Jamal was confused by his sister's relationship with her boyfriend. They just didn't seem to have anything in common. "Oh well," Jamal figured, "I guess opposites really do attract." Jamal's explanation is an example of:
philosophy.
folk wisdom.
social psychology.
sociology.
Social psychologists differ from philosophers in that philosophers:
assume the worst about human nature, and social psychologists assume the best.
ask different questions than do social psychologists.
rely on intuition, and social psychologists rely on logic.
rely on logical arguments, and social psychologists rely on empirical arguments.
Results are considered statistically significant if there is less than a _________ chance in 100 that the differences are due to chance.
1
2
10
5
By controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions, an experimenter can achieve high:
interjudge reliability.
internal validity.
generalizability.
replicability.
When asked why she is always losing things, Marti replies, "I'm not careless. It's just that I have more important things to think about." This response would be predicted by a social psychologist who advocates _________ approach to understanding human behavior.
a Gestalt
a self-perception
a social cognition
a self-esteem
Which of the following questions would be least likely to yield accurate responses?
To how many different magazines do you subscribe?
Have you ever been the victim of a violent crime?
Would you ever consider physician-assisted suicide?
In your opinion, who performed better in the last presidential debate?
Before the experiment begins, the researcher is ethically obligated to:
secure informed consent.
provide a cover story.
debrief all participants.
get permission from the American Psychological Association.
Michelle raises her hand in class. Her answer is wrong and the teacher scolds her. After that, Michelle does not participate much in class. This situation is most compatible with a _________ approach to understanding and predicting behavior.
behaviorist
social cognition
self-esteem
Gestalt
The primary goal of cross-cultural research is to:
increase the internal validity of manipulations and measures.
increase the mundane realism of experiments.
replicate questionable findings to increase consistency.
demonstrate the universality or cultural dependence of psychological processes.
Jacob was pouring gravy when he dropped the ladle and splattered gravy all over the tablecloth. In order to maintain his self-esteem, Jacob decided that:
he was a clumsy person.
spilling the gravy was embarrassing to his family.
he would be more careful next time.
the ladle was slippery and anyone would have dropped it.
The text provides a relatively in-depth discussion of the self-esteem approach to basic human motives. Provide a personal example of an experience in which your behavior was influenced by a need to feel good about yourself. The social cognition approach to basic human motives suggests that our actions may be guided by a need to be accurate. Provide a personal example of an experience in which your behavior was influenced by the need to be accurate. In which kinds of situations is each motive likely to dominate for you?
In the early 1960s, an infamous murder occurred in the Queens borough of New York City. A young woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death while in the courtyard of her apartment complex. The attack lasted 45 minutes, and at least 38 observers watched the murder from the windows of their apartment above. However, not a single one of them attempted to help Genovese, not even by telephoning the police. How might a sociologist explain the behavior of the bystanders? A personality psychologist? A social psychologist?