Social Psychology 6th Canadian Edition By Aronson – Test Bank

Complete Test Bank With Answers

 

 

Sample Questions Posted Below

 

1) Barbara replies to her therapist, “How do I see myself? Well, I’m socially anxious,

insecure, relatively intelligent, and terribly shy.” Barbara’s response reflects her

A) self-concept.

B) executive function.

C) stream of consciousness.

D) looking glass self.

E) feelings of low self-worth.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 108-110 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

2) Assume that when exposed to a mirror, chimpanzees will use the mirror to aid in

grooming (e.g., to pick food from their teeth) and to entertain themselves by making

faces. The chimps’ behaviour before the mirror would suggest that

A) great apes have a sense of self.

B) mammals have a sense of self.

C) some animals engage in introspection.

D) like humans, mammals are self-aware.

E) many animals are curious and social.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 108-109 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

3) Gordon Gallup (1977) briefly anesthetized chimpanzees and painted an odorless red

dye on their heads. When they awoke and looked in the mirror, the chimps

immediately reached to touch their brows and ears where the dye was. These findings

suggest that chimps

A) are capable of developing a sense of self-esteem.

B) have a complex, multifaceted sense of self.

C) possess a self-concept much like a human.

D) develop a sense of self-recognition comparable to that of two-year-old

humans.

E) are capable of complex thought.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 108-109 Skill: Conceptual Difficulty: Moderate

4) Which of the following would be most likely to reach to touch a spot of red dye when

seeing his or her reflection in a mirror?

A) an adult rhesus monkey

B) an adult chimpanzee

C) a six-month-old human infant

D) a one-year-old human infant

E) an infant gorillaAnswer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 108-109 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

5) Psychologists who have studied the development of self-concept over the lifespan have

found that the self-concept starts out _______ and gradually becomes _______ with

increasing age.

A) extremely negative; more positive

B) concrete; more abstract and complex

C) extremely positive; more realistic

D) socially focused; individually focused

E) individually focused; socially focused

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 108-109 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

6) Consider the following self-description: “I have blue eyes and brown hair. I have two

sisters. I hate vegetables, but I love ice cream.” Such a self-description was most

likely provided by the typical

A) eight-year old child.

B) adult.

C) high school student.

D) two-year old child.

E) college student.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 108-109 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

7) According to the research by Jennifer Campbell and her colleagues, people low in self-

concept clarity

A) carefully consider the variables that may be impacting how they feel.

B) are less likely to engage in positive forms of self-focus such as reflection.

C) attempt to make internal attributions to explain their behaviour.

D) frequently engage in introspection.

E) often ask their close friends about what to do.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 110 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

8) According to information presented in the text, people who are low in self-concept

clarity are

A) more self-confident and aware of their internal states.

B) more likely to experience both positive and negative emotions.

C) more likely to be neurotic and have low self-esteem.

D) more likely to engage in self-analysis.

E) often narcissistic and self-centered.Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 110 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

9) The development of our sense of self is partly influenced by the culture in which we

grow up. For example, in Western cultures people tend to have a(n) _______ view of

the self, whereas in non-Western cultures people tend to have a(n) _______ view of

the self.

A) intrinsic; extrinsic

B) extrinsic; intrinsic

C) interdependent; independent

D) independent; interdependent

E) clear; poorly defined

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 110-112 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

10) Whereas Americans have a proverb, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” Japanese

have a proverb that states “The nail that stands out gets pounded down.” These two

different proverbs mirror social-psychological research that has demonstrated that

people in Asian cultures

A) do not consider social interaction important.

B) do not hold differentiated self-concepts.

C) are more likely to defer to authority than Americans.

D) have a more interdependent concept of self than Americans.

E) are more authoritarian than Americans.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 110-112 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

11) When asked to finish a sentence beginning “I am…,” respondents from Asian

countries are more likely to mention _______, because they grew up in a(n) _______

culture.

A) actual self; authoritarian

B) the ideal self; authoritarian

C) the ideal self; less oppressive

D) group membership; interdependent

E) the outer self; interdependent

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 110-112 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

12) Consider the following self-description: “It is important to me to make others happy.

I work hard to cooperate with others and seldom get into arguments. My friends are

more important to me than my professional success.” A(n) _______ is most likely to

have provided such a self-description.

A) teacher living in Berlin, GermanyB) professor living in Regina, Saskatchewan

C) writer living in Paris, France

D) manager living in Cleveland, Ohio

E) executive living in Tokyo, Japan

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 110-112 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

13) “My close relationships are an important reflection of who I am” and “when I think

of myself, I often think of my close friends and family also” are two items from a

scale which was designed to measure individual differences in

A) self-esteem and competition.

B) relational interdependence.

C) self-esteem.

D) private and public self-consciousness.

E) cooperation and competition.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 110-112;114 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

14) According to the text, research on self-concept that has asked participants to complete

the sentence, “I am….” has revealed that

A) across all cultures, women are more likely to describe themselves in relational

terms, such as, “I am a good friend.”

B) whether or not gender differences in self-concept are found in a particular

culture depends on whether or not the culture is collectivist or individualistic.

C) compared to men, women in all cultures place a higher value on trust and

respect in intimate relationships.

D) generally, there are no gender differences in responses across all cultures.

E) in all cultures, men are more likely to describe themselves in terms of

individual attributes, such as “I am responsible.”

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 113 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

15) In the United States, women are more likely to have an interdependent view of

themselves and men to have an independent view of themselves. These gender

differences suggest

A) our sense of self is determined by biological factors.

B) gender, like culture, can influence our sense of ourselves.

C) there is little overlap in the psychological makeup of men and women.

D) women in the United States have the same sense of self as people living in

Eastern cultures.

