General questions about the whole subject
Question 1
The concept of cognitive processes has been criticized by radical behaviorists (e.g., B.F. Skinner)
because…
a) Cognitions cannot be measured well enough
b) Cognitions cannot be modeled in the operant conditioning paradigm
c) There is evidence that behavior causally affects cognitive processes
d) There is no evidence that cognitive processes causally affect behavior
Question 2
Ebbinghaus (1885) tried to remember 2000 nonsense syllables to study the decay of a specific form of
memory. Which form is that?
a) Short-term memory
b) Long-term memory
c) Implicit memory
d) Declarative memory
Question 3
Krawczyk & Rachubik (2019) allowed participants to take either a "random" or a "distinctive"
looking lottery ticket and later offered them money to take the other one instead. What did they find?
a) Participants preferred the distinctive one, then most switched to the random one
b) Participants preferred the distinctive one, then most did not switch to the random one for money
c) Participants preferred the random one, then most switched to the distinctive one
d) Participants preferred the random one, then most did not switch to the distinctive one for money
Question 4
Strack et al. (1988) had participants hold pens between their lips or their teeth while rating the
funniness of cartoons. They found that holding a pen between your teeth makes cartoons seem
funnier. Which of the following explains this?
a) Comfort (of holding the pen)
b) Motor mimicry
c) Behavioral priming
d) The facial feedback hypothesis
Question 5
The four horsemen of automaticity (Bargh, 1994) are awareness, intention, efficiency, and control.
What is an example of intentional and effortless behavior?
,a) Confirmation bias
b) Reading a book
c) Solving Sudoku riddles
d) Driving a car
Question 6
You are a highly motivated student, and your best friend gets a higher grade on a final exam. What is
likely according to the self-evaluation maintenance model (Tesser & Smith, 1980)?
a) You will take different courses within your program than your friend
b) You will contribute more actively during class
c) You will not share notes with your friend anymore
d) You will spread rumors about your friend
Question 7
What is not true about “imagine-self perspective-taking” (PT) according to a study by Batson et al.
(1997)?
a) Causes stronger feelings of direct distress than “imagine-other PT”
b) Causes stronger feelings of distress for Katie than “imagine-other PT”
c) Causes stronger feelings of distress for Katie than the control condition
d) Causes stronger feelings of distress for Katie than the control condition
Question 8
The ADCAT (Walczyk et al., 2014) is a social-cognitive theory of deception that proposes four stages
of lying. Which of the following is one of these stages?
a) Deception
b) Activation
c) Concealment
d) Transmission
Question 9
“I assume that Finland will give more votes to Sweden for the ESC than to Germany” – which term
best describes this statement?
a) Prejudice
b) Stereotype
c) Discrimination
d) Bias
,Question 10
What is the main difference between the decoy and the compromise effects?
a) One is a heuristic judgment (anchoring), the other more deliberate
b) The compromise effect can only work on specific (utilitarian) products, the decoy effect is more
general
c) The compromise effect requires one comparison dimension, the decoy effect requires two
d) One is based on assimilation effects, the other on contrast effects
Answer Key + Why
1. D
Radical behaviorists argued there was no evidence that cognitions causally affect behavior. This was
Skinner's main criticism of cognitive explanations.
2. D
Ebbinghaus studied declarative memory because participants consciously remembered nonsense
syllables.
3. D
Participants preferred the random-looking ticket and then generally did not switch when offered
money, demonstrating magical thinking about randomness.
4. D
The study is the classic demonstration of the facial feedback hypothesis: facial muscle activation
influences emotional experience.
5. D
Driving a car is often intentional (you choose to do it) but also highly efficient/automatic after enough
practice.
6. C
SEM predicts that when a close other outperforms you in a self-relevant domain, you may reduce their
opportunity to outperform you (e.g., by not sharing notes).
7. B
Imagine-self PT increases personal distress, but not necessarily more distress for Katie than imagine-
other PT. That statement is the false one.
8. B
Activation is one of the stages in the ADCAT model of deception.
9. B
This is a belief about a group ("Finns favor Swedes"), which makes it a stereotype rather than
prejudice (feeling) or discrimination (behavior).
10. C
The compromise effect works on a single comparison dimension, whereas the decoy effect requires
two dimensions so that one option can dominate the decoy
, Lecture 1: history
Question 1
Which statement best reflects the position of radical behaviorism?
a) Cognitions influence behavior, but cannot be measured directly.
b) Cognitions are important but should only be studied through introspection.
c) There is insufficient evidence that cognitions causally influence behavior.
d) Cognitions are the only valid explanation for behavior.
Question 2
Two individuals observe the same political event. One becomes more supportive of environmental
policies, while the other becomes less supportive.
According to the social cognition framework introduced in Lecture 1, this difference is best explained
by:
a) The event itself having different objective properties.
b) Different cognitive processes operating on the same social reality.
c) One person having more accurate perceptions.
d) The absence of situational influences.
Question 3
Methodological behaviorists were skeptical of studying cognitions because:
a) Cognitions could not be observed with sufficient reliability.
b) Cognitions were found to be unrelated to behavior.
c) Operant conditioning explained all forms of memory.
d) Introspection produced identical results across observers.
Question 4
Which example best illustrates the contribution of phenomenology to social cognition?
a) Measuring reaction times after a priming task.
b) Manipulating environmental stimuli in a laboratory.
c) Investigating how people experience and interpret their social world.
d) Mapping neural activity during decision making.
