PSY 355 Exam 1 UPDATED ACTUAL
Questions and CORRECT Answers
You review all of the studies that you've conducted in your career, and realize that they all use WEIRD
examples. Which of the following criticisms is accurate given this characteristic of your samples? -
CORRECT ANSWER The findings from your studies may not generalize to other cultures
The Unites States' culture is commonly associated with individualism. Based on your class discussion on
individualism, which of the following conclusions is most reasonable and accurate? - CORRECT
ANSWER U.S. culture encourages people to place greater importance on personal goals more than
collective goals
A group of students at GVSU created and spread a (false) rumor that several Psychology Department
professors formed their own "fight club," which meets every friday night in a class room in Au Sable hall.
If cultural information is transmitted like diseases (rather than genes), then it is likely this rumor will... -
CORRECT ANSWER vary over the course of the transmission to include minor changes in the
story (like the idea the sociology professors also joined the fight club)
Joanne hypothesizes that bilingual individuals will be less polite during social interactions with elders if
they speak English vs. Japanese (which includes an extensive number of "honorifics", words and phrases
that are intended to convey respect and humility). She recruits bilinguals and randomly assigns them to
engage in a scripted interaction with another person in English or Japanese. After the interaction, the other
person rates how polite the participant was during the interaction on a scale from 1 (not at all polite) to 7
(extremely polite). In this example, the independent variable is __________ and the dependent variable is
_______________. - CORRECT ANSWER Language spoken during the interaction, ratings of
politeness
Why are responses biases so problematic for cross-cultural research? (two answers - CORRECT
ANSWER 1. These biases make it difficult for a researcher to determine whether a person's
response genuinely reflects their psychology or whether it reflects a bias way of responding
2. These biases make it difficult for a researcher to draw conclusions about cultural differences and
similarities because data from one culture may be influenced by this bias and therefore inaccurate
When unpacking cultural findings, the researcher needs to ultimately... - CORRECT
ANSWER identify an underlying variable that likely causes the cultural difference
, Yuexi, a Chinese mother, wants to use strong parental control with her child. Based on the textbook,
which of the following would MOST LIKELY occur as a result? - CORRECT ANSWER her child
is less happy than children raised with less parental control
Recall that people from relatively individualistic cultures will tend to place more importance on personal
goals, whereas people from relatively collectivistic cultures will tend to place more importance on social
goals. To be clear, both are present in different cultures, but cultures differ in their tendency to use these
goals to guide decision-making and behavior, and these goals are emphasized to different degrees in
different cultures. Therefore, personal and social goals would both be characterized as... - CORRECT
ANSWER Existential universals
How is culture defined in the course? - CORRECT ANSWER any kind of information that is
acquired from other members of one's species through social learning that is capable of affecting an
individual's behaviors
how to the definitions of "culture" and "society" differ? - CORRECT ANSWER society is the
infrastructure and culture is how you define the infrastructure
In class, an iceberg was used to portray culture. What does the iceberg symbolize? - CORRECT
ANSWER The tip of the iceberg that you can see out of the water is our behaviors and what is
under the water that we cannot see is our beliefs, values and mindset
What does the acronym WEIRD stand for? - CORRECT ANSWER western, educated,
industrialized, rich, democratic
If a person's perspective on psychology was described, would you be able to identify it as consistent with
the general psychology perspective or the cultural psychology perspective? - CORRECT
ANSWER Cultural psychology because culture interacts with the minds of the people who make
them up, so this shapes the way those minds operate
What is general psychology? - CORRECT ANSWER assumes that our mind operates under a set of
natural and universal laws that are independent from content and context
Questions and CORRECT Answers
You review all of the studies that you've conducted in your career, and realize that they all use WEIRD
examples. Which of the following criticisms is accurate given this characteristic of your samples? -
CORRECT ANSWER The findings from your studies may not generalize to other cultures
The Unites States' culture is commonly associated with individualism. Based on your class discussion on
individualism, which of the following conclusions is most reasonable and accurate? - CORRECT
ANSWER U.S. culture encourages people to place greater importance on personal goals more than
collective goals
A group of students at GVSU created and spread a (false) rumor that several Psychology Department
professors formed their own "fight club," which meets every friday night in a class room in Au Sable hall.
If cultural information is transmitted like diseases (rather than genes), then it is likely this rumor will... -
CORRECT ANSWER vary over the course of the transmission to include minor changes in the
story (like the idea the sociology professors also joined the fight club)
Joanne hypothesizes that bilingual individuals will be less polite during social interactions with elders if
they speak English vs. Japanese (which includes an extensive number of "honorifics", words and phrases
that are intended to convey respect and humility). She recruits bilinguals and randomly assigns them to
engage in a scripted interaction with another person in English or Japanese. After the interaction, the other
person rates how polite the participant was during the interaction on a scale from 1 (not at all polite) to 7
(extremely polite). In this example, the independent variable is __________ and the dependent variable is
_______________. - CORRECT ANSWER Language spoken during the interaction, ratings of
politeness
Why are responses biases so problematic for cross-cultural research? (two answers - CORRECT
ANSWER 1. These biases make it difficult for a researcher to determine whether a person's
response genuinely reflects their psychology or whether it reflects a bias way of responding
2. These biases make it difficult for a researcher to draw conclusions about cultural differences and
similarities because data from one culture may be influenced by this bias and therefore inaccurate
When unpacking cultural findings, the researcher needs to ultimately... - CORRECT
ANSWER identify an underlying variable that likely causes the cultural difference
, Yuexi, a Chinese mother, wants to use strong parental control with her child. Based on the textbook,
which of the following would MOST LIKELY occur as a result? - CORRECT ANSWER her child
is less happy than children raised with less parental control
Recall that people from relatively individualistic cultures will tend to place more importance on personal
goals, whereas people from relatively collectivistic cultures will tend to place more importance on social
goals. To be clear, both are present in different cultures, but cultures differ in their tendency to use these
goals to guide decision-making and behavior, and these goals are emphasized to different degrees in
different cultures. Therefore, personal and social goals would both be characterized as... - CORRECT
ANSWER Existential universals
How is culture defined in the course? - CORRECT ANSWER any kind of information that is
acquired from other members of one's species through social learning that is capable of affecting an
individual's behaviors
how to the definitions of "culture" and "society" differ? - CORRECT ANSWER society is the
infrastructure and culture is how you define the infrastructure
In class, an iceberg was used to portray culture. What does the iceberg symbolize? - CORRECT
ANSWER The tip of the iceberg that you can see out of the water is our behaviors and what is
under the water that we cannot see is our beliefs, values and mindset
What does the acronym WEIRD stand for? - CORRECT ANSWER western, educated,
industrialized, rich, democratic
If a person's perspective on psychology was described, would you be able to identify it as consistent with
the general psychology perspective or the cultural psychology perspective? - CORRECT
ANSWER Cultural psychology because culture interacts with the minds of the people who make
them up, so this shapes the way those minds operate
What is general psychology? - CORRECT ANSWER assumes that our mind operates under a set of
natural and universal laws that are independent from content and context
