Introduction to Social Sciences
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Course Introduction
Introduction to Social Sciences offers a broad overview of the foundational disciplines that examine human society and social relationships, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, and economics. Students will explore key theories, concepts, and methods used in these fields to analyze individual and collective behavior, societal structures, cultural phenomena, and the impact of political and economic systems. Through interdisciplinary perspectives and real-world examples, this course fosters critical thinking skills and helps students understand the complexities of human interactions in diverse social contexts.
Recommended Textbook
Social Psychology and Human Nature Comprehensive Edition 3rd Edition by Roy F. Baumeister
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19 Chapters
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Mission and the Method
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215 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Ed just stole $50 from his parents. In assessing Ed's motives, which of the following questions would a social psychologist be MOST likely to ask?
A) Is Ed unconsciously motivated to hurt his parents?
B) Is Ed a person with a weak moral character?
C) Does Ed have friends or other role models who are also stealing?
D) Is Ed mentally healthy enough to realize what he has done?
Answer: C
Q2) When an experimenter wants to investigate the impact of two independent variables at the same time they will need to use a(n)____________________.
Answer: factorial design
Q3) Dr. Puni does not want the participants in his study to be aware of his hypothesis. What will he strive to reduce in his study?
A) The margin of error
B) Divergent validity
C) Measurement validity
D) Demand characteristics
Answer: D
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3
Chapter 2: Culture and Nature
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Sample Questions
Q1) The idea that nature and culture changed together and shaped each other is known as ____.
A) cooperation
B) competition
C) evolution
D) co-evolution
Answer: D
Q2) Research on the brain sizes of different animals would suggest that (domesticated) cats have ____ than (wild, pride-living) lions.
A) smaller brains
B) larger brains
C) more developed right hemispheres
D) more developed left hemispheres
Answer: A
Q3) Research indicates that, across all contemporary human cultures, ____.
A) homosexuality is looked upon with disapproval.
B) sex outside of marriage is illegal.
C) women are expected to be virgins when married.
D) men desire more sexual partners than women.
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: The Self
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Sample Questions
Q1) Nearly all children start talking about standards at age _____, which is the age at which _____.
A) one; they first learn to speak
B) two; self-awareness blossoms
C) five to six; they begin to form a clear gender identity
D) eleven to twelve; puberty usually sets in
Answer: B
Q2) Describe the three main jobs of the self.
Answer: a.Contains self-knowlege
i.Self-awareness about what one is good or bad at.
ii.Organizes and reflects upon self-knowledge.
b.Helps the person connect socially to other people
i.Known as the interpersonal self or public self
ii.Helps manage impressions in ways that facilitate social acceptance
c.Makes choices and exerts control
i.Known as the agent self or executive function
ii.This is the self as doer, exerting control over both itself (self-control) and other people and things.
Q3) The self-verification motive can also be called the ____________________motive.
Answer: consistency
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Choices and Actions: The Self in Control
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suicide often ____.
A) involves an automatic-versus-deliberate conflict
B) fits the now-versus-future trade-off pattern
C) involves the goals-versus-intention dilemma
D) fits a temporal-versus-certainty cycle
Q2) According to the text, why is it usually a doomed idea to try to diet when you are under stress?
A) Because dieting tends to temporarily deplete cognitive resources, which are needed for successfully coping with stressors
B) Because cortisol, the hormone released during times of stress, affects metabolism in such a way that it is almost impossible to diet successfully
C) Because people's capacity for willpower is limited, and can be depleted by attending to stressors (such that little willpower is left for dieting)
D) Because people require a greater caloric intake than usual in order to successfully cope with stressors
Q3) The idea that many people have a(n) "____________________," and therefore sabotage their careers, has received no empirical support.
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Chapter 5: Social Cognition
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the ironic consequences of thought suppression, and what strategies might work better to accomplish that same goal.
Q2) Within the field of social cognition, scripts can be thought of as ____.
A) more elaborate, or complex, versions of schemas
B) schemas about events
C) preliminary versions of schemas
D) finalized versions of schemas
Q3) People might very well overestimate the likelihood for celebrity marriages to end in divorce, since celebrity divorces tend to be highly publicized (while happy celebrity marriages do not make front page news as easily). The overestimation could be explained in terms of ____.
