PSYC 2600 Final UVA Exam 2026
Questions and Answers
Social Psychology - Correct answer-The scientific study of the way in which
people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the presence or
imagined presence of other people.
Social Influence - Correct answer-The effect that the words, actions, or presence of
other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes or behaviors.
Fundamental Attribution Error - Correct answer-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.
Behaviorism - Correct answer-A school of psychology maintaining that to
understand human behavior, one need only consider the reinforcing properties of
the environment i.e. if a behavior is followed by a reward, it will continue.
Construal - Correct answer-The way in which people perceive, comprehend, and
interpret the social world.
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,Gestalt Psychology - Correct answer-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.
Naive Realism - Correct answer-The default assumption we tend to have that our
perception reflect reality.
Self-Esteem - Correct answer-People's evaluations of their own self-worth-that is,
the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent (most
people have a strong need to maintain high self-esteem).
Social Cognition - Correct answer-How people think about themselves and the
social world; more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember and use
social information to make judgements and decisions.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - Correct answer-You expect that your or another person
will behave in some way, so you act in ways to make your prediction come true.
Hindsight Bias - Correct answer-The tendency for people to exaggerate, after
knowing that something occurred, how much they could have predicted it before it
occurred.
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,Observational Method (refer to Google Doc) - Correct answer-The focus of the
observational method is a description and it focuses on answering the question,
"What is the nature of the phenomenon?"
Ethnography - Correct answer-The method by which researchers attempt to
understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing
any preconceived notions they might have.
Interjudge Reliability - Correct answer-The level of agreement between two or
more people who independently observe and code a set of data; by showing that
two or more judges independently come up with the same observations,
researchers ensure that the observations are not the subjective, distorted
impressions of one individual.
Archival Analysis - Correct answer-A form of the observational method in which
the researcher examines the accumulated archives of a culture.
Correlational Method (refer to Google Doc) - Correct answer-The focus of the
correlational method is prediction and answers the question, "From knowing X,
can we predict Y?"
Correlational Coefficient - Correct answer-A statistical technique that assesses how
well you can predict one variable from another- for example, how well you can
predict people's weight from their height.
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, Surveys - Correct answer-Research in which a representative sample of people are
asked (often anonymously) questions about their attitudes or behavior.
Random Selection - Correct answer-A way of ensuring that a sample of people is
representative of a population by giving everyone in the population an equal
chance of being selected for the sample.
Experimental Method (refer to Google Doc) - Correct answer-The experimental
method focuses on causality and it answers the question, "Is variable X a cause of
variable Y?" (Effect of IV on DV)
Internal Validity - Correct answer-When everything but the independent variable is
kept the same in an experiment.
External Validity - Correct answer-The extent to which the results of a study can be
generalized to other situations and to other people.
Psychological Realism - Correct answer-The extent to which the psychological
processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that
occur in everyday life.
Meta-Analysis - Correct answer-A statistical technique that averages the results of
two or more studies to see if the effects of an independent variable is reliable.
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
Questions and Answers
Social Psychology - Correct answer-The scientific study of the way in which
people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the presence or
imagined presence of other people.
Social Influence - Correct answer-The effect that the words, actions, or presence of
other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes or behaviors.
Fundamental Attribution Error - Correct answer-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.
Behaviorism - Correct answer-A school of psychology maintaining that to
understand human behavior, one need only consider the reinforcing properties of
the environment i.e. if a behavior is followed by a reward, it will continue.
Construal - Correct answer-The way in which people perceive, comprehend, and
interpret the social world.
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,Gestalt Psychology - Correct answer-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.
Naive Realism - Correct answer-The default assumption we tend to have that our
perception reflect reality.
Self-Esteem - Correct answer-People's evaluations of their own self-worth-that is,
the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent (most
people have a strong need to maintain high self-esteem).
Social Cognition - Correct answer-How people think about themselves and the
social world; more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember and use
social information to make judgements and decisions.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - Correct answer-You expect that your or another person
will behave in some way, so you act in ways to make your prediction come true.
Hindsight Bias - Correct answer-The tendency for people to exaggerate, after
knowing that something occurred, how much they could have predicted it before it
occurred.
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
,Observational Method (refer to Google Doc) - Correct answer-The focus of the
observational method is a description and it focuses on answering the question,
"What is the nature of the phenomenon?"
Ethnography - Correct answer-The method by which researchers attempt to
understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing
any preconceived notions they might have.
Interjudge Reliability - Correct answer-The level of agreement between two or
more people who independently observe and code a set of data; by showing that
two or more judges independently come up with the same observations,
researchers ensure that the observations are not the subjective, distorted
impressions of one individual.
Archival Analysis - Correct answer-A form of the observational method in which
the researcher examines the accumulated archives of a culture.
Correlational Method (refer to Google Doc) - Correct answer-The focus of the
correlational method is prediction and answers the question, "From knowing X,
can we predict Y?"
Correlational Coefficient - Correct answer-A statistical technique that assesses how
well you can predict one variable from another- for example, how well you can
predict people's weight from their height.
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
, Surveys - Correct answer-Research in which a representative sample of people are
asked (often anonymously) questions about their attitudes or behavior.
Random Selection - Correct answer-A way of ensuring that a sample of people is
representative of a population by giving everyone in the population an equal
chance of being selected for the sample.
Experimental Method (refer to Google Doc) - Correct answer-The experimental
method focuses on causality and it answers the question, "Is variable X a cause of
variable Y?" (Effect of IV on DV)
Internal Validity - Correct answer-When everything but the independent variable is
kept the same in an experiment.
External Validity - Correct answer-The extent to which the results of a study can be
generalized to other situations and to other people.
Psychological Realism - Correct answer-The extent to which the psychological
processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that
occur in everyday life.
Meta-Analysis - Correct answer-A statistical technique that averages the results of
two or more studies to see if the effects of an independent variable is reliable.
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