E) gender has little impact on our sense of self.Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 113 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

16) If you are a person who gives a great deal of priority to close relationships as part of

your sense of self, then you probably score high on measures of

A) relational interdependence.

B) self monitoring.

C) collective interdependence.

D) gender differences.

E) self-concept clarity.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 113 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

17) According to Gabriel and Gardner’s (1999) research on collective versus relational

interdependence, which of the following discussions of emotional events is most

likely?

A) Steve talks about the time he and his team won the provincial curling

championship.

B) Tara talks about how she and her graduating class were affected by a 6-week

teachers’ strike.

C) Erin describes how she and her fellow hockey fans felt after her team’s Stanley

Cup win.

D) William describes how he felt after a major car accident.

E) Daniel talks about how he and his younger brother reacted when their 52-year-

old dad died of a heart attack.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 113 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

18) _______ refers to the process of looking inward and examining our thoughts,

feelings, and motives.

A) Self-enhancement

B) Self-awareness

C) Self-examination

D) Self-efficacy

E) Introspection

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 113 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

19) According to the authors of your text, introspection is not a useful source of

information about the self because people

A) are driven by unconscious self-enhancing motives.

B) are quite accurate in understanding their own behaviours.

C) cannot be at once the observer and the object observed.D) actually spend very little time thinking about themselves.

E) know that introspection uses up valuable cognitive resources.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 113 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

20) When we are in a state of _______, we evaluate or compare our current behaviour

against our internal standards and values.

A) self-centeredness,

B) self-awareness,

C) distraction,

D) self-perception,

E) self-focus,

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

21) Jake and Zeke are standing at the counter of the convenience store, and Jake, who has

just failed his psychology exam, is animatedly telling Zeke that the exam was unfair

and that his professor is unreasonable. As he takes his change, Jake sees his image on

the security camera. This causes him to wonder whether he actually studied enough

for the exam. Jake’s self-scrutiny in this situation would be predicted by

A) self-perception theory.

B) self-esteem theory.

C) self-disclosure theory.

D) self-awareness theory.

E) self-verification theory.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

22) It is Halloween, but you don’t want to be running back and forth to answer the door.

To avoid any “tricks,” you decide to leave a large container of candy on the porch.

You’ve just read Chapter 5 and you have a hunch about how to keep greedy trick-or-

treaters from taking more than their fair share of the candy. You decide to

A) set up a tape-recorder of Barney the Dinosaur singing “I love you, you love

me….”

B) install a one-way mirror to catch and punish offenders, and to make an

example of them.

C) place a large mirror behind the candy, so that children can see themselves as

they approach.

D) place a picture of the Wicked Witch of the West behind the candy, to warn

them what will happen if they take too much.

E) place a sign beside the candy politely asking each trick-or-treater to have only

one piece of candy.Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

23) According to self-awareness theory, under which of the following circumstances

would an individual be most highly motivated to avoid self-awareness?

A) while reading an engaging novel

B) while helping a friend with her homework

C) after giving a successful presentation

D) while watching an interesting documentary on television

E) directly after receiving a low grade on an important test

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

24) As Tiffany brushes her teeth, she’s thinking about a fight she had the night before

with her best friend. She lost her temper and screamed and cursed. Tiffany becomes

self-aware when she catches her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She feels

uncomfortable, thinking about her behaviour. According to self-awareness theory,

what is Tiffany most likely to do?

A) call her friend to apologize

B) distract herself by scouring the sink

C) decide to ignore her friend

D) punish herself by refusing to floss

E) justify her actions by blaming her friend

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

25) If a self-awareness theorist were to design a department store that would discourage

shoplifting, what would he or she do?

A) provide rewards to shoppers who report shoplifters

B) post signs that say, “Shoplifters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the

law”

C) place mirrors near merchandise that is likely to be stolen

D) lower prices on the merchandise

E) hire more undercover security

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

26) According to self-awareness theory, how might therapists help clients learn more

about themselves? Therapists might

A) repeat back to clients what the clients have said.

B) use a sliding scale, but make every client pay something for therapy.

C) challenge self-serving statements to make clients more self-aware.

D) arrange the room so that clients can see themselves in the mirror.E) hypnotize the subject and allow them to speak freely.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

27) From the perspective of self-awareness theory, alcohol abuse, binge eating, and

suicide are alike in that they

A) enable people who feel guilty to punish themselves.

B) are coping mechanisms used by people with low self-esteem.

C) make long-term self-focus impossible.

D) provide temporary or permanent relief from unpleasant self-awareness.

E) make self-focus aversive or unpleasant.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

28) Jason and Kurt return to their residence after participating in a debating tournament.

After viewing their results, Jason was disappointed in his ranking and realized he

could have scored higher if he had spent more time preparing. Kurt was pleased with

his results and felt that his preparation and effort paid off. Both have to complete

paperwork for applications and travel subsidies due tomorrow for their next

competition. According to recent research by Moskalenko and Heine on the

consequences of self-awareness, what behaviour would be most probable for Jason

and Kurt?

A) Jason goes to his room to meditate and Kurt goes to his room to complete his

paperwork.

B) Both Kurt and Jason are strongly motivated to relax in the T.V. lounge.

C) Kurt goes to his room to complete the paperwork and Jason goes to the lounge

to watch T.V.

D) Both Kurt and Jason go to their rooms to complete their paperwork.

E) Jason goes to his room to complete the paperwork and Kurt goes to the lounge

to watch T.V.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 115 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

29) The authors of your text discussed a study where American and Japanese students

were asked questions about their actual and their ideal selves. Participants were either

in front of a mirror or not. What were the results of the study?

A) All participants rated their actual selves closer to their ideal selves when

talking to a friend.

B) All participants rated their actual selves closer to their ideal selves when in

front of a mirror.

