized become more confident, but not more accurate.

Hostile aggression differs from instrumental aggression in that instrumental aggression

A. often follows from anger or frustration.
B. is more destructive than hostile aggression.
C. is more likely to result in retaliation.
D. involves inflicting pain as a means to an end.

d. involves inflicting pain as a means to an end.

Four men have been indicted for robbing $20,000 from a bank. After the trial, the jury will be most likely to convict

A. Art, who has a criminal record for petty theft.
B. Brian, who recently purchased a new car for $10,000 cash.
C. Cliff, who was the only one identified by an eyewitness.
D. Matt, whose fingerprints were found at the scene.

d. Matt, whose fingerprints were found at the scene.

The process whereby information obtained after an event alters memories of the event is known as

A. the misinformation effect.
B. unconscious transference.
C. a reality-monitoring error.
D. node integration.

a. the misinformation effect.

If you were a prosecutor, what would you be most likely to do to convince the jury that the defendant is guilty?

A. Mention the defendant's criminal record.
B. Explain the defendant's motives for committing the crime.
C. Describe the circumstantial evidence placing the defendant at the crime scene.
D. Have an eyewitness testify that she saw the defendant commit the crime.

d. Have an eyewitness testify that she saw the defendant commit the crime.

What should police officers do to prevent false identifications during lineups?

A. Show all the potential perpetrators at once.
B. Decrease witness's stress levels by only showing them mug shots.
C. Tell witnesses that the lineup may not include the suspect.
D. Use foils with a wide range of physical characteristics.

c. Tell witnesses that the lineup may not include the suspect.

If a single juror disagrees with the rest, what is likely to happen during deliberations?

A. The majority will come to see that the dissenter is right.
B. The single juror will change his or her mind and vote with the majority.
C. Neither the single juror nor the majority will change their minds and the jury will be hung.
D. The majority will be persuaded by compelling logical arguments from the lone dissenter.

b. The single juror will change his or her mind and vote with the majority.

A special type of source-monitoring error, referred to as a(n) _____, occurs when an event someone only imagined comes to be remembered as an actual experience.

A. reality-monitoring error
B. ultimate attribution error
C. misattribution error
D. fantasy-substitute error

a. reality-monitoring error

Cognitive interviews were once viewed as promising techniques for enhancing the accuracy of eyewitnesses' memories. Subsequent research has revealed, however, that they can lead to errors and confabulations. One reason why these interviews lead to errors is that

A. it is difficult for eyewitnesses to create mental image of a crime scene.
B. these interviews rely on hypnosis, which has been found to be unreliable.
C. repeatedly imagining an event can lead to source monitoring errors.
D. polygraph machines can mask the true source of eyewitnesses' arousal.

c. repeatedly imagining an event can lead to source monitoring errors.

Which of the following procedures would be most effective in minimizing "false identification" by an eyewitness?

A. Insist that the suspect and foils remain silent during the lineup.
B. Ensure that the suspect and foils differ greatly in appearance.
C. Present the suspect and foils sequentially.
D. Tell the eyewitness nothing about whether the suspect might or might not be in the lineup

c. Present the suspect and foils sequentially.

Ironically, a few scientific studies have revealed that swift imposition of the death penalty is associated with an increase in murders. The authors speculate that this finding may not seem so bizarre if one considers

A. executions as acts of aggression that might lead to imitation.
B. the race of the convicted murderer.
C. economic factors that result in hopelessness and frustration.
D. people's sense of procedural justice.

a. executions as acts of aggression that might lead to imitation.

In lineups, witnesses often chose the person who most resembles the image they have stored in memory. This can yield inaccurate identifications, and suggests that the _____ stage of memory is affected by the typical lineup procedure.

A. acquisition
B. storage
C. retrieval
D. reconstructive

c. retrieval

A number of long-term correlational studies that monitor what children actually watch on television, and that use teacher and peer ratings of aggressiveness (e.g., Eron, 1987; Huesmann, 1982; Turner et al., 1986) have found that

A. the relation between exposure to TV violence and aggression increases with age.
B. the relation holds for boys, but not for girls.
C. it is reasonable to conclude that exposure to TV violence causes aggression.
D. children who are aggressive to begin with prefer violent TV shows.

a. the relation between exposure to TV violence and aggression increases with age.