UNIT 9 SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY STUDY
GUIDE 2026–2027 – EXAM
REVIEW, KEY CONCEPTS,
PRACTICE QUESTIONS &
COMPREHENSIVE TEST
PREPARATION
Part III: Practice Questions with Rationales
Section A: Social Cognition & Attribution
1. A researcher observes that people litter more in already-littered environments.
What is the next step in the scientific process?
A. Immediately publish findings
B. Develop a hypothesis to test the theory
C. Design an intervention
D. Conclude people are lazy
Rationale: Good theory generates testable predictions. The next step is to formalize the
idea into a hypothesis that can be empirically tested .
,2. A social psychologist wants to establish cause-and-effect between violent video
games and aggression. Which method is most appropriate?
A. Naturalistic observation
B. Correlational study
C. Experiment
D. Case study
Rationale: Experiments allow manipulation of the independent variable while
controlling extraneous variables, essential for establishing causality .
3. A researcher finds a strong positive correlation between ice cream sales and
crime rates and concludes ice cream causes crime. What is the flaw?
A. Correlation too weak
B. Third variable problem — cannot infer causation from correlation
C. No random assignment
D. Sample size too small
Rationale: A third variable (e.g., hot weather) could cause both increases. Correlation
does not imply causation .
4. When explaining others' behavior, we tend to overemphasize dispositional
factors. This is called:
A. Self-serving bias
B. Actor-observer bias
C. Fundamental attribution error
D. Just-world hypothesis
Rationale: The fundamental attribution error is overestimating personal characteristics
and underestimating situational influences when explaining others' behavior .
5. Making internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure is:
A. Actor-observer bias
B. Fundamental attribution error
C. Self-serving bias
D. Just-world hypothesis
Rationale: Self-serving bias protects self-esteem by taking credit for success and
blaming external factors for failure .
,6. According to the actor-observer bias, we have more information about:
A. Situational influences on others' behavior
B. Influences on our own behavior
C. Influences on others' behavior
D. Dispositional influences on others
Rationale: As actors, we have more information available to explain our own behavior,
leading to situational attributions for ourselves .
Section B: Attitudes & Persuasion
7. A persuasive message that relies on the attractiveness and credibility of the
communicator uses which route?
A. Central route
B. Peripheral route
C. Direct route
D. Systematic route
Rationale: The peripheral route involves superficial cues like attractiveness or credibility,
leading to persuasion without deep thought .
8. The discomfort from holding conflicting cognitions is called:
A. Self-perception
B. Cognitive dissonance
C. Attitude accessibility
D. Elaboration
Rationale: Cognitive dissonance theory explains how people are motivated to reduce
the mismatch between behaviors and feelings .
Section C: Social Influence
9. In the Asch experiment, participants conformed due to:
A. Informational social influence
B. Normative social influence
C. Inspirational influence
D. Persuasive influence
, Rationale: Normative influence involves conforming to be accepted by the group .
10. Under what conditions is informational social influence more likely?
A. When individuals want to fit in
B. When the answer is unclear and the group has expertise
C. When the task is easy
D. When responses are private
Rationale: Informational influence occurs when we conform because others are
perceived as correct, especially in ambiguous situations with expert groups .
11. What percentage of participants in Milgram's experiment administered
maximum shock levels?
A. 20%
B. 35%
C. 65%
D. 95%
Rationale: Actual results showed 65% of teachers went to the maximum level, despite
psychiatrists predicting only 2% would do so .
Section D: Group Processes
12. The tendency to exert less effort in a group than alone is:
A. Social facilitation
B. Social loafing
C. Deindividuation
D. Group polarization
Rationale: Social loafing occurs when individual contribution is less identifiable in group
settings .
13. When group members modify opinions to align with perceived consensus:
A. Group cohesion
B. Social facilitation
C. Groupthink
D. Social loafing
PSYCHOLOGY STUDY
GUIDE 2026–2027 – EXAM
REVIEW, KEY CONCEPTS,
PRACTICE QUESTIONS &
COMPREHENSIVE TEST
PREPARATION
Part III: Practice Questions with Rationales
Section A: Social Cognition & Attribution
1. A researcher observes that people litter more in already-littered environments.
What is the next step in the scientific process?
A. Immediately publish findings
B. Develop a hypothesis to test the theory
C. Design an intervention
D. Conclude people are lazy
Rationale: Good theory generates testable predictions. The next step is to formalize the
idea into a hypothesis that can be empirically tested .
,2. A social psychologist wants to establish cause-and-effect between violent video
games and aggression. Which method is most appropriate?
A. Naturalistic observation
B. Correlational study
C. Experiment
D. Case study
Rationale: Experiments allow manipulation of the independent variable while
controlling extraneous variables, essential for establishing causality .
3. A researcher finds a strong positive correlation between ice cream sales and
crime rates and concludes ice cream causes crime. What is the flaw?
A. Correlation too weak
B. Third variable problem — cannot infer causation from correlation
C. No random assignment
D. Sample size too small
Rationale: A third variable (e.g., hot weather) could cause both increases. Correlation
does not imply causation .
4. When explaining others' behavior, we tend to overemphasize dispositional
factors. This is called:
A. Self-serving bias
B. Actor-observer bias
C. Fundamental attribution error
D. Just-world hypothesis
Rationale: The fundamental attribution error is overestimating personal characteristics
and underestimating situational influences when explaining others' behavior .
5. Making internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure is:
A. Actor-observer bias
B. Fundamental attribution error
C. Self-serving bias
D. Just-world hypothesis
Rationale: Self-serving bias protects self-esteem by taking credit for success and
blaming external factors for failure .
,6. According to the actor-observer bias, we have more information about:
A. Situational influences on others' behavior
B. Influences on our own behavior
C. Influences on others' behavior
D. Dispositional influences on others
Rationale: As actors, we have more information available to explain our own behavior,
leading to situational attributions for ourselves .
Section B: Attitudes & Persuasion
7. A persuasive message that relies on the attractiveness and credibility of the
communicator uses which route?
A. Central route
B. Peripheral route
C. Direct route
D. Systematic route
Rationale: The peripheral route involves superficial cues like attractiveness or credibility,
leading to persuasion without deep thought .
8. The discomfort from holding conflicting cognitions is called:
A. Self-perception
B. Cognitive dissonance
C. Attitude accessibility
D. Elaboration
Rationale: Cognitive dissonance theory explains how people are motivated to reduce
the mismatch between behaviors and feelings .
Section C: Social Influence
9. In the Asch experiment, participants conformed due to:
A. Informational social influence
B. Normative social influence
C. Inspirational influence
D. Persuasive influence
, Rationale: Normative influence involves conforming to be accepted by the group .
10. Under what conditions is informational social influence more likely?
A. When individuals want to fit in
B. When the answer is unclear and the group has expertise
C. When the task is easy
D. When responses are private
Rationale: Informational influence occurs when we conform because others are
perceived as correct, especially in ambiguous situations with expert groups .
11. What percentage of participants in Milgram's experiment administered
maximum shock levels?
A. 20%
B. 35%
C. 65%
D. 95%
Rationale: Actual results showed 65% of teachers went to the maximum level, despite
psychiatrists predicting only 2% would do so .
Section D: Group Processes
12. The tendency to exert less effort in a group than alone is:
A. Social facilitation
B. Social loafing
C. Deindividuation
D. Group polarization
Rationale: Social loafing occurs when individual contribution is less identifiable in group
settings .
13. When group members modify opinions to align with perceived consensus:
A. Group cohesion
B. Social facilitation
C. Groupthink
D. Social loafing
