BAPSY Social and Behavioral Psychology 4

Question 1

Which of the following best describes the concept of 'cognitive dissonance' as proposed by Leon Festinger?

Accepted Answer

Psychological discomfort arising from holding contradictory beliefs or behaving contrary to one's beliefs

Answer

Cognitive dissonance motivates attitude change or rationalization to restore psychological consistency between beliefs and behaviors.

Question 2

Tajfel and Turner's Social Identity Theory argues that in-group favoritism primarily stems from:

Accepted Answer

The need for a positive social identity through group membership

Answer

People favor in-groups because group membership contributes to self-esteem; elevating the in-group elevates one's own social identity.

Question 3

Which research method involves systematically manipulating one variable while keeping all others constant to establish causality?

Accepted Answer

Controlled experiment

Answer

Only controlled experiments with random assignment allow researchers to infer that the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable.

Question 4

The 'contact hypothesis' suggests that prejudice between groups can be reduced when contact occurs under which conditions?

Accepted Answer

Equal status, common goals, institutional support, and cooperative interaction

Answer

Gordon Allport specified that mere contact is insufficient; prejudice reduction requires equal-status cooperation toward shared goals with institutional backing.

Question 5

Which phenomenon occurs when the presence of others improves performance on well-learned tasks but impairs performance on complex or novel tasks?

Accepted Answer

Social facilitation

Answer

Zajonc explained social facilitation through arousal: arousal enhances the dominant (most practiced) response, helping on easy tasks but hurting on hard ones.

BAPSY - Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Practice Test

BAPSY - Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Practice Test

BAPSY Social and Behavioral Psychology 4