SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Most people rate themselves as better than
PRELIM EXAM
GENERAL DIRECTION: Follow the instruction for each test.
Write all answers on the separate sheet provided.
I. TRUE/FALSE. Write PSY if the statement is
true/correct; write PSI if the statement is
otherwise.
1. Social psychology focuses less on individual’s
differences and more on how individuals view
and affect one another.
2. Social psychology is a young science.
3. Social psychology is criticized for being trivial.
4. Intuitions and unconscious information
processing are routinely powerful and sometimes
perilous.
5. Attitudes and behavior are shaped by internal
forces.
6. Attitudes and personality influence behavior.
7. The I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon often
makes people biased about the validity of their
judgments and predictions.
8. Social psychologists organize their ideas and
findings into theories.
9. Most social-psychological research is neither
correlational nor experimental.
10. Knowing that two things are naturally correlated
is a reliable indicator of what is causing what.
11. In creating experiments, social psychologists
sometimes stage situations that engage people’s
emotions.
12. Concerned with the impressions we make on
others, we tend to believe that others are paying
attention to us than they are.
13. Our sense of self helps organize our thoughts and
actions.
14. Cultures do not shape the self.
15. Facing failure, high self-esteem people sustain
their self-worth by perceiving other people as
successful.
16. Research studies conducted about self-esteem
have found that people high in both self-esteem
and narcissism are the least aggressive.
17. Someone with a big ego who is threatened and
deflated by social rejection is potentially
aggressive.
18. Learned helplessness often occurs when
attempts to improve a situation have proven
fruitless.
19. When people are given too many choices, they
may be more satisfied with what they have than
when offered a smaller range of choices.
20.
average on subjective, desirable traits and
abilities.
21. Self-serving bias can be adaptive in that it allows
people to savor the good things that happen in
their lives.
22. When people put themselves down, extol future
competitors, or publicly credit others while
privately crediting themselves is called humility.
23. As social animals, we adjust our words and
actions to suit other people.
24. Self-presentation refers to our wanting to
present favorable image both to other people
and to ourselves.
25. In a phenomenon called priming, people’s
prejudgments have striking effects on how they
perceive and interpret information.
26. Belief perseverance is the phenomenon in which
people cling to their initial beliefs and the
reasons why a belief might be true, even when
the basis for the belief is discredited.
27. Our cognitive efficiency, though generally
maladaptive, comes at the price of occasional
error.
28. Moods color our interpretation of past
experiences.
29. Misattribution is attributing a behavior to the
wrong source.
30. When we attribute people’s behavior so much to
their inner traits and attitudes that we discount
constitutional constraints, we commit
fundamental attribution error.
31. Research on social beliefs and judgments reveals
how we form and sustain beliefs that usually
serve us well but sometimes lead us astray.
32. Changing people’s attitudes typically succeeds to
produce much change in their behavior.
33. Research on the foot-in-the-door phenomenon
reveals that committing a small act makes people
more willing to do a larger one later.
34. Our racial and political behaviors help shape our
social consciousness, in that we not only stand
up for what we believe, we also believe in what
we stand for.
35. Available evidence negates that people do adjust
their attitude statements out of concern for what
other people will think.
36. When more dissonance arises, the more
attitudes do not change.
37. The differences in attitudes and behaviors from
one culture to another indicate the extent to
which people are the products of cultural norms
and roles.
38. Men and women are in many ways alike; yet
their differences attract less attention than their
similarities.
 39. The universal tendency is for males, more than Concepts/terms
females, to occupy socially dominant roles. Correlational research
40. Biological factors operate within a cultural Culture
context, and culture builds on a biological Deception
foundation; this indicates that biological and Field research
cultural explanations need not be contradictory. Framing
Hindsight bias
II. Match the following descriptions/definitions Impact bias
to the appropriate concepts/terms. Informed consent
Interdependent self
Descriptions/definitions Learned helplessness
41. Scientific study of how people think about, Locus of control
influence, and relate to one another Mundane realism
42. An integration of biological and social Self-efficacy
perspectives that explores the neural and Self-esteem
psychological bases of social and emotional Self-schema
behaviors Social comparison
43. The enduring, behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and Social neuroscience
traditions shared by a large group of people and Social psychology