A) the representativeness heuristic.
B) the availability heuristic.
C) the anchoring and adjustment heuristic.
D) information overload
Q4) Although some social psychologists might argue that the cognitive errors discussed in this chapter stem from laziness and motivational biases, there is another perspective that puts a more positive spin on this. Articulate the two main parts of this other, more positive, perspective.
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Chapter 6: Emotion and Affect
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Sample Questions
Q1) The essence of most guilt-inducing strategies is ____.
A) "I am in the right here, can't you see that?"
B) "See how you are hurting me?"
C) "You are a bad person."
D) "I understand how you feel."
Q2) Compared to white Americans, Asian Americans tend to ____.
A) be less emotional in general (i.e., show more emotional moderation)
B) be more emotional in general (i.e., show less emotional moderation)
C) show several distinct emotions that white Americans completely lack
D) completely lack several distinct emotions that white Americans show
Q3) Lottery winners are no happier than anyone else a year after their big win. Similarly, people who have experienced serious physical injuries seem to "get over it" fairly well across time and return to their pre-injury level of happiness. These findings are consistent with research on ____.
A) the hedonic treadmill
B) the broaden-and-build theory
C) emotional intelligence (EQ)
D) personal affective indices
Q4) The scale to measure the four branches of emotional intelligence is called the ____________________.
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Chapter 7: Attitudes, Beliefs and Consistency
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Sample Questions
Q1) Early research on classical conditioning was performed with dogs. In certain variations of this research, experimenters repeatedly presented dogs with meat powder just after ringing a bell. The dogs (who would naturally salivate after being exposed to meat powder) learned to associate the bell with the meat powder, and began to salivate as soon as they heard the bell. In the language of classical conditioning, the meat powder in this research served as a(n) ____________________.
Q2) Religious beliefs have no psychological benefit.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Suppose that Sam disliked reggaeton the very first time he heard it. How should we expect his attitude to change (if at all) if he hears it several more times?
A) He will begin to dislike reggaeton less and less.
B) He will begin to dislike reggaeton more and more.
C) It is impossible to say; first impressions are fundamentally different from (and not always similar to) later attitudes.
D) His attitude is likely to stay exactly the same across repeated exposure.
Q4) Discuss cognitive dissonance theory. What does the theory say, and what kinds of predictions does it make?
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Social Influence and Persuasion
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Sample Questions
Q1) The so-called limited-number technique is a persuasive technique based upon the principle of ____.
A) scarcity
B) reciprocity
C) disruption and reframing
D) consistency
Q2) When persuasion researchers refer to a persuasive message as having "personal relevance" for someone, what they mean is that ____.
A) the issue will have significant consequences for the person's life
B) the issue is generally interesting to the person
C) the person has at some point in life already been affected by the issue
D) the issue concerns people who are similar to the person-though it may or may not affect the person himself or herself
Q3) Research suggests that experts are NOT persuasive unless they are also ____.
A) trustworthy
B) likeable
C) similar to the person they are talking to
D) converts (people who formally believed in an opposing point of view)
Q4) Compare and contrast normative and informational social influence.
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Chapter 9: Prosocial Behavior: Doing Whats Best for Others
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Sample Questions
Q1) Una has done a number of things to annoy her boyfriend recently-she crashed his car, is repeatedly late for dates, and was rude to his mother-and she feels a bit bad. However, Una's boyfriend has forgiven her for each of her offenses. As a result, Una is likely to ____.
A) feel less guilty and possibly behave better in the future
B) feel less guilty but behave even more mischievously in the future (now that she knows, at some level, that she can "get away with it")
C) feel more guilty (now that she sees how kind and forgiving her boyfriend is) but possibly behave better in the future
D) feel more guilty (now that she sees how kind and forgiving her boyfriend is) but behave even more mischievously in the future (now that she knows, at some level, that she can "get away with it")
Q2) If a society has law, regardless of how well they are obeyed, it is said to be under the rule of law.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The idea that empathy motivates people to reduce others' distress is known as the
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Chapter 10: Aggression and Antisocial Behavior
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following anti-littering messages would probably be most effective?
A) "Most people don't litter; why should you?"
