ASPPB Social Psychology 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to the empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson), true altruistic motivation is elicited by:
- Social norms of reciprocity
- Empathic concern for another's welfare (Correct answer)
- Reduction of personal distress
- Social reward anticipation
Correct answer: Empathic concern for another's welfare
Batson argued that empathic concern — other-focused emotion — produces genuinely altruistic motivation, distinct from egoistic helping driven by personal distress reduction.
Question 2: The 'illusion of transparency' refers to the tendency to:
- Overestimate how well one understands others' thoughts
- Overestimate how detectable one's own internal states are to others (Correct answer)
- Believe others can see through deceptive intentions
- Underestimate how much others notice behavioral cues
Correct answer: Overestimate how detectable one's own internal states are to others
People overestimate the extent to which their emotions and thoughts 'leak out' and are apparent to observers.
Question 3: Which of the following factors most reliably INCREASES interpersonal attraction according to social psychological research?
- Complementarity of personality traits
- Mere exposure to a person (Correct answer)
- Perceived status differences
- Reciprocal self-disclosure in early interactions only
Correct answer: Mere exposure to a person
Zajonc's mere exposure effect shows that repeated exposure to a stimulus, including a person, increases positive evaluation of it.
Question 4: In the context of persuasion, 'inoculation theory' (McGuire) suggests that resistance to attitude change is best built by:
- Avoiding exposure to counterarguments entirely
- Exposing individuals to weakened counterarguments that they can refute (Correct answer)
- Strengthening supportive arguments through repetition
- Using emotional appeals to anchor the original attitude
Correct answer: Exposing individuals to weakened counterarguments that they can refute
Like biological inoculation, exposing people to a mild form of an attack allows them to develop cognitive 'antibodies' to defend their attitudes.
Question 5: Research on implicit attitudes using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) primarily measures:
- Attitudes that individuals deliberately conceal from researchers
- Automatic associative evaluations that may differ from explicit reports (Correct answer)
- Neurological activation patterns linked to prejudice
- Accuracy of self-reported attitude scales
Correct answer: Automatic associative evaluations that may differ from explicit reports
The IAT measures the strength of automatic mental associations between concepts, which can reveal attitudes people may not consciously endorse.
Question 6: Which of the following BEST characterizes 'realistic group conflict theory' as an explanation for intergroup hostility?
- Hostility emerges from unconscious projection of negative traits onto out-groups
- Competition over scarce resources generates negative attitudes between groups (Correct answer)
- In-group favoritism precedes and causes actual resource competition
- Perceived status threats produce hostility independent of actual resource scarcity
Correct answer: Competition over scarce resources generates negative attitudes between groups
Sherif's realistic group conflict theory holds that intergroup competition for limited resources is the root cause of prejudice and hostility.
Question 7: According to self-categorization theory (Turner), social identity becomes salient when:
- An individual is isolated from group members
- The ratio of intergroup differences to intragroup differences is high (Correct answer)
- Personal identity is strongly activated by threat
- Group membership is involuntary
Correct answer: The ratio of intergroup differences to intragroup differences is high
Self-categorization theory predicts that a social category becomes psychologically salient when differences between groups are large relative to differences within groups.
ASPPB Social Psychology 5
According to the empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson), true altruistic motivation is elicited by: