SP Revision

Gordon Allport's classic definition of social psychology emphasizes that it is the study of how individuals are influenced by:

• Their unconscious desires and conflicts

• The real or imagined presence of other people

• Their genetic predispositions and personality traits

• Broader economic and political systems

The feeling that "I knew it all along" after learning the outcome of an event is a classic example of:

• The confirmation bias

• The hindsight bias

• The overconfidence barrier

• The illusion of transparency

A researcher manipulates the level of background noise (quiet vs. loud) to see its effect on participants' concentration. In this experiment, the level of background noise is the:

• Dependent variable

• Control variable

• Independent variable

• Confounding variable

Scenario: You are walking to class and instantly step aside to avoid a cyclist coming your way. This action is most likely an example of:

• Controlled thinking

• Automatic thinking

• Counterfactual thinking

• Magical thinking

A mental framework about the typical sequence of events that happens at a restaurant (e.g., being seated, ordering, eating, paying) is known as a(n):

• Role schema

• Person schema

• Group schema

• Event schema (script)

The mental shortcut where we judge the likelihood of something based on how easily we can recall examples from memory is called the:

• Representativeness heuristic

• Availability heuristic

• Anchoring and adjustment heuristic

• Status quo heuristic

Scenario: After watching several news reports about shark attacks, Rohan decides to cancel his beach vacation because he believes such attacks are very common. Rohan's judgment is most influenced by:

• The representativeness heuristic

• The availability heuristic

• The planning fallacy

• The false consensus effect

The tendency to search for information that confirms our pre-existing beliefs, while ignoring contradictory evidence, is known as:

• The belief in a just world

• The confirmation bias

• The bias blind spot

• The perseverance effect

Scenario: Priya is convinced her new coworker is unfriendly. She notices every time the coworker doesn't smile but overlooks the times the coworker offers help. This is an example of:

• The fundamental attribution error

• The confirmation bias

• The self-fulfilling prophecy

• The false consensus effect

Imagining alternative outcomes to a past event, such as thinking "If only I had left home earlier, I wouldn't have missed the train," is known as:

• Magical thinking

• Counterfactual thinking

• Terror management

• Affective forecasting