Social Psychology 9th Edition Chapter 1
1. Social Psychology: The scientific study of the way in which people's
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence
of other people
2. Social Influence: The effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other
people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior
3. A social psychologist would tend to look for explanations of a young
man's violent behavior primarily in terms of: a. his aggressive personality
traits.
b. possible genetic contributions.
c. how his peer group behaves.
d. what his father taught him.: c. how his peer group behaves.
4. The topic that would most interest a social psychologist is
a. how the level of extroversion of different presidents affected their political
decisions.
b. whether people's decision about whether to cheat on a test is influenced
by how they imagine their friends would react if they found out.
c. the extent to which people's social class predicts their income.
d. what passers-by on the street think of global warming.: b. whether people's
decision about whether to cheat on a test is influenced by how they imagine
their friends would react if they found out.
5. How does social psychology differ from personality psychology?
a. Social psychology focuses on individual differences, whereas
personality psychology focuses on how people behave in different
situations.
b. Social psychology focuses on the shared processes that make people
susceptible to social influence, whereas personality psychology focuses on
individual differences.
c. Social psychology provides general laws and theories about societies,
whereas personality psychology stud-ies the characteristics that make
people unique.
d. Social psychology focuses on individual differences, whereas
personality psychology provides general laws and theories about societies.:
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, Social Psychology 9th Edition Chapter 1
b. Social psychology focuses on the shared processes that make people
susceptible to social influence, whereas personality psychology focuses on
individual differences.
6. What is the "level of analysis" for a social psychologist?
a. The individual in the context of a social situation.
b. The social situation itself.
c. A person's level of achievement.
d. A person's level of reasoning.: a. The individual in the context of a social
situation.
7. Which of the following research topics about violence is one that a social
psychologist might investigate?
a. How rates of violence change over time within a culture.
b. Why murder rates vary across cultures.
c. Brain abnormalities that produce aggression when a person is provoked.
d. Why some situations are more likely to provoke aggression than others.:
d. Why some situations are more likely to provoke aggression than others.
8. Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overestimate the extent to
which people's behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to
underestimate the role of situational factors
9. Behaviorism: A school of psychology maintaining that to understand human
behavior, one need only consider the reinforcing properties of the environment
10. Construal: The way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the
social world
11. Gestalt Psychology: A school of psychology stressing the importance of
studying the subjective way in which an object appears in people's minds
rather than the objective, physical attributes of the object
12. The fundamental attribution error is best defined as the tendency to
a. explain our own and other people's behavior entirely in terms of
personality traits, thereby underestimating the power of social influence.
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1. Social Psychology: The scientific study of the way in which people's
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence
of other people
2. Social Influence: The effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other
people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior
3. A social psychologist would tend to look for explanations of a young
man's violent behavior primarily in terms of: a. his aggressive personality
traits.
b. possible genetic contributions.
c. how his peer group behaves.
d. what his father taught him.: c. how his peer group behaves.
4. The topic that would most interest a social psychologist is
a. how the level of extroversion of different presidents affected their political
decisions.
b. whether people's decision about whether to cheat on a test is influenced
by how they imagine their friends would react if they found out.
c. the extent to which people's social class predicts their income.
d. what passers-by on the street think of global warming.: b. whether people's
decision about whether to cheat on a test is influenced by how they imagine
their friends would react if they found out.
5. How does social psychology differ from personality psychology?
a. Social psychology focuses on individual differences, whereas
personality psychology focuses on how people behave in different
situations.
b. Social psychology focuses on the shared processes that make people
susceptible to social influence, whereas personality psychology focuses on
individual differences.
c. Social psychology provides general laws and theories about societies,
whereas personality psychology stud-ies the characteristics that make
people unique.
d. Social psychology focuses on individual differences, whereas
personality psychology provides general laws and theories about societies.:
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, Social Psychology 9th Edition Chapter 1
b. Social psychology focuses on the shared processes that make people
susceptible to social influence, whereas personality psychology focuses on
individual differences.
6. What is the "level of analysis" for a social psychologist?
a. The individual in the context of a social situation.
b. The social situation itself.
c. A person's level of achievement.
d. A person's level of reasoning.: a. The individual in the context of a social
situation.
7. Which of the following research topics about violence is one that a social
psychologist might investigate?
a. How rates of violence change over time within a culture.
b. Why murder rates vary across cultures.
c. Brain abnormalities that produce aggression when a person is provoked.
d. Why some situations are more likely to provoke aggression than others.:
d. Why some situations are more likely to provoke aggression than others.
8. Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overestimate the extent to
which people's behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to
underestimate the role of situational factors
9. Behaviorism: A school of psychology maintaining that to understand human
behavior, one need only consider the reinforcing properties of the environment
10. Construal: The way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the
social world
11. Gestalt Psychology: A school of psychology stressing the importance of
studying the subjective way in which an object appears in people's minds
rather than the objective, physical attributes of the object
12. The fundamental attribution error is best defined as the tendency to
a. explain our own and other people's behavior entirely in terms of
personality traits, thereby underestimating the power of social influence.
2/7