C) The mirror influence Japanese students’ ratings, but not those of American

students.D) The mirror influenced American students’ ratings, but not those of Japanese

students.

E) All participants rated the gap between their actual and ideal selves as having

increased when in front of a mirror.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

30) In a study conducted by Heine and his colleagues (2008) in which participants

completed questions about actual/ideal self discrepancies, _____________ reported

similar levels of discrepancy regardless of whether they were in front of a mirror or

not.

A) American participants

B) females

C) Japanese participants

D) males

E) those high in independence

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

31) The authors of your text suggest that East Asians’ self-awareness tends to be

influenced less by the presence of mirrors or video cameras than Westerners because

A) they pay less attention to contextual cues.

B) they only pay attention to social cues, not physical ones.

C) they tend to be more chronically self-aware.

D) they pay greater attention to inner feelings.

E) they are less concerned with their appearance.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

32) Heine and his colleagues (2008) compared East Asian and Western participants in

levels of actual/ideal self-discrepancy when they were seated in front of a mirror to

complete a questionnaire. Based on the results of this study, who would you expect to

be most self-aware, regardless of whether they were in front of a mirror?

A) Susan, a British woman

B) Tom, a Canadian man

C) Yoshi, a Japanese man

D) Anna, an Australian woman

E) Brad, an American man

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy33) Based on cross-cultural research, your textbook authors reach the conclusion that

Westerners’ sense of self derives from ________, while East Asians’ sense of self

derives from ________.

A) looking in the mirror; watching television.

B) cultural training; personal experience.

C) other people; private experience.

D) watching television; looking in the mirror.

E) private experience; other people.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

34) The text concludes that, in terms of self-awareness, East Asians have a(n) ________

perspective whereas Westerners have a(n) ________ perspective.

A) positive; negative

B) outsider; insider

C) submissive; dominant

D) concrete; abstract

E) absolute; relative

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

35) In a study by Heine and colleagues, when placed in front of a mirror Canadian

students were ________ likely to cheat, while Japanese students were ________

likely to cheat, compared to when there was no mirror present.

A) more; less

B) less; more

C) less; equally

D) equally; less

E) more; equally

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

36) Compared to being placed in front of a mirror, when Japanese students were NOT in

front of a mirror they were

A) more likely to cheat.

B) more dissatisfied with themselves.

C) less dissatisfied with themselves.

D) equally likely to cheat.

E) less likely to cheat.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 116 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy37) One evening after work, Barbara arrives home in a very bad mood. Noticing this, her

husband, James, asks her why she seems so angry and upset. Barbara hadn’t thought

about her mood before James mentioned it, and now she thinks hard about what

caused her to be so sullen. She decides that it was because she was hungry and tired

and she tells James so. According to theories on introspection, Barbara is _______ her

behaviour.

A) denying

B) making an excuse for

C) overjustifying

D) attempting to discount

E) constructing a causal theory about

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 116-118 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

38) According to the authors of your text, feelings like love or sadness are often difficult

to explain because

A) humans are motivated to take other’s feelings into account.

B) environment stimuli override internal signals.

C) humans are incredibly self-serving.

D) they are frequently the result of social interactions.

E) we are unaware of many of our basic mental processes.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 116-118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

39) Tim Wilson, Pat Laser, and Julie Stone (1982) asked participants to keep journals of

their daily moods and of other variables, such as the weather and how much sleep

they got the night before. When asked, many participants reported the amount of

sleep the night before was correlated with their moods. When information recorded in

the journals was subjected to more systematic statistical analysis, it was found that

amount of sleep was not related to participants’ self-reported moods. This is most

likely because participants

A) under-reported the amount of sleep they actually got.

B) were in a bad mood from having to keep the journal.

C) were distracted (e.g., by loud noise) when they wrote in their journals.

D) relied on causal theories about the relation between mood and sleep.

E) did not keep accurate journals.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 116-118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

40) The authors of your text described a study in which university students kept track of

their moods in daily diaries. The results of this study suggest that

A) introspection is an unreliable source of data.B) people have a great deal of difficulty constructing plausible explanations for

their moods.

C) people can fairly accurately identify the causes of their moods.

D) people can accurately predict how their moods will influence their behaviour.

E) if you expect something to influence your mood, your expectation will become

“self-fulfilled.”

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 116-118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

41) Richard Nisbett and Tim Wilson (1977) had participants watch a film either with or

without distracting noises in the background. Results of their experiment

demonstrated that

A) participants had highly accurate perceptions about the effect of distracting

noises.

B) participants did not enjoy the film if they were distracted by background noise.

C) background noise had a huge effect on the ratings of the film.

D) participants were unable to concentrate on the film.

E) participants erroneously believed that noise affected their evaluations of the

film.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 116-118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

42) The authors of your text described the history behind a clever experiment conducted

by Richard Nisbett and Tim Wilson (1977). Lacking inspiration when trying to design

the experiment, the researchers decided that noise outside their office door was

distracting them. They decided to use noise as a distraction in their experiment and

predicted that distracting noises would influence participants’ judgments, even though

they didn’t know they were distracted by the noise. Results of the actual experiment

showed that although participants’ ratings of a film were not affected by distracting

noises, participants erroneously thought they were. This anecdote provided by your

authors demonstrates that

A) it is often difficult to show a causal relationship.

B) researchers and participants sometimes share incorrect causal theories.

C) Richard Nisbett knows how to operate a power saw.

D) people often know more about the causes of their behaviours than they can

explain to researchers.

E) noise is not distracting enough in social psychology experiments.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 116-118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

43) Self-perception theory argues that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or

ambiguous, we infer these states

A) through introspection.B) by observing our behaviour and the situation in which it occurs.

