C. Psychology & Social Science Myers Social
Psychology – Comprehensive Concepts
Review 2025/2026
Part 1: Social Thinking
1. What is the term for the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to
one another?
A. Sociology
B. Anthropology
C. Social Psychology ✓
D. Cognitive Science
2. The "ABCs of Attitudes" refer to:
A. Affect, Behavior, and Cognition ✓
B. Assessment, Belief, and Conformity
C. Action, Bias, and Control
D. Attraction, Bonding, and Commitment
3. The theory that we often infer our attitudes by observing our own behavior is known as:
A. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
B. Self-Perception Theory ✓
C. Attribution Theory
D. Social Comparison Theory
4. When our attitudes and actions are in conflict, we experience an unpleasant state called:
A. Self-serving bias
B. Cognitive dissonance ✓
C. The fundamental attribution error
D. Deindividuation
5. According to Cognitive Dissonance Theory, we are most likely to change our attitudes when:
A. We are paid a large reward for counter-attitudinal behavior
B. We can find external justification for our behavior
C. We have insufficient justification for our behavior ✓
D. Our actions are coerced
,6. The tendency to overestimate the influence of personal dispositions and underestimate the
impact of situations when judging others is the:
A. Self-serving bias
B. Confirmation bias
C. Fundamental attribution error ✓
D. Halo effect
7. When we are "cognitive misers," we are:
A. Deeply analyzing every social situation
B. Using mental shortcuts to simplify complex information ✓
C. Feeling miserly about sharing our thoughts
D. Experiencing a negative mood
8. The tendency to seek information that confirms our preexisting beliefs is called:
A. The availability heuristic
B. The representativeness heuristic
C. Confirmation bias ✓
D. Belief perseverance
9. A belief that persists even after the evidence for it is discredited is known as:
A. Belief perseverance ✓
B. The overconfidence phenomenon
C. The placebo effect
D. Illusory correlation
10. The tendency to be more confident than correct is the:
A. Hindsight bias
B. Overconfidence phenomenon ✓
C. Self-serving bias
D. Illusion of control
11. The "planning fallacy" refers to our tendency to:
A. Underestimate the time needed to complete a task ✓
B. Overestimate the costs of a project
C. Fail to plan for social interactions
D. Believe we have more control over events than we do
12. The perception of a relationship where none exists is an:
A. Illusory correlation ✓
B. Hindsight bias
,C. Fundamental attribution error
D. Misattribution of arousal
13. A sports fan who says, "I knew they would win all along!" after a victory is exhibiting:
A. The overconfidence phenomenon
B. Hindsight bias ✓
C. Belief perseverance
D. Confirmation bias
14. The theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the
person's disposition is:
A. Self-Perception Theory
B. Attribution Theory ✓
C. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
D. Social Exchange Theory
15. When we attribute our successes to internal, personal factors and our failures to external,
situational factors, we are demonstrating the:
A. Fundamental attribution error
B. Self-serving bias ✓
C. False consensus effect
D. Just-world phenomenon
16. The false consensus effect is the tendency to:
A. Believe that others share our opinions and behaviors more than they actually do ✓
B. See ourselves as better than average
C. Overestimate the accuracy of our judgments
D. Conform to a group's incorrect judgment
17. The "just-world phenomenon" is the tendency for people to believe that:
A. The world is fundamentally unfair
B. People get what they deserve ✓
C. Good things happen to bad people
D. Their culture is superior to others
18. A mental template that guides our perceptions of a particular group of people is a:
A. Heuristic
B. Schema
C. Stereotype ✓
D. Prototype
, 19. The automatic, unconscious, and often effortless thinking that employs heuristics is
known as:
A. Controlled processing
B. Explicit cognition
C. Intuitive thought
D. Automatic processing ✓
20. The "representativeness heuristic" refers to judging the likelihood of things based on how
well they seem to represent a particular:
A. Cost-benefit analysis
B. Prototype ✓
C. Available memory
D. Emotional response
Part 2: Social Influence
21. Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard is called:
A. Compliance
B. Obedience
C. Conformity ✓
D. Normative influence
22. In Solomon Asch's classic conformity experiments, participants often gave incorrect
answers to unambiguous questions due to:
A. Fear of punishment
B. Group pressure ✓
C. A desire for financial reward
D. Misunderstanding the task
23. We conform to gain social approval and avoid rejection. This is known as:
A. Informational social influence
B. Normative social influence ✓
C. Social facilitation
D. Minority influence
24. We conform because we believe others are a source of information about what is correct.
This is known as:
A. Informational social influence ✓
B. Normative social influence
Psychology – Comprehensive Concepts
Review 2025/2026
Part 1: Social Thinking
1. What is the term for the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to
one another?
