Influencing Behavior Answer Key 2

46. Mass psychogenic illness shows the power of a. informational social influence. b. normative social influence. c. compliance. d. the immune system. Answer: A 47. How did researchers know that the 1998 case of mass psychogenic illness at a Tennessee high school (described in the text) was due to social influence? a. Clinical interviews indicated the psychological origin of the illness. b. The spread of illness was correlated with the extent of interaction of individuals. c. The spread of illness was correlated with media reporting of the illness. d. No physical cause for the illness could be found. Answer: D 48. The members of a local police precinct just had to be evacuated because a number of people reported nausea, blurry vision, and numb hands. It was determined that it was a case of mass psychogenic illness. These types of illnesses tend to begin with people who are a. leaders in their communities. b. hypochondriacs. c. physically debilitated. d. under stress. Answer: D 49. In which of the following does the role of informational rather than normative social influence most predominate? a. fraternity hazing b. cult mass suicides c. mass psychogenic illnesses d. the rise in eating disorders Answer: C 50. According to the authors of your text, mass psychogenic illness is more easily spread now because of a. chronic use of antibiotics. b. access to mass media. c. urban living. d. use of ineffective coping strategies. Answer: B 51. The major downside risk of informational social influence is that the more ________ the situation is, the more we rely on others who are no more likely to be knowledgeable or accurate than we ourselves are, leading us each to adopt others’ mistakes and misinterpretations. a. clearly defined b. superficial c. familiar d. ambiguous Answer: D 52. During the Middle Ages, victims of the imaginary illness “dancing manias” lost all inhibitions and whirled wildly through the streets. During the twentieth century, modern Americans fell prey to the misdeeds of a “phantom anesthetist” who entered homes and gassed the inhabitants. According to your text, how is mass psychogenic illness most different today from how it was in the Middle Ages? a. In the past, symptoms were religious in nature; today they are technological. b. In the past, normative social influence contributed to contagion; today, informational social influences contribute. c. Today there is greater consensus than in the past about the so-called “sources” of such illnesses. d. Today, the modern mass media accelerate the rate of “infection.” Answer: D 53. What do the following situations share in common: a million listeners of Orson Welles’s broadcast of War of the Worlds become panic-stricken, believing it is a real event; a case of mass psychogenic illness occurs in Tennessee; people in the Middle Ages became “infected” with dancing manias. All are examples of a. cognitive dissonance. b. obedience to authority. c. normative social influence. d. informational social influence. Answer: D 54. First-year college students may be more susceptible than seniors to informational social influence because a. they want to be liked by a group. b. there is a charismatic leader in the group. c. they have no allies in their group. d. the situations they encounter are ambiguous. Answer: D 55. When Steven goes to his fraternity meeting, all of the following factors will increase the impact of informational social influence on him except the a. ambiguity of the situation. b. importance of the group. c. extent to which a situation is a crisis. d. expertise of others. Answer: B 56. People are motivated to impose clear definitions on ambiguous situations. All of the following processes except ________ are used to resolve ambiguity of information. a. schematic processing b. making attributions c. informational social influence d. dissonance reduction Answer: D 57. Many U.S. troops present at My Lai later reported that they were frightened and confused about whether people in the villages were really enemy soldiers. Others reported that they didn’t know whether the rifle-fire they heard was from enemy guns or from the guns of fellow troops. Still, frightened and bewildered, many of them began setting fire to huts and shooting old men, women, and children. This tragic example illustrates that informational influence is most likely to occur when a. authorities model the appropriate behavior. b. situations are interpreted as a crisis. c. we look to experts for cues. d. charismatic leaders provide a new definition of reality. Answer: B 58. When it comes to informational social influence processes, we are more likely to conform with experts’ ideas and behaviors than with nonexperts’ because a. social norms dictate that experts should be obeyed. b. expertise is associated with social status and power. c. experts are viewed as more credible sources of information. d. experts convey clearer expectations of obedience. Answer: C 59. Priscilla is on her way to a concert and has gotten lost. Which of the following people, based on information from your text about informational social influence, would she be most likely to ask for directions? a. a tourist from out of town b. the largest group of people she can find c. a police officer d. a homeless person Answer: C 60. ________ conformity is to the desire to be right as ________ conformity is to the desire to be liked. a. Normative; informational b. Mindless; normative c. Informational; mindless d. Informational; normative Answer: D 61. Informational social influence is to ________ as normative social influence is to ________. a. public compliance; private acceptance b. private acceptance; public compliance c. conversion; private acceptance d. conformity; conversion Answer: B 62. The authors of your text report instances of teens “surfing” on the tops of electric trains in Brazil, and on cars in the U.S. and Australia. Which of the following best explains such dangerous behavior? a. the power of normative social influence b. the power of informational social influence c. These teens have “excitement seeking” personalities. d. These are usually delinquent teens using this activity for gang initiations. Answer: A 63. The concept of social norms refers to a. the most common beliefs, values, or behavior in a group of people. b. implicit or explicit rules a group has for acceptable beliefs, values, or behavior. c. social sanctions a group provides in response to deviant behavior. d. social practices designed to promote cooperation in a group. Answer: B 64. When you and your friends greet each other, it’s customary for you to give each other a special, complicated handshake. This handshake can be considered the ________ for greeting each other in your group. a. hikikomori b. autokinetic effect c. social norm d. disjunctive norm Answer: C 65. Which of the following is an example of a social norm in mainstream U.S. culture? a. bowing to your parents as a greeting b. using your turn signal to indicate which direction you will be turning c. reading a book d. asking a homeless person for help finding an address Answer: B 66. In essence, normative social influence arises from humans’ fundamental a. selfishness, which must be kept in check. b. need for companionship, affection, and acceptance. c. need for accurate perceptions and beliefs about a confusing world. d. desire to submit to knowledgeable authorities. Answer: B 67. When people conform in attitudes or behaviors in order to be accepted and liked by others, social psychologists say that ________ has occurred. a. contagion b. informational social influence c. social approval d. normative social influence Answer: D 68. Imagine that you are attending a new high school and would like to make friends. On the first day of school, you observe that all of the students in your homeroom are crumpling paper into balls and throwing them on the floor. You begin to do the same. You have conformed to the group’s behavior due to a. informational social influence. b. mass psychogenic illness. c. normative social influence. d. obedience to authority. Answer: C 69. Going along with the crowd (e.g., swallowing goldfish, smoking pot, train-surfing) because of a fear of social exclusion is an example of a. normative social influence. b. informational social influence. c. social impact. d. social dominance. Answer: A 70. Deviant behavior is usually met with rejection. For example, in Japan, deviants in school tend to be shunned and harassed by their entire class or school. Such treatment is particularly psychologically damaging in Japan because the culture a. demands perfection. b. emphasizes cohesion and group harmony. c. frowns upon conformity. d. emphasizes good grades. Answer: B 71. In Japan, some teens become hikikomori, often after being victims of severe bullying. Someone who is hikikomori can be described as a. withdrawn from all social interaction. b. gregarious and outgoing. c. schizophrenic and paranoid. d. extremely aggressive towards others. Answer: A 72. Itsuki, a Japanese teenager, has withdrawn from all social interaction. He is referred to as a hikikomori. The most likely reason for his withdrawal is as a result of a. academic failure. b. being from a dishonored family. c. being an illegitimate child. d. being bullied severely. Answer: D 73. Bill has been deprived of human contact for long periods of time. He will tend to experience a. insanity. b. stress and trauma. c. contentment. d. increased desire to help others. Answer: B 74. Leslie keeps getting harassing, put-down messages on her phone and Facebook page from a group of kids at her school. Leslie is being a. ostracized. b. socially normed. c. cyberbullied. d. e-dissed. Answer: C 75. Which type of conformity is most at odds with our cultural ethos of individualism and independence and most closely matches the negative stereotypes of those who conform as being “weaklings”? a. nonconformity b. informational conformity c. normative conformity d. anti-conformity Answer: C 76. Pierre joins the other concertgoers in giving the symphony a standing ovation, even though he thought the performance was merely adequate. The next morning, Pierre confides to his girlfriend that the performance was “satisfactory, but not overwhelming.” In joining the standing ovation, Pierre displayed what kind of conformity? a. private acceptance b. mindless conformity c. public compliance d. social deviance Answer: C 77. Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) embarked on a series of studies in which participants were asked to estimate the lengths of lines that clearly differed in length. Asch originally undertook these experiments to a. systematically replicate the earlier “autokinetic effect” studies of Muzafer Sherif, using different ambiguous stimuli. b. demonstrate that in ambiguous situations, people would rather be “liked” than “right.” c. show that in unambiguous situations, people will behave in reasonable, rational ways. d. challenge the prevailing view that humans are inherently motivated to be accurate in their perceptions. Answer: C 78. Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) conducted a series of studies in which participants were asked to estimate the lengths of lines that clearly differed in length. Participants then heard the other group members give correct estimations for some trials, and blatantly incorrect estimations for others. When confederates in the study gave an incorrect response, how did participants respond? a. They refused to provide an obviously incorrect answer. b. They tried to correct the confederates’ mistakes and persuade them to make the correct choice. c. They tended to conform on at least one of the trials. d. They refused to answer, or “passed” their turn. Answer: C 79. In a series of experiments, why did Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) ask participants to judge the lengths of lines that were clearly different from one another? Asch a. wanted to study conformity in ambiguous situations. b. believed that people would conform in their judgments. c. wanted to study conformity in unambiguous situations. d. believed that Muzafer Sherif’s experiments were