B) "Most people think littering is disgusting; why be disgusting?"
C) "Don't litter; it is just plain wrong."
D) "Don't litter!!!"
Q2) As discussed in the text, the Freudian theory of aggression ____.
A) seems to be basically correct for describing hostile aggression, but does not account for instrumental aggression
B) seems to be basically correct for describing same-sex, competitive forms of aggression, but does not account for other forms of aggression
C) needs a major overhaul
D) is basically right, but did not go far enough in specifying how people decide whether or not to act upon aggressive impulses
Q3) As defined by Freud, the term thanatos refers to ____.
A) suicidal thinking
B) a destructive, death instinct
C) any same-sex competitive activity
D) an aggressive personality type
Q4) What are the characteristics of people who frequently swear?
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Chapter 11: Attraction and Exclusion
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Sample Questions
Q1) When researchers take a picture of someone, split the image in half, throw out one of the halves at random and fill in that space with the mirror image of the remaining half, this is called ____.
A) doubling images
B) morphed faces
C) averaged faces
D) experimental images
Q2) In a well-known study conducted in the 1950s, social psychologist Leon Festinger and colleagues analyzed the friendship patterns among graduate students living in one of the dormitories at MIT. Festinger et al.'s results were most consistent with the ____.
A) propinquity effect
B) matching hypothesis
C) reciprocity effect
D) social allergy effect
Q3) Wolfgang is trying to get his new co-worker, Peter, to like him. He compliments Peter's wardrobe, listens attentively to Peter's stories, and routinely take Peter out to lunch. Wolfgang is clearly engaging in ____________________.
Q4) Social exclusion can also be called ____________________.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Close Relationships: Passion, Intimacy, and Sexuality
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Sample Questions
Q1) Diamond's research regarding the attachment drive and the sex drive indicates that
A) attachment can promote sexual desire, and sexual intimacy can promote attachment
B) attachment can promote sexual desire, but sexual intimacy almost never promotes attachment
C) attachment almost never promotes sexual desire, but sexual intimacy can promote attachment
D) attachment almost never promotes sexual desire, and sexual intimacy almost never promotes attachment
Q2) Research shows that, across time, married couples have sex less and less often. However, it should be noted that the ____.
A) lessening frequency can be almost entirely explained by the fact that longer-married couples tend to have children (and having children has the effect of reducing sex).
B) decline is extremely minor
C) lessening frequency is due to both age and length of marriage
D) decline does not start for several years into marriage
Q3) Is sex better within the context of marriage or when one is single?
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Chapter 13: Prejudice and Intergroup Relations
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Sample Questions
Q1) The term "____" refers to a negative attitude or feeling toward an individual based solely on that individual's membership in a certain group.
A) prejudice
B) discrimination
C) stereotype
D) racism
Q2) When participants in a research study are presented with a string of letters that they have to decide is a real word or not, they are doing a(n) ____.
A) minimal group effect
B) lexical decision task
C) stereotype threat
D) self-defeating prophecy
Q3) Rationalization of oppression is an explanation for prejudice that focuses on prejudice and stereotyping as tools to ____.
A) promote one's self esteem
B) remain ignorant of a group's actual behavioral characteristics
C) protect the political goals of the powerful group
D) think more efficiently
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15
Chapter 14: Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to social facilitation theory, for most people, task performance for tasks such as ____ should be enhanced by the presence of others, while task performance for tasks such as ____ should be hindered by the presence of others.
A) washing dishes; walking
B) solving a difficult math problem; walking
C) solving a difficult math problem; washing dishes
D) washing dishes; solving a difficult math problem
Q2) Binge eating is defined by ____.
A) eating until you feel full
B) alternating periods of uncontrolled eating and severe restraint
C) restricting caloric intake to starvation levels
D) eating past when you feel full
Q3) As defined in the text, narcissists are ____.
A) people who regard themselves as better than others and are constantly trying to win the admiration of others
B) people who have a total disregard for ethics and morality
C) essentially the same as people with healthy levels of self-esteem
D) people who overvalue superficial qualities (e.g., physical attractiveness) and undervalue deeper qualities (e.g., loyalty)
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Page 16
Chapter 15: Applying Social Psychology to Consumer Behavior
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Sample Questions
Q1) Ali is having a garage sale. He is trying to sell an old alarm clock for $20, an old pair of sneakers for $40, and an old TV set for $100. These prices are way too high. Since Ali owns these products, they seem to him to be more valuable than they really are. This phenomenon is known by social psychologists as ____.
