Social Psychology, 321:01, Spring, 2007
Professor Lee Jussim

Chapter 13 Practice Questions


1)    Which of the following is NOT one of the steps in Osgood’s (1980) GRIT strategy?

A.    Build up first-strike capability to negotiate from a position of strength.
B.    Announce your conciliatory intent.
C.    Carry out several verifiable conciliatory acts.
D.    Maintain retaliatory capability.

Answer, page 502

2)    Conflict is defined as

A.    perceived incompatibility of actions or goals.
B.    dissatisfaction with relationship outcomes.
C.    hostility that results from frustrating interaction.
D.    competition for mutually exclusive goals.

Answer, page 467

3)    Christina and Massimo have been saving money since they got married. Now Massimo wants to buy a new car, but Christina wants to continue saving for a new house. Massimo and Christina

A.    are experiencing conflict.
B.    are experiencing dissonance.
C.    have mirror-image perceptions.
D.    are developing superordinate goals.

Answer page 467

4)    Pursuing one’s self-interest to the collective detriment of one’s community or society is the central pattern in

A.    mirror-image perception.
B.    the jigsaw problem.
C.    perceived injustice.
D.    a social dilemma.

Answer, page 468

5)    When individuals consume more than their share, and the cost of doing so is dispersed among all, the result is called

A.    greed.
B.    environmental devastation.
C.    overconsumption.
D.    the tragedy of the commons.

Answer, page 470

6)    Sato (1987) gave Japanese students opportunities to harvest trees in a simulated forest for money. When the students equally shared the costs of planting the forest, the result was that

A.    most of the trees were left to grow too tall for harvesting because the students bickered about the criterion to be used in sharing profits.
B.    most of the trees were harvested before they had grown to the most profitable size.
C.    none of the trees were harvested because the collectivist students did not want to be the first to ask for his or her share.
D.    students made maximum profit not only for themselves individually but for the group.

Answer, page 471

7)    Which of the following is NOT a feature shared by both the Prisoner’s Dilemma and the Commons Dilemma?

A.    One party’s wins necessarily equals the other party’s losses.
B.    Participants tend to commit the fundamental attribution error.
C.    Participants’ motives change in the course of the entrapment.
D.    Both are non-zero-sum games.

Answer, page 471

8)    In Sherif’s research, the camper groups became hostile towards each other when

A.    they learned of the other group’s existence.
B.    the two groups first met.
C.    when competition between the groups was introduced.
D.    when competition between the groups ended.

Answer, page 475

9)    The relationship between the size of a commons and a person’s feeling of responsibility for it is

A.    positive.
B.    negative.
C.    neutral.
D.    curvilinear.

Answer, page 472

10)        Research on laboratory dilemmas reveals that cooperation is facilitated if

A.    one person is 100% cooperative.
B.    the opponents can communicate with one another.
C.    the game is changed into a zero-sum game.
D.    the size of the payoffs is increased.

Answer, page 473

11)    Which of the following is cited in the text as an example of changing payoffs to resolve social dilemmas?

A.    allowing carpoolers to drive in the faster, freeway lane
B.    requiring carpool cars and vans to park in special, larger parking lots farther away from the office building
C.    lowering the price of gasoline well below $1 per gallon
D.    raising the price of gasoline well above $5 per gallon

Answer, page 474

12)        According to research, it seems that just knowing about the dire consequences of noncooperation in a social dilemma

A.    is sufficient to convince people to behave cooperatively.
B.    leads to greater mistrust of others.
C.    tends to foster greater self-interest and competition.
D.    has little real effect on people’s behavior.

Answer, page 474

13)    Which one of the following is NOT one of the seeds of misperception according to your text?

A.    the self-serving bias
B.    reduced competition
C.    the fundamental attribution error
D.    groupthink

Answer, page 477

14)    The misperceptions of those who are in conflict with each other, such as two nations who regard each other with suspicion and hostility, are usually

A.    nonreciprocal.
B.    unilateral.
C.    mutual.
D.    inequitable.

Answer, page 478

15)        The Republic of Fredonia believes its long-time enemy, the kingdom of Franistan, is aggressive, greedy, and impulsive. On the other hand, Franistan believes Fredonia is hostile, selfish, and unpredictable. This is an example of

A.    an inequitable relationship.
B.    a zero-sum relationship.
C.    mirror-image perceptions.
D.    reciprocal illusions.

Answer, page 478

16)        When two sides have clashing perceptions, at least one of them is misperceiving the other, and when that is the case, according to Bronfenbrenner (1960), “It is characteristic of such images that they are _______.”

A.    self-defeating
B.    self-confirming
C.    self-handicapping
D.    self-monitoring

Answer, page 478

17)    John believes that he is hardworking and that his wife Rachel is lazy. Rachel believes that she is hardworking and that John is lazy. This is an example of

A.    an inequitable relationship.
B.    mirror-image perception.
C.    a superordinate goal.
D.    a social trap.

Answer, page 478

18)    Approval of President Bush’s performance after September 11th, 2001

A.    increased.
B.    decreased.
C.    stabilized.
D.    was unaffected.

Answer, page 488

19)    A goal that overrides people’s differences from one another is called a(n)

A.    superior goal.
B.    superordinate goal.
C.    ingroup goal.
D.    independent goal.

Answer, page 491

20)        Aronson’s jigsaw technique involved having elementary school children

A.    study in small, racially mixed teams and then compete with other teams in a class tournament.
B.    form academically and racially diverse groups with each member of the group becoming an expert in one area.
C.    role-play being members of another race for two-week periods.
D.    take turns telling each other about their family backgrounds in small-group discussions.

Answer, page 493