A. Sociology
B. Anthropology
C. Social Psychology ✓
D. Cognitive Science
2. The "ABCs of Attitudes" refer to:
A. Affect, Behavior, and Cognition ✓
B. Assessment, Belief, and Conformity
C. Action, Bias, and Control
D. Attraction, Bonding, and Commitment
3. The theory that we often infer our attitudes by observing our own behavior is known as:
A. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
B. Self-Perception Theory ✓
C. Attribution Theory
D. Social Comparison Theory
4. When our attitudes and actions are in conflict, we experience an unpleasant state called:
A. Self-serving bias
B. Cognitive dissonance ✓
C. The fundamental attribution error
D. Deindividuation
5. According to Cognitive Dissonance Theory, we are most likely to change our attitudes when:
A. We are paid a large reward for counter-attitudinal behavior
B. We can find external justification for our behavior
C. We have insufficient justification for our behavior ✓
D. Our actions are coerced
,6. The tendency to overestimate the influence of personal dispositions and underestimate the
impact of situations when judging others is the:
A. Self-serving bias
B. Confirmation bias
C. Fundamental attribution error ✓
D. Halo effect
7. When we are "cognitive misers," we are:
A. Deeply analyzing every social situation
B. Using mental shortcuts to simplify complex information ✓
C. Feeling miserly about sharing our thoughts
D. Experiencing a negative mood
8. The tendency to seek information that confirms our preexisting beliefs is called:
A. The availability heuristic
B. The representativeness heuristic
C. Confirmation bias ✓
D. Belief perseverance
9. A belief that persists even after the evidence for it is discredited is known as:
A. Belief perseverance ✓
B. The overconfidence phenomenon
C. The placebo effect
D. Illusory correlation
10. The tendency to be more confident than correct is the:
A. Hindsight bias
B. Overconfidence phenomenon ✓
C. Self-serving bias
D. Illusion of control
11. The "planning fallacy" refers to our tendency to:
A. Underestimate the time needed to complete a task ✓
B. Overestimate the costs of a project
C. Fail to plan for social interactions
D. Believe we have more control over events than we do
12. The perception of a relationship where none exists is an:
A. Illusory correlation ✓
B. Hindsight bias
,C. Fundamental attribution error
D. Misattribution of arousal
13. A sports fan who says, "I knew they would win all along!" after a victory is exhibiting:
A. The overconfidence phenomenon
B. Hindsight bias ✓
C. Belief perseverance
D. Confirmation bias
14. The theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the
person's disposition is:
A. Self-Perception Theory
B. Attribution Theory ✓
C. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
D. Social Exchange Theory
15. When we attribute our successes to internal, personal factors and our failures to external,
situational factors, we are demonstrating the:
A. Fundamental attribution error
B. Self-serving bias ✓
C. False consensus effect
D. Just-world phenomenon
16. The false consensus effect is the tendency to:
A. Believe that others share our opinions and behaviors more than they actually do ✓
B. See ourselves as better than average
C. Overestimate the accuracy of our judgments
D. Conform to a group's incorrect judgment
17. The "just-world phenomenon" is the tendency for people to believe that:
A. The world is fundamentally unfair
B. People get what they deserve ✓
C. Good things happen to bad people
D. Their culture is superior to others
18. A mental template that guides our perceptions of a particular group of people is a:
A. Heuristic
B. Schema
C. Stereotype ✓
D. Prototype
, 19. The automatic, unconscious, and often effortless thinking that employs heuristics is
known as:
A. Controlled processing
B. Explicit cognition
C. Intuitive thought
D. Automatic processing ✓
20. The "representativeness heuristic" refers to judging the likelihood of things based on how
well they seem to represent a particular:
A. Cost-benefit analysis
B. Prototype ✓
C. Available memory
D. Emotional response
Part 2: Social Influence
21. Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard is called:
A. Compliance
B. Obedience
C. Conformity ✓
D. Normative influence
22. In Solomon Asch's classic conformity experiments, participants often gave incorrect
answers to unambiguous questions due to:
A. Fear of punishment
B. Group pressure ✓
C. A desire for financial reward
D. Misunderstanding the task
23. We conform to gain social approval and avoid rejection. This is known as:
A. Informational social influence
B. Normative social influence ✓
C. Social facilitation
D. Minority influence
24. We conform because we believe others are a source of information about what is correct.
This is known as:
A. Informational social influence ✓
B. Normative social influence
