Sociolgical Findings Vs.

Common Sense
Quiz

Complete all the questions before turning the page to find the answers.

1. True or False More US students are shot to death now than 10 or

15 years ago.
2. True or False The earnings of US women have just about caught
up with US men.
3. True or False When faced with natural disasters such as floods or
earthquakes, people panic and social organization disintegrates.
4. True or False Most rapists are mentally ill.
5. True or False Most people on welfare are lazy and looking for a
handout. They could work if they wanted to.
6. True or False Compared with women, men maintain more eye
contact in face-to-face conversation.
7. True or False Couples who live together before getting married
are usually more satisfied with their marriages than couples who do
not live together before marriage.
8. True or False Most husbands of working wives who get laid off
from work take up the slack and increase the amount of housework
they do.
9. True or False Because bicyclists are more likely to wear helmets
now than just a few years ago, their rate of head injuries has dropped.
10. True or False Students in Japan are under such intense pressure
 to do well in school that their suicide rate is about twice that of US
students.
ANSWERS

1. False. More students were shot to death at US schools in the early 1990s than
now (National School Safety Center).
2. False. Over the years, the wage gap has narrowed but only slightly. On average,
full time working women early only about 77% of what full time men earn.
3. False. Following disasters, people develop greater cooperation and social
organization to deal with the catastrophe.
4. False. Sociologists compared the psychological profiles of prisoners convicted of
rapeand prisoners convicted of other crimes. Their profiles were similar. Like
robbery, rape is a learned behaviour.
5. False. Most people on welfare are children, old, sick, mentally and physically
handicapped or young mothers with few marketable skills. Fewer than 2% meet
the stereotype of able bodied.
6. False. Women maintain considerable more eye contact (Henley et al. 1985).
7. False. The opposite is true. The reason, researchers suggest, is that many couples
who cohabit before marriage are less committed to marriage in the first place –
and this commitment to one another is a key to marital success (Larson 1988).
8. False. Most husbands of working wives who get laid off reduce the amount of
work they do. The reason is that husbands who get laid off (or who earn less)
have their masculinity threatened because he is failing in his traditional gender
role as provider. Doing housework. “women’s work”, threatens it even further so
he is more like to avoid it (Hochschild 1989; Brines 1994).
9. False. Bicyclists today are more likely to wear helmets, but the numbers of head
injuries have increased. Research suggests they are more likely to take risks
because their helmets make them feel safer (Barnes 2001).
10. False. The suicide rate pf US students is about double that of Japanese students
(Haynes and Chalker 1997).