BAPSY Social Psychology Principles 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The bystander effect is primarily explained by which two psychological processes?
- Conformity and obedience
- Diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance (Correct answer)
- Social loafing and group polarization
- Altruism and empathy-altruism hypothesis
Correct answer: Diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance
Bystander intervention decreases in crowds because each person assumes others will help (diffusion of responsibility) and looks to others to define the situation as an emergency (pluralistic ignorance).
Question 2: Which theory suggests that aggression results from the blocking of a goal-directed behavior?
- Social learning theory
- Frustration-aggression hypothesis (Correct answer)
- Excitation transfer theory
- General aggression model
Correct answer: Frustration-aggression hypothesis
The frustration-aggression hypothesis, proposed by Dollard and colleagues, states that frustration always leads to some form of aggression.
Question 3: When consumers buy a product because they see it as scarce or limited-edition, they are responding to which influence principle?
- Social proof
- Liking
- Scarcity (Correct answer)
- Authority
Correct answer: Scarcity
Cialdini's scarcity principle states that people assign more value to opportunities, objects, or information when they are rare or becoming unavailable.
Question 4: In social identity theory, which process involves enhancing self-esteem by favorably comparing one's in-group to relevant out-groups?
- Social categorization
- Social comparison (Correct answer)
- Self-stereotyping
- In-group differentiation
Correct answer: Social comparison
Social comparison in the context of social identity theory involves comparing one's group positively to other groups to achieve positive distinctiveness and boost self-esteem.
Question 5: Which research finding most directly challenges the frustration-aggression hypothesis in its original form?
- Aggression can occur without any prior frustration (Correct answer)
- People rarely displace aggression onto innocent targets
- Frustration always leads to physical violence
- Only adults show frustration-induced aggression
Correct answer: Aggression can occur without any prior frustration
The original hypothesis was revised because research showed aggression can occur without frustration (e.g., instrumental aggression), and frustration doesn't always lead to aggression.
Question 6: The tendency to attribute others' behavior to dispositional factors while underestimating situational influences is called:
- Self-serving bias
- Fundamental attribution error (Correct answer)
- Actor-observer effect
- Defensive attribution
Correct answer: Fundamental attribution error
The fundamental attribution error (also called correspondence bias) is the pervasive tendency to overweight personality and underweight situational context when explaining others' behavior.
Question 7: Which experimental design feature did Milgram use to demonstrate that obedience was driven by authority rather than aggression?
- He used only female participants
- He created conditions where the authority figure left the room (Correct answer)
- He measured heart rate during shocks
- He allowed participants to set their own shock levels
Correct answer: He created conditions where the authority figure left the room
When the experimenter left the room and gave instructions by phone, obedience dropped sharply, confirming that physical presence of authority was critical to compliance.
BAPSY Social Psychology Principles 4
The bystander effect is primarily explained by which two psychological processes?