Social Psychology

1. TCO 5. There has been a bumper crop of politicians who have been revealed to be less than upstanding citizens. John Edwards, a former senator who was in the running for the 2008 presidential nomination, and who said family values were at his core, was revealed to have had an affair with a campaign worker, at the same time his wife was battling cancer. Similarly, New York governor Eliot Spitzer, a married, moralizing crusader for laws against sexual tourism, was caught in an escort service “sting”, and forced to resign. These are only two of several recent examples of politicians who have celebrity status, and flaunted the social norms of decency.

Apply the course concepts of the dark side of self-esteem and moral hypocrisy to this type of behavior. What do you conclude about people who behave in such a way? Hint: Explicitly use each concept by name and also give a one sentence definition of it before explaining how the concepts apply to these people.

(Points : 41)

Question 2. 2. TCO 6. The Beltway sniper attacks in the Washington D.C. area, in 2002, completely transfixed American consciousness for the three weeks in October, when a pair of armed killers roamed through the Capital region, ambushing and killing 10 people, and wounding three others. As time progressed and law enforcement officials were having little luck in solving the case, tensions and apprehensiveness spread far beyond the area where the killings were concentrated. Even though there was never any hard evidence that the killers were headed in their direction, the citizens of towns and cities a hundred miles away were terrorized by the notion that the killers were about to show up in their communities.

Discuss this with respect to the effects of suggestibility that Myers writes about in Chapter 6. Be specific as to what aspects of suggestibility apply to the case.

(Points : 41)

Question 3. 3. TCO’s 4 and 12. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Cuban Taekwondo athlete Angel Matos fell to the mat, after being hit by his opponent. He became incensed at the referee, who disqualified him for exceeding the one-minute time-out allowed for an injury. Matos angrily disputed the call, physically pushing a judge and then pushing and kicking the referee in the face. He spat on the mat and was escorted out by officials. The World Taekwondo Federation immediately banned Matos for life, and the IOC took away his bronze medal.

This is a two part question:

a. What is it about the fundamental nature and structure of the Olympics that helps explain why this situation occurred?

b. This example contains evidence of both hostile aggression and instrumental aggression. Which part of the example involves hostile aggression, and which part of the example involves instrumental aggression? Explain your reasoning.

(Points : 41)

Question 4. 4. TCO 9. Barack Obama became a very hot political commodity in 2006 when he caught the attention and imagination of the American public by announcing his intention to run for President in 2008. He is a tall, nice looking, and a very articulate individual, which quickly made him a media darling. Some media watchers have described his impact as similar to a rock star.

Name two (2) factors of interpersonal attraction mentioned in the textbook that would explain his attractiveness to audiences.

(Points : 26)

Question 5. 5. TCO 6. Why do common external threats and shared goals lead to greater cooperation between two conflicting groups? (Points : 26)

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Question 1. 1. TCO 3. Felipe is talking to a group of other students. They are discussing their views of cheating at school. Felipe says that he has very high standards, and would not cheat. Which one of the following aspects of self-concept explains Felipe’s position? (Points : 5)

[removed] social identity
[removed] personal identity
[removed] intuition
[removed] culture

Question 2. 2. TCO 10. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are a Hollywood couple who seem to have been brought together by proximity, physical attractiveness, and similarity. There mutual attraction could be described as a good outcome of meeting each other. Good outcomes are associated with which one of the following theories of interpersonal attraction? (Points : 5)

[removed] reinforcement theory
[removed] contingency theory of motivation
[removed] gloried self-theory
[removed] reward theory of attraction

Question 3. 3. TCO 13. By definition, militant animal rights groups, like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), are socially deviant because they use bombings, arson, and poisoning to get their messages to get attention in the media. PETA has done major damage to retail outlets, laboratories, and clinics while innocent people have come close to being killed by PETA’s activities. Other groups have behaved similarly in the past, and the technique seems to have been successful. Even so, PETA has a large following of supporters from all the media attention, who by their support, are encouraging the organization to continue its aggression. What theory or concept of aggression, in the textbook, corresponds to the argument that PETA continues its anti-social ways, because it gets attention and support for their cause, and reflects an imitation of observed behaviors of other people?

(Points : 5)

[removed] equity theory of motivation
[removed] social learning theory
[removed] hostile aggression
[removed] frustration-aggression hypothesis

Question 4. 4. TCO 1. Imagine you are walking along and a large dog approaches you. You assume the dog is unfriendly, so you start yelling at it to go away. In your mind, you are convinced the dog is going to harm you. The dog is alarmed and defends itself by biting you on the ankle. This is an example of which one of the following? (Points : 5)

[removed] self-fulfilling belief
[removed] self-handicapping behavior
[removed] self-defeating behavior
[removed] perceived lack of control of your outcome

Question 5. 5. TCO 8. According to social psychologists, a group exists when two or more people interact with and influence each other AND _________ . (Points : 5)

[removed] are also in the same place
[removed] also work together
[removed] also perceive themselves as “us”
[removed] also facilitate each other

Question 6. 6. TCO 4. When your English Literature professor wants to help you remember a character from a fictional play, she asks you to compare __________ to this character. (Points : 5)

[removed] your mother
[removed] your best friend
[removed] yourself
[removed] your father

Question 7. 7. TCO 2. You are interested in whether the high price of gasoline will influence how people will perceive future car purchases. You want to specifically target those individuals who will be purchasing a vehicle within the next six months. The method must be able to be administered to a large number of people in a simple and direct way. Which is the best approach to completing this research? (Points : 5)

[removed] ask people to come to your lab, and put them through a car purchasing simulation
[removed] administer a survey to the specific target group you are studying
[removed] unobtrusively follow people around two or three car dealership sales floors, observing the makes of cars that they look at first and longest (field study)

Question 8. 8. TCO 11. Which one of Melvin’s relatives is most likely to respond favorably to an unexpected request for a charitable donation to a local hospital? (Points : 5)

[removed] Melvin’s older sister, who is in a hurry to get to her doctor’s appointment
[removed] Melvin’s mother, who just got a very positive job evaluation at work
[removed] Melvin’s cousin, who is upset over receiving a D on his college physical exam
[removed] Melvin’s father, who is annoyed because the person who delivers the newspaper threw the paper into a prized rose bush

Question 9. 9. TCO 7. Some individuals have many children so that they can ensure someone will take care of them when they grow old. However, this contributes to the collective devastation of overpopulation. This is an example of which one of the following? (Points : 5)

[removed] a mirror-image problem
[removed] the jigsaw problem
[removed] perceived inequality
[removed] a social dilemma

Question 10. 10. TCO 3. After losing the third hand of poker in a row, and running out of chips, Georgio walks over to the wall and hits it so hard with his fist that he makes a big hole in the drywall, releasing his anger on something other than himself. This is an example of which one of the following? (Points : 5)

[removed] regression
[removed] hostile aggression
[removed] Parkinson’s Second Law
[removed] displacement

Question 11. 11. TCO 9. Research on proximity and social attraction, in general, supports which one of the following views? (Points : 5)

[removed] familiarity breeds contempt
[removed] familiarity encourages liking
[removed] proximity leads to affection
[removed] distance makes the heart grow fonder