C) altering our self-schema.

D) by observing the behaviour of others in the same situation.

E) carefully considering all the variables involved.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 116-118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

44) According to self-perception theory, if you are not sure how much you like classical

music, you are likely to

A) engage in introspection.

B) observe your own behaviour to figure it out.

C) observe how much your friends like classical music.

D) make a decision based on other people’s opinions of classical music.

E) seek confirmation of your self-concept.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 116-118 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

45) Rosa feels depressed. Although she had hoped to graduate at the head of her class,

her current GPA makes that impossible now. This example best illustrates what

happens when

A) the actual self falls short when we compare ourselves with others.

B) we possess unrealistically high self-esteem.

C) the actual self falls short of the ideal self.

D) we set our aspirations too high.

E) we fall short of our goals.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 116; 124-127 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Difficult

46) _______ theory posits that when our attitudes or feelings are ambiguous, we infer our

internal states by observing our own behaviours and the situation in which they occur.

A) Self-enhancement

B) Introspection

C) Self-perception

D) Impression management

E) Self-verification

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

47) A basic tenet of self-perception theory is that we infer our feelings from our

behaviour when

A) the reasons for our attitudes or feelings are clear.

B) the reasons for our attitudes or feelings are ambiguous.C) we think about how others perceive us.

D) we are in a negative mood state.

E) we can easily identify external reasons for our feelings.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

48) Self-perception theory argues that when our attitudes or feelings aren’t clear, we

often infer them by observing

A) how other people are behaving.

B) how we feel.

C) our own behaviour.

D) our emotional reactions.

E) others’ reactions to us.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

49) Lisa is most likely to conclude that she likes classical music when

A) she cannot pick up other stations on her car radio.

B) she has preset her car radio to a classical music station.

C) the car radio is broken, stuck on the classical music station, and she cannot

change stations.

D) her husband chooses the stations on the car radio.

E) she takes a free classical music sampler from a record store.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

50) According to self-perception theory (Bem, 1972), we infer the kind of person we are

and what our attitudes are by

A) carefully considering our emotions.

B) engaging in introspection about the reasons for our behaviours.

C) looking to others to see how they respond to us.

D) observing our own behaviours, just as we would observe other’s.

E) comparing our behaviours to our internal values and standards.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

51) When asked to explain our own behaviours, self-perception processes are more likely

to operate when our feelings are _______ and when we _______.

A) clear; list the reasons for those feelings.

B) clear; freely chose our behaviour.

C) weak or unclear; freely chose our behaviour.

D) weak or unclear; list the reasons for those feelings.E) clear; engage in introspection.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

52) While completing a personality test, Craig comes to an item that asks him if he sees

himself as shy and introverted. Craig reflects on some of his recent behaviour. He

reasons that since he generally does not talk much in class discussions and tends to

avoid large parties, he must be shy and introverted. Which of the following strategies

for self-knowledge is Craig using?

A) self-presentation

B) self-awareness

C) self-perception

D) self-verification

E) self-monitoring

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

53) Daryl Bem (1972) argues that people are most likely to engage in self-perception

when their feelings are _______ and they cannot make a(n) _______ attribution for

their behaviour.

A) specific; internal

B) specific; causal

C) specific; external

D) vague; external

E) vague; internal

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

54) According to the tenets of self-perception theory, which of the following audience

members would report that he or she really loved the taping of The Late Show with

David Letterman?

A) Debra, whose friends nudged her to get her to applaud

B) Tim, who sat right in front of the flashing “applause” sign

C) Frank, who received free tickets

D) Julie, who could see that Dave was looking at her

E) André, whose hands stung from clapping so much

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 118 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

55) Simone runs simply because it gives her pleasure to exercise outside and to leave her

daily worries behind as she works up a sweat. In this instance, Simone is _______ to

run.A) intrinsically motivated

B) generating a reason

C) justifying her desire

D) extrinsically motivated

E) causally motivated

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

56) _______ refers to the desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it, not because

we expect external rewards.

A) Intrinsic motivation

B) Hedonic motivation

C) The overjustification effect

D) Extrinsic motivation

E) Reward motivation

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

57) _______ refers to the desire to undertake an activity because of external rewards, not

because we find it interesting or enjoyable.

A) Social comparison

B) Extrinsic motivation

C) Intrinsic motivation

D) Internal motivation

E) Compliance

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

58) When athletes and academics are highly intrinsically motivated it affects attitude and

behaviour by

A) decreasing enjoyment but increasing performance.

B) decreasing enjoyment and decreasing persistence.

C) increasing enjoyment and increasing persistence.

D) decreasing enjoyment but increasing persistence.

E) increasing enjoyment but decreasing persistence.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

59) Applied research shows that having a greater amount of intrinsic motivation, as

opposed to extrinsic motivation, is associated with all of the following except

A) competitive swimmers’ persistence.

B) high-school students staying longer in school.C) environmental activism.

D) quality of relationships.

E) reliance on rewards such as money or praise.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

60) Persistence, skill development, and willingness to deal with problems is improved

when people are

A) high in intrinsic motivation for engaging in the activity.

B) high in extrinsic motivation for engaging in the activity.

C) recipients of task-contingent rewards.

D) denied performance-contingent rewards.

E) denied task-contingent rewards.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

61) Maurice had always gotten a lot of satisfaction from caring for his brothers and

sisters when they were sick. A few months ago, Maurice’s father convinced him to

take a job at a hospital as a nurse’s aid so that he could earn money doing what he

enjoyed. Now that Maurice has been working at the hospital for awhile, he no longer

enjoys caring for sick people as much as he did before he took the job. One reason for

Maurice’s attitude change may be that the job has undermined his _______ for

helping others.

