Social Cognition How We Think about the Social World Part 1

CHAPTER 3 SOCIAL COGNITION: HOW WE THINK ABOUT THE SOCIAL WORLD ______________________________________________________ Multiple Choice Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question. 1. Watson, the computer, won his game of Jeopardy against two very skilled opponents. However, he would not do very well at a. checkers b. chess c. poker d. Trivial Pursuit Answer: C Difficulty: 1 Page(s) in Text: 47 Topic: Introduction Skill: FACTUAL 2. ________ thinking is nonconscious, effortless, and unintentional, whereas ________ thinking is conscious, effortful, and intentional. a. Biased; accurate b. Automatic; controlled c. Controlled; automatic d. Illogical; logical Answer: B Difficulty: 1 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: The Social Thinker; On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 3. Psychologists distinguish between two types of cognitive processing. ________ thinking is nonconscious and unintentional, whereas ________ thinking is conscious and intentional. a. Accurate; inaccurate b. Automatic; controlled c. Inefficient; efficient d. Controlled; automatic Answer: B Difficulty: 1 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: The Social Thinker; On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 4. Parents seldom spend a lot of time explaining to their children how to ride a bicycle. Instead, they often get a bike with training wheels and let the children learn for themselves how to ride a bike. This is because our understanding about how to ride a bicycle is based on a. automatic thinking which is difficult to describe to someone else. b. controlled thinking that can only be learned by experience. c. intuition that is difficult to express in language that a child can understand. d. personal experience that is not likely to be believed by the child. 2 Answer: A Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: The Social Thinker Skill: CONCEPTUAL 5. New professors often have to concentrate very hard to give a lecture, and monitor themselves carefully to make sure they’re not talking too fast and that they are using appropriate and clear examples. More seasoned professors do not have to concentrate as much, and can talk clearly and engagingly, and keep an eye on students all at the same time. This example represents the transition from ________ thinking to ________ thinking as professors gain experience. a. automatic; controlled b. unconscious; conscious c. controlled; automatic d. random; systematic Answer: C Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 6. Christopher is considering breaking up with his high-school sweetheart. He spends many hours weighing the benefits and drawbacks, he asks his friends for advice, and he thinks about it further before coming to his decision. In this case, Christopher is using a. automatic thinking. b. the representativeness heuristic. c. controlled thinking. d. self-fulfilling prophecies. Answer: C Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: The Social Thinker Skill: APPLICATION 7. ________ refers to the way people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions about themselves and others. a. Social cognition b. Schemas c. Counterfactual thinking d. Decision rules Answer: A Difficulty: 1 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: The Social Thinker Skill: FACTUAL 8. In general, when people first encounter a novel situation, they tend to a. be in a state of complete confusion until they have explored extensively. b. size up the situation quickly and effortlessly and, for the most part, correctly. c. size up the situation quickly and effortlessly, but with frequent and extensive errors that are corrected only with experience. d. size up the situation quickly and effortlessly, but with frequent and extensive errors that are impervious to change. Answer: B Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: The Social Thinker Skill: CONCEPTUAL 3 9. The way that automatic and controlled thinking tend to work together can be best compared to a a. computer graphics system that relies on both bitmap (pixel by pixel) and vector (mathematically generated line) images. b. modern jet system that can fly on automatic pilot but also has a manual override. c. car that can drive in either four-wheel or two-wheel drive. d. deciduous tree that has leaves in spring through fall but is bare in the winter. Answer: B Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: The Social Thinker Skill: CONCEPTUAL 10. Complete the following analogy. Nonconscious thinking: _______ :: conscious thinking: ________. a. biased; accurate b. automatic; controlled c. controlled; automatic d. illogical; logical Answer: B Difficulty: 1 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: The Social Thinker Skill: CONCEPTUAL 11. Automatic thinking tends to be all of the following except a. nonconscious. b. effortless. c. voluntary. d. unintentional. Answer: C Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 12. According to the authors of your text, when people use automatic thinking, they tend to size up new situations a. slowly and inaccurately. b. quickly and inaccurately. c. slowly and accurately. d. quickly and accurately. Answer: D Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 13. According to the authors of your text, automatic thinking is based on a. subconscious desires and impulses. b. biological responses and cognitive thought. c. one’s sense of self and identity. d. past experiences and knowledge. Answer: D Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 14. 