Question 1
The concept of cognitive processes has been criticized by radical behaviorists (e.g., B.F. Skinner)
because…
a) Cognitions cannot be measured well enough
b) Cognitions cannot be modeled in the operant conditioning paradigm
c) There is evidence that behavior causally affects cognitive processes
d) There is no evidence that cognitive processes causally affect behavior
Question 2
Ebbinghaus (1885) tried to remember 2000 nonsense syllables to study the decay of a specific form of
memory. Which form is that?
a) Short-term memory
b) Long-term memory
c) Implicit memory
d) Declarative memory
Question 3
Krawczyk & Rachubik (2019) allowed participants to take either a "random" or a "distinctive"
looking lottery ticket and later offered them money to take the other one instead. What did they find?
a) Participants preferred the distinctive one, then most switched to the random one
b) Participants preferred the distinctive one, then most did not switch to the random one for money
c) Participants preferred the random one, then most switched to the distinctive one
d) Participants preferred the random one, then most did not switch to the distinctive one for money
Question 4
Strack et al. (1988) had participants hold pens between their lips or their teeth while rating the
funniness of cartoons. They found that holding a pen between your teeth makes cartoons seem
funnier. Which of the following explains this?
a) Comfort (of holding the pen)
b) Motor mimicry
c) Behavioral priming
d) The facial feedback hypothesis
Question 5
The four horsemen of automaticity (Bargh, 1994) are awareness, intention, efficiency, and control.
What is an example of intentional and effortless behavior?
,a) Confirmation bias
b) Reading a book
c) Solving Sudoku riddles
d) Driving a car
Question 6
You are a highly motivated student, and your best friend gets a higher grade on a final exam. What is
likely according to the self-evaluation maintenance model (Tesser & Smith, 1980)?
a) You will take different courses within your program than your friend
b) You will contribute more actively during class
c) You will not share notes with your friend anymore
d) You will spread rumors about your friend
Question 7
What is not true about “imagine-self perspective-taking” (PT) according to a study by Batson et al.
(1997)?
a) Causes stronger feelings of direct distress than “imagine-other PT”
b) Causes stronger feelings of distress for Katie than “imagine-other PT”
c) Causes stronger feelings of distress for Katie than the control condition
d) Causes stronger feelings of distress for Katie than the control condition
Question 8
The ADCAT (Walczyk et al., 2014) is a social-cognitive theory of deception that proposes four stages
of lying. Which of the following is one of these stages?
a) Deception
b) Activation
c) Concealment
d) Transmission
Question 9
“I assume that Finland will give more votes to Sweden for the ESC than to Germany” – which term
best describes this statement?
a) Prejudice
b) Stereotype
c) Discrimination
d) Bias
,Question 10
What is the main difference between the decoy and the compromise effects?
a) One is a heuristic judgment (anchoring), the other more deliberate
b) The compromise effect can only work on specific (utilitarian) products, the decoy effect is more
general
c) The compromise effect requires one comparison dimension, the decoy effect requires two
d) One is based on assimilation effects, the other on contrast effects
Answer Key + Why
1. D
Radical behaviorists argued there was no evidence that cognitions causally affect behavior. This was
Skinner's main criticism of cognitive explanations.
2. D
Ebbinghaus studied declarative memory because participants consciously remembered nonsense
syllables.
3. D
Participants preferred the random-looking ticket and then generally did not switch when offered
money, demonstrating magical thinking about randomness.
4. D
The study is the classic demonstration of the facial feedback hypothesis: facial muscle activation
influences emotional experience.
5. D
Driving a car is often intentional (you choose to do it) but also highly efficient/automatic after enough
practice.
6. C
SEM predicts that when a close other outperforms you in a self-relevant domain, you may reduce their
opportunity to outperform you (e.g., by not sharing notes).
7. B
Imagine-self PT increases personal distress, but not necessarily more distress for Katie than imagine-
other PT. That statement is the false one.
8. B
Activation is one of the stages in the ADCAT model of deception.
9. B
This is a belief about a group ("Finns favor Swedes"), which makes it a stereotype rather than
prejudice (feeling) or discrimination (behavior).
10. C
The compromise effect works on a single comparison dimension, whereas the decoy effect requires
two dimensions so that one option can dominate the decoy
, Lecture 1: history
Question 1
Which statement best reflects the position of radical behaviorism?
a) Cognitions influence behavior, but cannot be measured directly.
b) Cognitions are important but should only be studied through introspection.
c) There is insufficient evidence that cognitions causally influence behavior.
d) Cognitions are the only valid explanation for behavior.
Question 2
Two individuals observe the same political event. One becomes more supportive of environmental
policies, while the other becomes less supportive.
According to the social cognition framework introduced in Lecture 1, this difference is best explained
by:
a) The event itself having different objective properties.
b) Different cognitive processes operating on the same social reality.
c) One person having more accurate perceptions.
d) The absence of situational influences.
Question 3
Methodological behaviorists were skeptical of studying cognitions because:
a) Cognitions could not be observed with sufficient reliability.
b) Cognitions were found to be unrelated to behavior.
c) Operant conditioning explained all forms of memory.
d) Introspection produced identical results across observers.
Question 4
Which example best illustrates the contribution of phenomenology to social cognition?
a) Measuring reaction times after a priming task.
b) Manipulating environmental stimuli in a laboratory.
c) Investigating how people experience and interpret their social world.
d) Mapping neural activity during decision making.