A) causal motivation

B) intrinsic motivation

C) extrinsic motivation

D) internal justification

E) external justification

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

62) The principal of a local elementary school plans to implement a “Reading for Cash”

program, in which children would be given cash rewards for reading. Before investing

in this plan, the principal asks for your assessment. Because ___________, you would

probably tell her that the program would not be an effective way to increase interest

in reading.

A) cash rewards tend to increase performance on a task

B) any forms of encouragement tend to reduce intrinsic motivation

C) external rewards tend to reduce any inherent intrinsic interest

D) intrinsic interests tend to weaken over time regardless of incentives

E) external rewards tend to increase any inherent intrinsic interestAnswer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

63) Intrinsic motivation is to _______ as extrinsic motivation is to _______.

A) self-perception; introspection.

B) introspection; self-perception.

C) overjustification; underjustification.

D) internal interest; external reward.

E) self-perception; overjustification effect.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

64) You assume that Franklin is intrinsically motivated to write a course paper because

A) he seems to savour immersing himself in writing.

B) it is a requirement to pass the course.

C) he wants his professor to write him a letter of recommendation.

D) it will increase his chances of making the Dean’s List.

E) it will help him get a good job.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 118-119 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

65) Which of the following is most likely to INCREASE intrinsic motivation?

A) performance-contingent rewards

B) large incentives

C) task-contingent rewards

D) introspection

E) self-perception processes

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 120 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

66) According to the authors of your text, _______ explains why providing young

children with large rewards for reading (e.g., money or prizes) might actually backfire

and convince them that they don’t really like reading as much as they thought at first.

A) intrinsic motivation theory

B) self-perception processes

C) extrinsic motivation theory

D) reason generating attitude change

E) the overjustification effect

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 120 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy67) According to the authors of your text, extrinsic rewards are most likely to DIMINISH

intrinsic motivation when

A) extrinsic motivation was initially high.

B) rewards are given at random.

C) intrinsic motivation was initially high.

D) rewards are performance-contingent.

E) rewards are given on a fixed-ratio schedule.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 120 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

68) A parent hands her children a dollar each for helping to rake leaves and also says,

“And wasn’t it great, all of us pitching in together, helping each other?” By reminding

her children that the task was also enjoyable, she is working to

A) avoid the overjustification effect.

B) enhance leaf-raking performance.

C) enhance their extrinsic motivation.

D) undermine their intrinsic motivation.

E) produce the overjustification effect.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 120 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

69) Performance-contingent rewards depend on how well people perform the task. This

type of reward

A) is more likely to decrease interest in a task than task-contingent rewards.

B) is less likely to decrease interest in a task than task-contingent rewards.

C) is subject to the over-justification effect.

D) leads to self-enhancement.

E) is an important part of social comparison theory.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 120 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

70) Performance-contingent rewards are a type of

A) self-verification.

B) intrinsic reward.

C) over-justification.

D) task-contingent reward.

E) extrinsic reward.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 120 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

71) Which of the following ways of understanding ourselves is social?

A) Keeping a diary to record our behaviours.B) Using introspection to infer our attitudes.

C) Attending to other people’s opinions of us.

D) Making attributions to explain the causes of our behaviours.

E) Observing our own behaviours to decide how we feel.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 121-122 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

72) Our self-concept based on how we appear to others is called

A) looking-glass self.

B) comparative self.

C) introspected self.

D) socially-adjusted self.

E) projected self.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 121 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

73) In a study described in the text, Baldwin and his colleagues found that graduate

students rated their own work more negatively if they were first exposed to a picture

of the scowling face of the program director than if they were first exposed to a

picture of a smiling colleague. According to the researchers, this occurred because

A) the picture distracted the students during the rating task.

B) the picture caused increased physiological arousal, which, in the case of the

picture of the scowling program director, was labelled as fear or anxiety.

C) the picture students were exposed to primed a certain internal audience.

D) the picture of the scowling program director made the students more self-

aware.

E) the picture students were exposed to determined whether they engaged in

either upward or downward social comparison.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 121-122 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

74) Which of the following findings is explained by the “looking-glass self” theory of

self-concept formation?

A) When we are unsure about our attitudes or feelings, we infer them by

observing our behaviour and the situations in which they occur.

B) Students are less likely to cheat on a test when they can see their faces in a

mirror.

C) After experiencing a failure, people in a reflective state may cheer themselves

up by remembering positive events.

D) People are less likely to steal if there is a camera focused on them.

E) Catholic women rated themselves more negatively after reading a sexually

explicit passage if they had first been exposed to a picture of the Pope than if

the picture was of an unfamiliar smiling man.Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 121-122 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

75) _______ posits that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing

ourselves to other people.

A) Social comparison theory

B) Self-verification theory

C) Self-perception theory

D) Esteem enhancement theory

E) The notion of the looking glass self

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 122-123 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

76) When there are no objective criteria to measure achievement, people often rely on

_______ to evaluate how well they performed.

A) cognitive appraisal processes

B) attribution of arousal

C) social comparison

D) introspection

E) self-perception

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 122-123 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

77) In order to gauge whether he had studied long enough for his psychology exam,

Markus phoned two of his classmates to ask them how long they had spent reviewing

material. Markus is engaging in

A) social comparison.

B) impression management.

C) self-verification.

D) a self-protective behaviour.

E) self-handicapping.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 122-123 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

78) The cornerstone of Leon Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory is that people

A) may examine their opinions and abilities by evaluating themselves relative to

others.

B) prefer subjective feedback to objective feedback.

C) are motivated to see themselves in the most positive light.

D) only accept feedback that helps maintain self-esteem.

E) prefer to compare themselves to others more talented or accomplished than

they are.Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 122-123 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

79) According to social psychology research findings, when we engage in social

comparison, we are most likely to compare ourselves to

A) experts.

