BAPSY Social Psychology Principles 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which phenomenon occurs when people exert less effort on a task when working in a group than when working alone?
- Social facilitation
- Social loafing (Correct answer)
- Deindividuation
- Group polarization
Correct answer: Social loafing
Social loafing is the tendency for individuals to put in less effort when working collectively than when working individually.
Question 2: The foot-in-the-door technique works primarily through which psychological principle?
- Reciprocity
- Commitment and consistency (Correct answer)
- Social proof
- Scarcity
Correct answer: Commitment and consistency
The foot-in-the-door technique leverages commitment and consistency, as people who agree to a small request feel compelled to remain consistent by agreeing to a larger one.
Question 3: In Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, dissonance is most likely to motivate attitude change when:
- The conflicting cognitions are trivial
- The behavior cannot be undone and was freely chosen (Correct answer)
- External pressure was high
- The person has low self-esteem
Correct answer: The behavior cannot be undone and was freely chosen
Dissonance is greatest and most motivating when a person freely chose an irrevocable behavior that conflicts with their attitudes.
Question 4: Which classic study demonstrated that ordinary people would deliver apparently lethal electric shocks to a stranger when ordered by an authority figure?
- Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment
- Asch's conformity study
- Milgram's obedience study (Correct answer)
- Sherif's Robbers Cave Experiment
Correct answer: Milgram's obedience study
Milgram's obedience experiments showed that approximately 65% of participants administered the maximum shock level when instructed by an authority figure.
Question 5: The 'just-world hypothesis' leads people to:
- Assume that bad events are randomly distributed
- Blame victims for their misfortunes to maintain belief in a fair world (Correct answer)
- Increase helping behavior toward victims
- Attribute failures to situational factors
Correct answer: Blame victims for their misfortunes to maintain belief in a fair world
The just-world hypothesis causes people to blame victims because acknowledging random suffering would threaten their belief that the world is fair and controllable.
Question 6: Which concept describes the tendency for groups to make more extreme decisions than individuals would make alone?
- Groupthink
- Group polarization (Correct answer)
- Social loafing
- Risky shift
Correct answer: Group polarization
Group polarization refers to the tendency for group discussion to strengthen and push the group's initial leaning toward a more extreme position.
Question 7: A person helps an injured stranger primarily because they feel genuine empathy and concern for the victim's wellbeing. This motivation is best described as:
- Egoistic motivation
- Altruistic motivation (Correct answer)
- Normative motivation
- Reciprocal motivation
Correct answer: Altruistic motivation
Altruistic motivation involves helping driven by genuine concern for another's welfare rather than for personal gain or to reduce one's own distress.
BAPSY Social Psychology Principles 2
Which phenomenon occurs when people exert less effort on a task when working in a group than when working alone?