4 We can form impressions of people we interact with rather quickly and effortlessly. We do this by engaging in an automatic analysis of our environments, based on. a.our past experiences and knowledge of the world. b. information provided by our parents. c. biological signals we receive from other people. d. rewards given to us by our friends. Answer: C Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 15. Which of the following is not an example of automatic thinking? a. forming a first impression of someone within seconds of meeting him or her b. conducting a search on the Internet c. having a sense of whether an object is near or far from us d. driving down the highway while also carrying on a conversation Answer: B Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 16. Karen is so used to driving to her boyfriend’s house that when she is taking her little brother to softball practice early one morning, before she is fully awake, she finds herself driving to her boyfriend’s house instead. This is an example of a. judgmental heuristics. b. counterfactual thinking. c. controlled thinking. d. automatic thinking. Answer: D Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 17. Most initial impressions of a novel situation are made using a. controlled thinking. b. the representativeness heuristic. c. counterfactual thinking. d. automatic thinking. Answer: D Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 18. The fact that students “instantly” know the difference between a classroom and a party is an example of a(n) a. controlled thinking. b. automatic thinking. c. schema. d. social cognition. Answer: B Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 48 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 5 19. ________ are the cognitive structures we use to organize our knowledge of the social world. a. Heuristics b. Schemas c. Cognitive filters d. Counterfactuals Answer: B Difficulty: 1 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 20. Schemas are most like which of the following? a. an experiment b. a hypothesis c. interjudge reliability d. a correlation coefficient Answer: B Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 21. When Robin meets her friend’s new roommate, she sees that she has easels and paints strewn about, and has decorated her side of the room with lots of hand-made ceramic pots and paintings. At first, Robin is most likely a. to use her “artistic” person schema and assume that her friend’s roommate is free-thinking and creative. b. not to make any assumptions about her friend’s roommate’s preferences and tastes. c. to use her “artistic” person schema and focus on her friend’s roommate’s deviations from the schema, such as the fact that she is majoring in business. d. to change her “artistic” person schema when she discovers that her friend’s roommate is a business major. Answer: A Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 22. When you meet your new roommate for the first time, he is wearing glasses, listening to classical music, and reading a copy of the New Yorker Review of Books. You think, “Well, maybe rooming with an intellectual this year will be good for me.” You instantly categorized your roommate as an intellectual on the basis of your a. schemas. b. memories. c. intuitions. d. heuristics. Answer: A Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 23. Which of the following is not a typical example of the kind of knowledge that is contained in a schema? Your knowledge a. of the typical character traits and behaviors of lawyers. b. of the first date when you spilled red punch all over your partner. c. that fairy tales begin, “Once upon a time....” d. that it is common to leave a 15-percent tip when dining at an eat-in restaurant. Answer: B Difficulty: 2 6 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 24. Schemas are most like which of the following? a. lenses through which we look at and learn about the world b. tires on which we move about in the world c. food which helps us stay energized to explore the world d. pillows which help us recover from our time in the world Answer: A Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 25. Based on the information in this chapter, when we meet someone new, we are likely to a. consider carefully all information about him or her before forming an impression. b. use only internal characteristics such as personality to form an impression. c. categorize this person based on our schemas and other people we know. d. rely on scripts to form an accurate impression. Answer: C Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 26. When Matilda met Joe, she instantly categorized him as a nerd because of his appearance and intense interest in technology and mathematics. Matilda’s categorization is an example of her use of a. scripts. b. schemas. c. controlled processes. d. base rate information. Answer: B Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 27. According to the authors of your text, people are likely to quickly categorize people they have just met. This is due to people’s reliance on a. self-fulfilling prophecies. b. counterfactual thinking. c. controlled thinking d. schemas. Answer: D Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 28. When most Americans walk into a fast food restaurant chain, they know they should walk up to the counter to order, pay, and pick up their food, rather than sit down and wait to be served. This knowledge of how to act in such a situation is called a a. controlled thinking. b. stereotype. c. counterfactual thought. d. schema. 