B) people who perform poorly on the task.

C) similar others.

D) whomever is physically closest to us.

E) dissimilar others.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 122-123 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

80) Mariana wonders whether she has the potential to become a first-rate social

psychologist. To assess her potential, she would most likely compare herself to

A) Leon Festinger.

B) other university students she knows.

C) her parents.

D) famous social psychologists whose research she has read.

E) other psychology majors she knows.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 122-123 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

81) What approach suggests that we all have a limited amount of energy to devote to self-

control and that using up this energy on one task reduces the amount of self-control

that can be used for another task?

A) Self-verification model

B) Thought regulation model

C) Self-inhibitory generation model

D) Self-regulatory resource model

E) Resource limitation model

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 123-124 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

82) Jana’s New Year’s resolution is to train to run a 10km race. She has been doing great,

getting up to go on a run at 7am five days a week, including this morning. When

she’s headed to work after her run, she gets to the subway station and finds that there

is a service disruption. She will have to wait 15 minutes for the next train. Based on

the self-control approach, what is most likely to happen?

A) Jana will sigh, then start reading the book that she brought.

B) Jana will decide that a walk would be nice and leave the station.C) Jana will grumble about the train being late and snap at the person who

accidentally steps on her foot.

D) When she’s on the train, Jana will offer her seat to a senior citizen who gets

on at the next stop.

E) Jana will enjoy some healthy snacks.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 123-124 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

83) According to research on social comparison, elderly people feel more life satisfaction

when

A) they compare themselves with those who are more physically able.

B) they believe that others have had fewer regrets in life.

C) reminding themselves that others are worse off than they are.

D) they think about all the good things in the world.

E) remembering their own younger years.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 124-127 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

84) Which of the following people is engaging in upward social comparison?

A) Walter, who decides to exercise more after his friends tell him that he has

gained weight

B) Jermaine, who checks the distribution of scores on his final examination

C) Daniel, who feels better when he realizes that rich people pay a lot more in

taxes than he does

D) Chet, who checks his stopwatch and vows to run faster next time

E) Toni, who reads William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor to assess her own

writing skills

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 124-127 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

85) Gus went golfing last week and shot a score of 85, the best score he has ever shot

after years of playing. At work the next day he tells his close friend Arnie about his

achievement. Arnie tells Gus that he also went golfing yesterday and shot a score of

72, which is quite a bit better than Gus’ score. According to the research on social

comparison processes presented in the text,

A) Gus will be highly motivated to outperform Arnie on any task related to golf.

B) the next time Gus and Arnie golf together, Gus will probably hit Arnie with a

5-iron the minute his back is turned.

C) Gus will be inspired by Arnie’s achievement to practice even harder and

become a better player.

D) Gus will become less satisfied with his performance and his motivation to

practice will probably be decreased.

E) the next time Gus and Arnie golf together Gus will say that he has been too

sick to practice, so that he has a handy excuse for losing.Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 124-127 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

86) Upward social comparison is to _______ as downward social comparison is to

_______.

A) lower self-esteem; higher self-esteem.

B) self-enhancement.; striving.

C) neutral emotions; positive emotions.

D) positive emotions; negative emotions.

E) self-enhancement; negative emotions.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 124-127 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

87) When we are motivated to feel good about ourselves, we

A) use self-handicapping.

B) make internal attributions.

C) make external attributions.

D) use downward social comparison.

E) seek self-awareness.

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 124-127 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

88) Joanne Wood, Shelley Taylor, and Rosemary Lichtman (1985) found that in order to

feel more optimistic about their own futures, cancer patients engage in

A) introspection.

B) impression management.

C) reconstructive memory.

D) upward social comparison.

E) downward social comparison.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 124 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

89) In which of the following circumstances would we generally feel worse after social

comparison?

A) if our ideal self was compared to a very successful person

B) if our usual self was compared to an inspiring person

C) if our current self was compared to our past self

D) if our usual self was compared to a our current self

E) if our usual self was compared to an unsuccessful person

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 124-127 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy90) _______ is who we are, and _______ is our best self.

A) actual self; ideal self

B) actual self; personal self

C) current self; ideal self

D) actual self; ought self

E) personal self; social self

Answer: D

Type: MC Page Ref: 124-127 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

91) Wilson and Ross have shown that comparing our past self with our current self is

A) a useful technique for boosting self-esteem.

B) a poor technique for impression management.

C) useful for introspection and self-awareness.

D) useful for impression management.

E) a useful technique for recall of autobiographical memories.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 125 Skill: Recall Difficulty:Easy

92) Which subjects in Tiggeman & Polivy’s (2010) study of the effects of social

comparison had the LEAST dissatisfaction with their bodies and LEAST negative

mood?

A) subjects who had compared their appearance with that of a thin model

B) subjects who had compared their intelligence with that of a thin model

C) subjects who had compared their height with that of a tall model

D) subjects who had compared their morality with that of a thin model

E) subjects who had compared their appearance with a slim television actress

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 127 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

93) ______________ posits that self-esteem is a gauge that monitors the extent to which

we are accepted or rejected by others.

A) Self-Awareness Theory

B) The Looking Glass Self

C) Self-Perception Theory

D) Self-Verification Theory

E) Sociometer Theory

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 129 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

94) According to sociometer theory, “chronic” self-esteem refers to ________________

whereas “state” self-esteem refers to ________________.A) the self-esteem we get from relationships with acquaintances; the self-esteem

we get from relationships with close friends

B) how much we generally feel accepted or rejected; our current feelings of

acceptance or rejection in a particular relationship or social situation

C) the self-esteem we get from relationships with close friends; the self-esteem

we get from relationships with acquaintances

D) our current feelings of acceptance or rejection in a particular relationship or

social situation; how much we generally feel accepted or rejected

E) the self-esteem we get based on whether we are achieving long-term goals; the

self-esteem we get from whether we are achieving short-term goals

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 129 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

95) Bonnie has generally low self-esteem. According to Danu Anthony Stinson’s

research on sociometer theory, she will be most willing to join a new social group if

A) someone in the group tells her that they have heard she has many good

qualities and the group expects they will like her.

