GRE Psychology Exam Questions with 100% Correct Answers

Norman Triplett Correct Answer first study of social psychology: effect of competition on performance. People perform better on familiar tasks when with others than when alone. William McDougall and E.H. Ross Correct Answer published the first textbooks on social psychology, 1908 Verplank Correct Answer social approval influences behavior (1950s) established reinforcement theory with Pavlov, Thorndike, Hull, and Skinner Reinforcement theory Correct Answer behavior motivated by anticipated rewards (Verplank, Pavlov, Thorndike, Hull, Skinner) Social learning theorists Correct Answer challenged the reinforcement theorists; Albert Bandura is the main person in social learning theory. Behavior learned through imitation. Role theory Correct Answer Bindle, 1979, people are aware of the social roles they are expected to fill, and much of their observable behavior can be attributed to adopting those roles Cognitive theory in social psychology Correct Answer perception, judgement, memories, and decision-making are all relevant to social psychology Consistency theories Correct Answer people prefer consistency and will change or resist changing attitudes based upon this preference Fritz Heider's Balance Theory Correct Answer Imbalance occurs when someone agrees with someone he/she dislikes or disagrees with someone he/she likes. Balance exists when there is ONE or THREE positives. To achieve balance, somebody needs to change attitude. Leon Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory Correct Answer conflict that you feel when your attitudes are not in sync with your behaviors. May result in change of attitude to be consistent with behavior. Greater the dissonance, greater pressure to reduce dissonance. Free-choice and post-decisional dissonance Correct Answer Free-choice: person makes a choice between several desirable alternatives. Example: choose between two women. This will give dissonance after telling the other one they should stop seeing each other, since the person likes both. After choice: post-decisional dissonance