7 Answer: D Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 29. Why do we use schemas? a. Humans are born with schemas. b. Schemas are taught to us in our early childhood. c. Without schemas, the world would seem inexplicable and confusing. d. Schemas ensure that we interpret the world accurately. Answer: C Difficulty: 1 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 30. Korsakov’s syndrome is a neurological disorder that makes sufferers unable to form new memories. The world is disorienting and incoherent to patients with this disorder, so they often confabulate and invent fictions to make the world less scary and confusing. A social psychologist might say that these patients a. invent schemas where none exist. b. have lost their schemas. c. can only use controlled but not automatic processes. d. are not concerned with reducing ambiguity. Answer: A Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 31. Korsakov’s syndrome is a neurological disorder more closely associated with abnormal psychology than with social psychology. Why would the authors of your text describe the symptoms of Korsakov’s syndrome and provide Oliver Sacks’s description of his encounter with a patient suffering from that disease? This discussion illustrates the a. power of schemas to create a false reality. b. importance of schemas in helping humans make sense of their experiences. c. hazards of holding rigid, inflexible schemas. d. dangers of relying on heuristics to understand medical problems. Answer: B Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 32. Jennifer was walking along the street when she saw a man run out of a convenience store clutching on to a bag. The owner of the store runs out and shouts for the man to stop and come back. Jennifer immediately assumes that there has been a robbery, not that the man was in a hurry and forgot his change. How did she fill in this gap in her knowledge of the situation? a. She was using the base rate heuristic. b. She considered self-fulfilling prophecies. c. She was using racial profiling. d. She was relying on a schema. Answer: D Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 8 33. We are most likely to rely on schemas when the situation we confront is a. arousing. b. ambiguous. c. exciting. d. forgettable. Answer: B Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 50 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 34. Which of the following does not describe a schema? a. organizes the social world b. fills in the gaps of the social world c. makes sense of the social world d. increases the accessibility of a trait Answer: D Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 35. Schemas are most helpful when the situation we confront is a. arousing. b. ambiguous. c. exciting. d. forgettable. Answer: B Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 50 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 36. Which of the following is true? a. Construals use schemas to make sense of the social world. b. Schemas use construals to make sense of the social world. c. Construals and schemas are interchangeable concepts. d. Construals and schemas don’t relate to one another at all. Answer: A Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 49-50 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 37. Carol has a subtle “Mona Lisa” smile that is much harder to detect than an obvious toothy grin. Assume that before you met Carol, a mutual friend described her as warm and friendly. The first time Carol smiled at you, if you were to rely on your schemas, you would probably conclude that she is a. bored talking to you. b. a friendly person. c. a cool, aloof person. d. very hard to read. Answer: B Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49-50 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: APPLICATION 9 38. Recall that Harold Kelley (1950) told some college students that their guest lecturer was a warm person, and others that he was a cold person. The visitor then lectured for twenty minutes, and behaved in a very arrogant way during the lecture. When students evaluated the lecturer, a. no matter what the expectation, none of the students liked the arrogant lecturer. b. those students who expected a warm person interpreted his “arrogance” as insecurity. c. students expecting a warm person rated the lecturer as funnier, but no less arrogant than students who expected a cold person. d. students who expected a cold person rated the lecturer as less arrogant than students who expected a warm person. Answer: C Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 49-50 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: FACTUAL 39. Recall that Harold Kelley (1950) told some college students that their guest lecturer was a warm person, and others that he was a cold person. The visitor then lectured for twenty minutes, and behaved in a very cocky, arrogant way during the lecture. All students viewed the lecturer as arrogant, but differed in their assessments of how humorous he was. These results suggest that schemas are a. modifiable. b. more likely to be used to interpret ambiguous behaviors. c. abandoned in the face of ambiguous behaviors. d. specific to a particular situation. Answer: B Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 49-50 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 40. Recall that Harold Kelley (1950) told some college students that their guest instructor was a warm person, and others that he was a cold person. Students who were told that the guest instructor was a warm person evaluated him more positively and participated more in class discussion than did students who were told that he was cold. These results support the idea that schemas are a. universal. b. impossible to modify. c. especially influential when we encounter ambiguous information. d. different, depending on the information to which we are exposed. Answer: C Difficulty: 2 Page(s) in Text: 49-50 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 41. Recall that Kelley (1950) told some students that a guest instructor was a warm person and others that a guest instructor was a cold person. When the instructor behaved in an arrogant way, he was rated as immodest, no matter what students were told about him at the outset. These findings suggest that a. in tense situations, we seldom rely on our schemas. b. schemas change according to the situation they are applied in. c. when behaviors are clear, we rely less on our schemas. d. schemas are specific to the situation in which we find ourselves. Answer: D Difficulty: 3 Page(s) in Text: 49-50 Topic: On Automatic Pilot: Low-Effort Thinking Skill: CONCEPTUAL 10