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(D) morally, he would have to become a conscientious objector

(E) morally, he must fight and defend his country

14. A charity sends you some greeting cards and you feel that you should send them a small contribution. This feeling comes from the persuasion technique called

(A) foot-in-the-door

(B) reciprocity

(C) door-in-the-face technique

(D) low-ball technique

(E) central route

15. Which of the following is not a key determinant of whether or not two people will become friends?

(A) similarity of interests and social backgrounds

(B) proximity

(C) physical attractiveness

(D) utilitarian value

(E) opposing views on key social issues

Answers and Explanations

1. D—Self-fulfilling prophecy studies show there is a tendency to elicit behaviors from others that conform to our individual expectations. After hearing the other teacher’s attribution of the student behavior, Mr. Moffatt’s behavior toward the student probably changed even unintentionally, which affected the student’s behavior. (Note: this is the result of the incident—not its cause.)

2. C—Groupthink is a tendency to self-censor in group decision to preserve the harmony of the group.

3. E—Diffusion of responsibility is the bystander rule that, as the size of the group increases, the assumption of responsibility of any group member decreases.

4. A—When judging the behavior of others, people often make the fundamental attribution error of overemphasizing personal or dispositional factors and underestimating situational factors.

5. C—Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own group—ethic, political, religious, etc.—is superior to others.

6. D—Although one-third of the participants conformed some of the time in the Asch conformity trials, when only one of the confederates selected a different line from the others, the participant was released from the conformity effect.

7. A—Children tend to adopt the attitudes of their parents through all of the other methods, but exposure to mass media offers them a diverse set of opinions, which may cause them to carefully reconsider some of their parents’ basic beliefs.

8. E—A self-serving bias causes us to overestimate the contribution we make to successful group projects, thereby preserving our feelings of self-worth and efficacy.

9. A—The jigsaw classroom was an effort to increase cooperation between diverse groups and build esteem and achievement of minority students. The original expert groups learn one part of a lesson. The students then regroup into jigsaw groups and are dependent upon others to learn the complete lesson. Diverse groups working cooperatively together come into contact with each other and lose some of their prejudiced beliefs.

10. B—Prejudice is an unjustified attitude, while discrimination is the unjustified behavior that might result from holding these attitudes.

11. D—In studies on deindividuation, anonymity of group members often excuses them to act in antisocial ways. The wording of this question often leads people to consider personal gain through criminal acts since they “won’t face punishment.”

12. C—Milgram’s “shocking” experiment put individuals under extreme psychological distress and, even though 98% stated they were glad to have participated in the experiment, a similar experiment would not be allowed today because of the ethical problems.

13. B—Cognitive dissonance research states that in order to reduce tension created by opposing actions and values or beliefs, a person will modify either the actions or the beliefs to create cognitive consistency.

14. B—Reciprocity is the compliance technique often used by groups to get others to donate money out of obligation since the group has given them a small gift first.

15. E—Letters A–D are all instrumental factors in determining who will become friends, but opposing views on social issues may cause initial conflict and a lesser tendency for people to be motivated to form a friendship.

Rapid Review

Social psychology—study of how groups influence individuals’ attitudes and behavior.

Group dynamics: