BAPSY Social and Behavioral Psychology 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which concept from behavioral economics describes how people's choices are influenced by the way options are presented, even when the objective information is identical?
- Framing effect (Correct answer)
- Anchoring bias
- Availability heuristic
- Prospect theory
Correct answer: Framing effect
The framing effect shows that describing a medical treatment as '90% survival rate' versus '10% mortality rate' shifts preferences despite identical meaning.
Question 2: Seligman's concept of 'learned helplessness' was originally derived from experiments in which dogs:
- Received inescapable shocks and later failed to escape when escape was possible (Correct answer)
- Were rewarded unpredictably and became passive
- Observed other dogs being shocked and stopped responding
- Were deprived of social contact until they showed behavioral deficits
Correct answer: Received inescapable shocks and later failed to escape when escape was possible
Dogs that experienced uncontrollable shocks learned that their actions had no effect, generalizing this expectation of helplessness to new situations.
Question 3: The elaboration likelihood model predicts that peripheral route persuasion is more likely when the audience is:
- Low in motivation or ability to process the message (Correct answer)
- Highly knowledgeable about the topic
- In a negative mood
- Personally involved with the issue
Correct answer: Low in motivation or ability to process the message
When people lack motivation or cognitive resources, they rely on surface cues like speaker attractiveness rather than argument quality.
Question 4: Which of the following is an example of negative punishment in operant conditioning?
- Taking away a teenager's phone for breaking curfew (Correct answer)
- Giving a child a detention for misbehaving
- Applying electric shock to suppress lever pressing
- Removing an unpleasant noise when a rat presses a lever
Correct answer: Taking away a teenager's phone for breaking curfew
Negative punishment involves removing a desirable stimulus (the phone) to decrease the frequency of an undesirable behavior.
Question 5: The 'door-in-the-face' compliance technique relies primarily on which principle of social influence?
- Reciprocal concessions (Correct answer)
- Commitment and consistency
- Social proof
- Authority
Correct answer: Reciprocal concessions
After refusing a large request, people feel obligated to comply with a smaller follow-up request because the requester appears to have made a concession.
Question 6: Which psychological concept explains why people tend to overestimate how much others notice their appearance, mistakes, or emotions?
- Spotlight effect (Correct answer)
- False consensus effect
- Illusion of transparency
- Actor-observer bias
Correct answer: Spotlight effect
The spotlight effect occurs because we are acutely aware of ourselves, leading us to overestimate the degree to which others are attending to us.
Question 7: According to terror management theory, awareness of one's own mortality primarily motivates people to:
- Defend and uphold their cultural worldviews and self-esteem (Correct answer)
- Seek immediate pleasure and avoid delayed gratification
- Strengthen close interpersonal relationships
- Pursue achievement goals to leave a legacy
Correct answer: Defend and uphold their cultural worldviews and self-esteem
Terror management theory holds that cultural worldviews serve as a buffer against existential anxiety by providing meaning and symbolic immortality.
BAPSY Social and Behavioral Psychology 5
Which concept from behavioral economics describes how people's choices are influenced by the way options are presented, even when the objective information is identical?