B) the group has a reputation for being unwelcoming.

C) someone in the group tells her that they are unlikely to accept her as a member

of the group and she should find someone else to be friends with.

D) someone in the group tells her that they have heard she is a good person and

that they will probably become friends after they have taken the time to get to

know each other.

E) the group has a reputation for being warm and accepting.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 129-130 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Moderate

96) Holding unrealistically positive views of oneself is called

A) self-affirmation.

B) self-verification.

C) self-completion.

D) self-esteem.

E) self-enhancement.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 131 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

97) Surveys of Canadian university students show a tendency for students to think they

are _______ most other students.

A) worse off than

B) better than

C) equal to

D) worse than

E) stronger thanAnswer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 131 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

98) Research comparing self-esteem in Canadian versus Eastern Asian cultures finds that

A) Canadian and Chinese students rate themselves more positively than their

peers; Japanese students rate themselves more negatively.

B) Canadian, Japanese, and Chinese students all rate themselves less positively

than their peers.

C) Canadian, Japanese, and Chinese students all rate themselves more positively

than their peers.

D) Canadian students rate themselves more negatively than their peers; Chinese

and Japanese students rate themselves more positively.

E) Canadian students rate themselves more positively than their peers; Chinese

and Japanese students rate themselves more negatively.

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 131 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

99) According to the textbook, self-enhancement is

A) universal.

B) more common in collectivistic cultures.

C) largely a phenomenon of individualistic cultures.

D) more common among women than men.

E) negatively related to psychosocial adjustment.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 131-133 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

100) Heine, Takata, and Lehman (2000) found that failure feedback

A) did not affect Canadian students’ positive evaluations of their math skills, but

led to self-effacement among Japanese students..

B) led Canadians to engage in upward social comparison, and Japanese students

to engage in downward social comparison.

C) led Japanese and Canadian students to engage in downward social comparison

equally.

D) led Canadian students to feel worse about their performance, but did not affect

Japanese students’ feelings about their math skills.

E) made Japanese and Canadian students feel better about their math skills.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 131-133 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate101) Self-enhancement among individuals from Asian cultures

A) doesn’t seem to occur.

B) happens when speaking about themselves.

C) happens when speaking about their families but not themselves.

D) happens when speaking about themselves and their families.

E) happens when speaking about their themselves and only close family members.

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 131-132 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

102) Ken is a Chinese-Canadian graduate student who has lived in Canada for 10 years.

He is given a questionnaire on aspects of the self similar to one used by Ross, Xun,

and Wilson (2002). What is the most likely outcome? Ken is _______ when

answering the questionnaire in Chinese and _______ when answering in English.

A) self-effacing; self-effacing

B) self-enhancing; self-aware

C) self-effacing; self-enhancing

D) self-enhancing; self enhancing

E) self-enhancing; self-effacing

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 132 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

103) Which of the following theories posits that people may go to great lengths to

confirm negative self-views?

A) self-verification theory

B) self-completion theory

C) self-awareness theory

D) self-affirmation theory

E) self-discrepancy theory

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 133-134 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

104) _______ theory holds that people have a need to seek confirmation of their self-

concepts, even at the expense of self-enhancement.

A) Self-verification

B) Self-awareness

C) Self-completion

D) Self-affirmation

E) Self-justification

Answer: A

Type: MC Page Ref: 133 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy105) Kate knows that she isn’t as organized as she’d like to be. One day, Jim, a guy she’s

been dating for a number of months, says to her, “Wow, Kate. You always seem to

have it all together. You’re so organized!” What theory explains why Kate would be

unhappy about Jim’s statement?

A) self-evaluation maintenance theory

B) self-affirmation theory

C) cognitive dissonance theory

D) self-perception theory

E) self-verification theory

Answer: E

Type: MC Page Ref: 133-134 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

106) People strive to uphold their negative self-beliefs only when they

A) have high self-esteem.

B) are uncertain of those beliefs.

C) are highly certain of those beliefs.

D) become self-protective, and self-justification is inevitable.

E) are focused on maintaining the self-esteem of close friends and family.

Answer: C

Type: MC Page Ref: 133-134 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

107) According to self-verification theory, the need to self-verify will dominate our

behaviour when

A) we are uncertain of our self-beliefs.

B) we are highly certain of our self-beliefs.

C) the consequences of being improperly evaluated are great.

D) our evaluator is someone we don’t know very well.

E) we feel we can improve our abilities.

Answer: B

Type: MC Page Ref: 133-134 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy108) Most of us conceive of the self as an inherent part of who we are, constant, coherent,

and stable. Still, social psychologists view the self as constructed over time. Briefly

describe how early life experiences, culture, and gender influence this development

or construction of our sense of self.

Answer:

Our sense of self originates around the age of two years and gradually develops and

changes as we age, starting as relatively concrete (e.g., physical characteristics) and

becoming more and more abstract (e.g., our thoughts and feelings). Culture also

influences our sense of self. In independent Western cultures, our sense of self is

individualistic, focusing on our own thoughts, feelings, and actions; in

interdependent Eastern cultures, our sense of self is more relational, focusing on

how one’s self is influenced by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others. Gender

also affects our sense of self. In North America, women are more likely to have an

interdependent view of the self, whereas men are more likely to have an

independent view. In collectivist cultures both men and women have interdependent

or relational views of the self.