A) lateral shrinkage
B) product affinity
C) personal use shrinkage
D) the mere ownership effect
Q2) Suppose that Ina is given the opportunity to try out three different kinds of hot dogs, and suppose that Oliver is given the opportunity to try out twelve different kinds of hot dogs. Research suggests that ____.
A) Ina is more likely to decide to purchase one of the hot dogs
B) Oliver is slightly more likely to decide to purchase one of the hot dogs
C) Oliver is more than twice as likely to decide to purchase one of the hot dogs
D) Ina and Oliver are about equally likely to decide to purchase one of the hot dogs
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Page 17
Chapter 16: Applying Social Psychology to Health
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Student Stress Scale assesses a person's stress level by ____.
A) gauging basic lifestyle habits (e.g., hours of sleep received per night)
B) taking a read of various physical phenomena that are known to be stress-related (e.g., headaches, teeth-grinding)
C) asking questions about a person's mood and emotions
D) taking an inventory of recent life changes a person has experienced
Q2) Which of the following is most directly concerned with the stages that people go through-and the themes present at each stage-when they are trying to change a specific behavior?
A) The theory of planned behavior
B) The general adaptation syndrome
C) The cognitive appraisal model
D) The transtheoretical model
Q3) People have attitudes and perceptions of social norms, which affect intentions, which affect behaviors. This, in a nutshell, is the ____.
A) theory of planned action
B) general adaptation syndrome
C) cognitive appraisal model
D) transtheoretical model
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Applying Social Psychology to the Workplace
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which kind of mentoring will produce the best outcome?
A) Assigning mentors to people on a required formal rotation when they start a designated role.
B) Ensure that roles and rules are differentiated and established ahead of time.
C) Assign mentors with a time cap on sessions to maintain productivity.
D) Encourage veteran employees to mentor new employees, but do not formally assign mentor roles.
Q2) Kat tells her daughters that whomever does the most work will earn the biggest allowance that week. At the end of the week, her younger daughter has done far more work than her older daughter. Consequently, the younger daughter gets twice the payment as her older sister. "That's not fair! I was saving up for some earrings." complains the older sister. Which sort of "fairness" is the older sister upset about?
A) procedural justice
B) distributive justice
C) legal issues
D) age discrimination
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Chapter 18: Applying Social Psychology to the Law
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Sample Questions
Q1) In a target-absent lineup, it is impossible for an eyewitness to make an identification decision that qualifies as a(n) _____.
A) correct identification
B) correct rejection
C) incorrect rejection
D) incorrect identification
Q2) Suppose that, during jury selection for a burglary trial, the lawyer for the prosecution determines that she does not want a potential juror named Ingrid Malone on the jury. Ingrid has stated that she has been in and out of mental institutions her whole life, and that she sees nothing wrong with a little burglary now and then. Ingrid even offers up the idea that "all burglars should be free to burgle." The prosecution lawyer suggests to the judge that Ingrid is highly biased and should be removed from the jury panel. The judge agrees, and has her quickly removed. This process is known as ____.
A) venire
B) voir dire
C) challenge for cause
D) peremptory challenge
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Page 20
Chapter 19: Applying Social Psychology to the Environment
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Sample Questions
Q1) Humans obtain approximately ____% of their energy from nonrenewable, nonsustainable resources such as oil, coal, and gas.
A) 30
B) 50
C) 70
D) 90
Q2) Suppose that you are a ninth grade teacher, and you are trying to get your students to conserve more water and energy in their daily lives. Which of the following approaches is likely to be most successful?
A) Educate them about the need for conservation.
B) Make use of prompts, or reminders, at times when they tend to be wasteful.
C) Tell them that you conserve energy and water.
D) Have them make public commitments to their peers that they will be less wasteful.
Q3) Research suggests that _____ can negatively impact employee work performance.
A) climate and noise (but not pollution)
B) noise (but not climate or pollution)
C) pollution and noise (but not climate)
D) climate, pollution, and noise
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