Living in a Social World
Psy 324: Advanced Social Psychology
Spring, 1999

 

Exam 2

Instructions: This is a take home exam. You may use any resources you wish to help you in answering the following questions. However, the answers you produce must be your own thinking and analysis, without direct assistance from anyone else. Answer three of the first four questions, and one more of the remaining questions. Start each answer on a new page, and indicate the number of the question you are answering. Type or word process your answers. The maximum length for each answer is 2 pages, single-spaced, .75" margins left/right/top/bottom, in a font no smaller than 10 cpi or 12 pt. Some questions may be adequately answered in less than the maximum number of pages.

 The exam is due no later than 9:00 a.m. Monday, April 24th.  Turn your exam to me or place it in my mailbox in the Department main office.

 Late exams may be penalized up to 1/2 grade per day.

 All questions are worth 20 points.

Answer 3 Questions from 1 - 4:

1.  In Chapter 6 on Attitudes, Petty talks about two "routes" to persuasion, where a persuasive message may alter attitudes on the basis of quite different cognitive processes. First, explain this phenomenon and briefly describe one research study that illustrates the "two-route" idea.

Now relate this to Devine's discussion in Chapter 12 of how people's impressions of others may sometimes be based on stereotypes but other times on specific, individuating information (pp. 476-477). What similarities and differences do you see in the two ideas?

2.  One way to distinguish among relationships is whether they are "communal" or "exchange" relationships, as discussed in Chapter 8. What are the characteristics of each type of relationship? Give a research example of how this distinction helps explain peoples' different reactions to help given to them by another person.
  The communal/exchange distinction may be related to different processes that underlie prosocial behavior, as explored by Batson in Chapter 9. Which of the various explanations for why we help others seems most relevant to situations in which people have a communal relationship? Which seems most relevant to situations in which people have an exchange relationship? Explain your answers.

3.  According to the authors of Chapters 10 and 12, what role do attributional processes play in (a) aggression and (b) intergroup bias? After specifying the role in aggression and intergroup bias separately, describe and explain an example in which attributional processes might contribute to both at the same time -- that is, a situation in which intergroup bias might lead to interpersonal aggression, or perhaps where bias was involved in the perception and interpretation of aggression.

4. Cialdini's chapter on social influence focuses primarily on situations in which one person is attempting to influence another. Levine & Moreland also discuss influence, but in their chapter the focus is on social influence as it occurs in small groups. Identify one of principle or process of social influence that seems applicable to either non-group situations or group situations but not both. Explain your choice. Next, identify a principle or process of social influence that might operate in both contexts. Again, explain your selection.

Answer One of the Following:

5.  Go to our WEBLINKS page and select the Minority Group Issues link. Visit several of the websites that you will find there that are dedicated to specific minority groups. (a) What might be the psychological function of these pages for minority group visitors, according to social identity theory (discussed by Devine in Chapter 12)? (b) Based on the research and theory regarding cognitive categorization effects, why might these pages contribute to intergroup bias rather than reducing it? (c) What might be done to prevent or to counteract this? (Try to be specific in your answer, and draw from the text as much as you can.)
 

6.  Batson argues that altruism in humans does exist. Specifically, he proposes that when we feel empathy for someone, our desire to help that person can come from truly altruistic motivation based on feelings of compassion, sympathy, tenderness, etc. Batson's program of empirical research over the past 10 years or so has attempted to rule out egoistic alternatives to his empathy/altruism hypothesis . (a) Identify and briefly explain three egoistic alternatives that Batson discusses. (b) Choose one of these alternatives and describe the logic of the research that Batson uses to test it against the empathy/altruism hypothesis. (c) Are you convinced by this logic? Why or why not?

7.  An interesting and potentially serious phenomenon in small groups occurs when the gender or racial composition is so imbalanced that a person is the single representative of a gender or racial category -- a "token." Kanter (1977), among others, has suggested that the person in this position has a much different experience than in more balanced groups. (a) Identify some of the consequences of being a token that have been documented by past research. (b) Levine and Moreland point out that some of the research does not seem to confirm Kanter's claims, and that Kanter's analysis may be "...too simplistic." Explain what they mean.
 

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Social Psychology / Miami University (Ohio USA). Last revised: . This document has been accessed times since 1 Jan 1999. Comments & Questions to R. Sherman