Type: ES Page Ref: 108-113 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate

109) Briefly describe the tenets of self-awareness theory and explain some cognitive and

behavioural consequences of self-awareness.

Answer:

Self-awareness theory posits that when we focus on ourselves, we evaluate and

compare our current behaviour against our personal values and standards. When we

can bring our behaviours into line with our internal values, we will. When, however,

we do not or cannot bring our behaviours into line with our internal standards, we

will experience discomfort, and stop being self-aware as quickly as possible (e.g.,

turning away from a mirror, watching television, or even escaping the self via drugs

or suicide).

Type: ES Page Ref: 114-116 Skill: Recall Difficulty; Easy

110) You are sitting at the mall, gossiping with a friend about a mutual acquaintance.

You suddenly catch sight of yourself on a security camera. According to self-

awareness theory, what is likely to happen in this case?

Answer:

You will become self-aware when you see your image. You will then become aware

of your internal values and standards, and will become aware of the extent to which

gossiping about an acquaintance is compatible with your values. If you decide that

gossiping is not compatible with your values, self-awareness will make you feel

uncomfortable. If you do not stop gossiping, you will seek a way to reduce your

self-awareness, perhaps by leaving that spot.

Type: ES Page Ref: 114-116 Skill:Applied Difficulty: Easy111) Describe how a self-perception theorist would explain how you come to decide

whether you really like your new roommate.

Answer:

A self-perception theorist would first note that self-perception processes operate

when we are unsure of our initial feelings or attitudes towards something new.

When we are unsure about how we really feel, we will look to the environment and

to our own behaviour to decide. For example, we may reflect on our behaviour the

last time we were around our roommate. Did we laugh? Did we do any favours for

her? Did we compliment her? We would also look to the situation to determine

whether situational factors (e.g., rewards) might have influenced our behaviours. If

so, we might decide that it was the situation and not our true feelings that influenced

our behaviour.

Type: ES Page Ref: 118-120 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

112) When Linda was a child, her friends at school all earned a lot of money if their

grades were good. Linda went to her parents and asked that she be given money for

good report cards. Her parents agreed. She would earn a nickel for every “A” and a

dollar if she earned “all A’s.” Her friends, of course, were offered much more

money for good grades. Using self-perception theory and the overjustification

effect, explain why Linda’s parents might have offered her such meager monetary

rewards for academic success.

Answer:

Self-perception theory posits that when we are unsure of our attitudes, we look to

our own behaviours and to the environment to decide how we feel. This example is

a special case of working to increase intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation to learn

and excel. Linda’s parents were careful not to provide excessive external rewards

because such rewards might convince Linda that the reason she was working hard in

school was to earn money. Instead, they provided meager rewards so that Linda

would come to believe that she worked hard in school because she liked it and

viewed it as worthwhile; in other words, she would become intrinsically motivated

to succeed.

Type: ES Page Ref: 118-120 Skill: Applied Difficulty: Easy

113) Many social psychologists assert that much of our sense of self arises from our

interactions with our observations of others—in effect, the self is social. How does

Leon Festinger’s social comparison theory fit this conceptualization of self?

Answer:

Social comparison theory posits that we are motivated to evaluate ourselves, our

attitudes, and our abilities. Sometimes the nonsocial environment doesn’t provide

enough information (i.e., objective criteria) to afford these evaluations. When this

happens, we often turn to others to evaluate our own abilities—we engage in social

comparison. We are most likely to compare ourselves to others when there are no

objective standards and when we are unsure of some self-aspects. We are likely tocompare ourselves with others who are similar to ourselves on the attribute or

dimension in question.

Type: ES Page Ref: 122-123 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

114) Describe the differences between downward and upward social comparison. How do

they influence our sense of self?

Answer:

Downward social comparison is the process whereby we compare ourselves with

people who are worse than we are on a particular trait or ability. Upward social

comparison is the process whereby we compare ourselves with people who are

better than we are on a particular trait or ability. Downward social comparison can

make people feel more satisfied with their life, while upwards social comparison

can make us feel bad and incompetent compared to others, but can also have

positive effects and motivate us to pursue our dreams if we feel like we can achieve

the level of performance that the other person has.

Type: ES Page Ref: 124-127 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy

115) Is self-enhancement culturally specific? Remember to define self-enhancement and

summarize research exploring cultural differences in this tendency.

Answer:

Research shows that a tendency to self-enhance, to have an unrealistically positive

view of the self, is largely shown in individualistic, Western cultures. In East Asian

cultures there is a greater tendency to show self-effacement and self-criticism.

People from Asian cultures tend to evaluate themselves lower than their peers on

many dimensions of comparison, score lower than North Americans on measures of

self-esteem, and are quicker to accept feedback about failure than feedback about

success. This cultural difference does not appear to be due merely to a self-

presentation bias on the part of East Asians.

Type: ES Page Ref: 131-133 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Easy116) Why might a person wish for feedback that confirms his or her negative self-

concept? Discuss the self-verification theory perspective.

Answer:

Self-verification theory suggests that we are motivated to know the truth about

ourselves, even if that truth is verification of our own negative self-concept. This is

because that will help to maintain a coherent self-concept over time and it may be

threatening if others have (what we think of as) an unrealistically high expectations

of us that we cannot meet.

However, the tendency to seek self-verification over self-enhancement does depend

on the dimension of the self that is being evaluated and our relationship with the

evaluator. We prefer enhancement of the dimension of the self that is most relevant

or important to the relationship with the evaluator (e.g., physical attractiveness in a

dating relationship), but accuracy on other dimensions.

Type: ES Page Ref: 133-134 Skill: Recall Difficulty: Moderate