fatally flawed. Answer: C 80. Recall that Solomon Asch (1951, 1956) asked participants to estimate the lengths of lines. In response to the incorrect answers of others, some participants actually denied what their eyes saw. These studies provide evidence of a. normative social influence. b. informational social influence. c. private acceptance. d. contagion. Answer: A 81. In a series of studies by Solomon Asch (1951, 1956), when participants judged the lengths of lines alone rather than in a group of confederates, their judgments were accurate about 99 percent of the time. Still, when other participants made judgments in a group of people who gave the wrong answers, they reported incorrect judgments. These findings suggest that a. experts exert informational social influence in ambiguous situations. b. normative social influence was at work. c. informational social influence happens, even in unambiguous situations. d. people will distort reality to avoid punishment or social censure. Answer: B 82. What is the moral or the take-home message of Solomon Asch’s (1951, 1956, 1957) series of experiments in which participants were asked to judge the lengths of lines? People will go to great lengths a. to please people on whom they depend. b. not to look like fools in front of others. c. to assert their independence. d. to convince others of their points of view. Answer: B 83. In a variation of his standard experiment, Solomon Asch (1957) found that when participants could write their responses on a piece of paper, conformity dropped dramatically. This finding indicates that participants exhibited ________, not ________, during the standard experiment. a. public compliance; private acceptance b. private acceptance; public compliance c. logical reasoning; mindless conformity d. mindless conformity; logical reasoning Answer: A 84. Studies of the importance of normative social influence are particularly noteworthy in that they show that people conform even a. to strangers they will never see again b. to friends c. to relatives d. in private as well as in public Answer: A 85. Amanda is assigned to a group to take a quiz (which actually doesn’t count towards the course grade). For one of the questions, she is certain the correct answer is C, but the rest of her group all says the answer is A. Based on information about the Asch line studies, how would Amanda be likely to respond? a. She would firmly state her case for answer C. b. She would easily be persuaded that the actual answer is A. c. She would go along with the group, but still believe C is correct. d. She would ask for a new group. Answer: C 86. The Asch line studies were conducted over fifty years ago, and society has changed quite a bit. A recent study involving fMRI and the line judgment task attempted to replicate some of Asch’s results. What were the results of this study? a. People today are more susceptible to conformity than people fifty years ago. b. People today are less susceptible to conformity than people fifty years ago. c. Results suggested that people no longer conform. d. Results were very similar to those of Asch’s original studies. Answer: D 87. Sillain is participating in a fMRI study replicating Asch’s line judgment study. When she performed alone at judging the figures, or when she conformed to the wrong answer, what area of her brain was most likely active? a. the decision-making center b. the motor cortex c. the area dedicated to vision d. the prefrontal cortex Answer: C 88. Results from a recent fMRI study replicated Asch’s line judgment study. The results of the fMRI suggest that when participants judged rotated figures and stated a correct answer when the others around them unanimously stated an incorrect answer, the area of the brain that was active was the a. visual cortex, which senses and perceives visual input. b. amygdala, which is associated with negative emotions. c. hippocampus: an area associated with trauma. d. right cingular gyrus: an area associated with pain detection. Answer: B 89. Recall that in a study by Baron et al. (1996), participants in one condition were asked to select perpetrators after a lineup in conditions of low ambiguity, so that participants in the control condition made very few mistakes. Recall also that some participants were told that the task was one that was being designed for use by the police department and were offered $20 if they were the most accurate, while others were told that it was just a laboratory task under development. This condition of the study found that a. the more important it was to participants to be correct, the more they conformed to other group members’ answers. b. the more important it was to participants to be correct, the less they conformed to other group members’ answers. c. people conformed more when the pressures were for normative rather than informational influence. d. when importance was high and ambiguity was low, conformity virtually disappeared. Answer: B 90. Research by Baron et al. (1996) on the importance of accuracy indicates that the more important it is for people to be accurate, the a. less likely it is that people will conform, regardless of how clear the correct answer is. b. more likely it is that people will conform, regardless of how clear the correct answer is. c. more people conform if the correct answer is ambiguous and the less people conform if the correct answer is clear. d. more people conform if the correct answer is clear and the less people conform if the correct answer is ambiguous. Answer: C 91. Research by Baron et al. (1996) on the importance of accuracy indicates that the more important it is for people to be accurate, the a. more likely people are to engage in both informational and normative conformity. b. less likely people are to engage in both informational and normative conformity. c. more likely people are to engage in informational conformity, but the less likely people are to engage in normative conformity. d. more likely people are to engage in normative conformity, but the less likely people are to engage in informational conformity. Answer: C