transmitted from one generation to the next Social representations
44. Widely held ideas and values including our Spotlight effect
assumptions and cultural ideologies.
45. Tendency to exaggerate after learning an III. Identify what is asked, described, or answer
outcome a question in the following items. Choose the
46. Research done in natural, real-life settings correct answer from the OPTIONS given.
47. Study of the naturally occurring relationships
among variables A. OPTIONS
48. The way a question or an issue is posed which Attribution theory
can influence people’s decisions and expressed Behavioral confirmation
opinions Belief perseverance
49. Degree to which an experiment is superficially Confirmation bias
similar to everyday situations False consensus effect
50. An effect by which participants of a research are False uniqueness effect
misinformed or misled about the study’s method Group-serving bias
and purposes Illusion of control
51. Ethical principle requiring that research Overconfidence phenomenon
participants be told enough to enable them to Self-fulfilling prophecy
choose whether they wish to participate Self-presentation
52. Beliefs that others are paying more attention to Self-serving attributions
one’s appearance and behavior than they really Self-serving bias
are
53. Beliefs about self that organize and guide the 61. Tendency to perceive oneself favorably
processing of self-relevant information 62. Tendency to attribute positive outcomes to
54. Evaluating one’s attitudes and opinions by oneself and negative outcomes to other factors
comparing oneself with others 63. Tendency to overestimate the commonality of
55. Construing one’s identity in relation to others one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or
56. Overestimating the enduring impact of emotion- unsuccessful behaviors
causing events 64. Tendency to underestimate the commonality of
57. Person’s overall evaluation or sense of self-worth one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful
58. A sense that one is competent and effective behaviors
59. The extent to which people perceive outcome as 65. Attributing negative behaviors to dispositions
internally controllable by their own efforts or as while excusing such behaviors by one’s own
externally controlled by chance or outside forces group
60. The sense of hopelessness and resignation 66. The act of expressing oneself and behaving in
learned when a human or animal perceives no ways designed to create a favorable impression
control over repeated bad events or an impression that corresponds to one’s ideals
67. Persistence of one’s initial conceptions, as when
the basis for one’s belief is discredited, but an
explanation of why the belief might be true
survives
68. Tendency to be more confident than correct--- to
overestimate the accuracy of one’s belief
69. Tendency to search for information that confirms
one’s preconceptions
70. Perception of uncontrollable events as subject to
one’s control or as more controllable than they
are
71. Theory of how people explain other’s behavior
72. Perception that leads to its own fulfillment
73. People’s expectations lead them to behave in
ways that cause others to confirm their
expectations
84. Putting oneself in another’s shoes
85. Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt
someone
IV. Answer the following questions BRIEFLY BUT
CONCISELY.
86. Why do people perceive themselves in self-
enhancing ways? Explain. (5)
87. How do our inner attitudes relate to our external
behavior? Explain. (5)
88. What can we conclude about genes, culture, and
gender? Explain (5)

B. OPTIONS END
Attitude
Cognitive dissonance
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
Insufficient justification
Low-ball technique
Over-justification effect

74. Favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction

toward something or someone
75. Tendency for people who first agreed to a small
request to comply later with a larger request
76. Tactic for getting people to agree to something
77. Tension that arises when one is simultaneously
aware of two inconsistent cognitions
78. Reduction of dissonance by internally justifying
one’s behavior when external justification is not
sufficient
79. The result of bribing people to do what they
already like doing

C. OPTIONS
Aggression
Culture
Empathy
Evolutionary psychology
Gender
Gender role

80. The study of the evolution of cognition and

behavior using principles of natural selection
81. Enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and
traditions shared by a large group of people and
transmitted from one generation to the next
82. The characteristics, whether biologically or
socially influenced, by which people define male
and female
83. A set of behavior expectations for males and
females
 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
PRELIM EXAM ANSWER SHEET
NAME __________________________________
I. PSY/PSI
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II. MATCH THE FOLLOWING
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III. IDENTIFY
A. OPTIONS
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B. OPTIONS
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C. OPTIONS
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IV. ESSAY

“… what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger!”

-nen