59 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) with Answers on “Experimental Psychology” for Psychology Students:
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1. The importance of classical conditioning as a mechanism for attitude formation lies in the fact that through classical conditioning, people may come to have powerful attitudinal reactions to social objects even in the :
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(a) Absence of firsthand experience
(b) Absence of past experience
(c) Absence of motives
(d) Absence of emotional stimuli
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(e) None of the above
2. By vicarious learning, the individual learns something through:
(a) Introspection
(b) The observation of others
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(c) Self-reporting
(d) Imitation
(e) Identification
3. The notion that people acquire attitudes vicariously was well documented by :
(a) Greenspoon (1955)
(b) Doob (1947)
(c) Festinger (1957)
(d) Bandura (1977)
(e) Jennings (1968)
4. Cognitive consistency approaches start with:
(a) The absence of an attitude:
(b) Social learning
(c) Social distance
(d) An existing attitude
(e) Social cognition
5. Cognitive consistency theories view human beings:
(a) As active information processors
(b) As passive information processors
(c) As stimulants
(d) As perceivers
(e) None of the above
6. The grandfather of all the cognitive consistency theories is Fritz Heider’s:
(a) Balance theory
(b) Social Distance Theory
(c) Cognitive Dissonance Theory
(d) Cognitive Consonance Theory
(e) None of the above
7. Heider’s balance theory reveals how we make our attitudes regarding people and an attitudinal object:
(a) Consistent
(b) Dynamic
(c) Positive
(d) Negative
(e) None of the above
8. According to Heider, the stable cognitive state which is comfortable to the perceiver is called:
(a) Standard
(b) Norm
(c) Reference
(d) Balance
(c) None of the above
9. When a person holds two cognitions simultaneously that contradict one another, the person experiences a state of:
(a) Cognitive Dissonance
(b) Cognitive Consonance
(c) Cognitive Response
(d) Social Distance
(e) None of the above
10. A smoker knows that smoking leads to lung cancer. The cognition “I am a smoker” does not fit with the cognition that “smoking causes lung cancer,” thereby creating:
(a) A state of consonance
(b) A state of social distance
(c) A state of dissonance
(d) A state of cognitive response
(e) None of the above
11. Dissonance produces a state of:
(a) Psychological Tension
(b) Anxiety
(c) Conflict
(d) Emotional Trauma
(e) None of the above
12. The book “A theory of cognitive Dissonance” was written by Leon Festinger in:
(a) 1950
(b) 1954
(c) 1957
(d) 1951
(e) 1952
13. Bern’s theory of “self perception” reveals that people form and develop attitudes by observing there:
(a) Own behaviour
(b) Cognitive world
(c) Cognitive Dissonance
(d) Self-reporting documents
(e) None of the above
14. The theory of “self perception” was advanced by:
(a) Daryl Bern (1972)
(b) Festinger (1957)
(c) Terkel (1980)
(d) Hoveland (1949)
(e) Smith (1982)
15. Self-perception theory suggests that subjects act as:
(a) Introspectors
(b) Perceivers
(c) Problem solvers
(d) Observers
(e) None of the above
16. Bern’s theory of self-perception provides the best explanation when behaviour is only slightly discrepant from:
(a) Existing attitudes
(b) Future attitudes
(c) Positive attitudes
(d) Negative attitudes
(e) None of the above
17. After twenty years of the advocation of cognitive dissonance theory, Greenwald and Ronis reviewed that dissonance theory has been an extremely stimulating force within and beyond:
(a) Experimental Psychology
(b) Industrial psychology
(c) Social Psychology
(d) Educational Psychology
(e) Abnormal Psychology
18. Recent work on dissonance theory has begun to investigate the:
(a) Physiological aspect of dissonance
(b) Psychological aspect of dissonance
(c) Physical aspect of dissonance
(d) Psychophysical aspect of dissonance
(e) None of the above
19. Croyle and Cooper have shown that dissonance reduction may occur in ways other than modifying:
(a) Affective elements
(b) Social motives
(c) Biological needs
(d) Cognitive elements
(e) Psychological motives
20. A very interesting finding of Critchlow revealed that alcohol acts to reduce:
(a) The aversive affects of dissonance
(b) The aversive affects of consonance
(c) The positive effects of consonance
(d) The positive effects of dissonance
(e) None of the above
21. Individuals who are low in credibility are less likely to produce:
(a) Beliefs
(b) Stereotypes
(c) Prejudices
(d) Attitude change
(e) None of the above
22. The phenomenon that the persons low in credibility are less likely to produce attitude change is popularly known as:
(a) Cognitive Response Analysis
(b) Prestige Suggestion
(c) Sleeper Effect
(d) Defensive Avoidance
(e) None of the above
23. The sleeper effect (Hovland and Weiss, 1951) is an increase in the persuasive impact of a message from low credibility source that occurs:
(a) Over time
(b) Frequently
(c) Very often
(d) With time intervals
(e) None of the above
24. “Sleeper effects” have been explained by:
(a) Discounting cue Hypothesis
(b) Cognitive Dissonance
(c) Cognitive Consonance
(d) Social Distance
(e) None of the above
25. Leventhal (1970) suggests that high fear- arousing messages are effective only if they are accompanied by precise recommendations for actions:
(a) To avoid criticism
(b) To avoid distance
(c) To avoid social learning
(d) To avoid the danger
(e) None of the above
26. Peripheral route persuation occurs when the recipient is in a state of:
(a) Unconscious
(b) Consciousness
(c) Emotion
(d) Mindlessness
(e) None of the above
27. The most persistent and lasting persuation occurs in the:
(a) Central route
(b) Peripheral route
(c) Central-Peripheral route
(d) Sympathetic route
(e) Parasympathetic route
28. Central and Peripheral routes to persuation were advocated by:
(a) Petty and Cacioppo (1984)
(b) Demboroski (1978)
(c) Chaiken (1979)
(d) Sheffield (1949)
(e) Hovland (1949)
29. The study of La Piere (1934) suggested that attitude and behaviour are:
(a) Related
(b) Opposite to each other
(c) Unrelated
(d) Two sides of a coin
(e) None of the above
30. Bern’s theory of self-perception (Bern, 1972) reveals that:
(a) Behaviour may determine attitude
(b) Personality may determine attitude
(c) Motivation may determine attitude
(d) Creativity may determine attitude
(e) Intelligence may determine attitude
31. After a careful and influential review, the eminent Social Psychologist Wicker (1969) concluded that correlations between attitude and behaviour were:
(a) Rarely above 0.50
(b) Rarely above 0.30
(c) Rarely below 0.00
(d) Rarely above 0.90
(e) Rarely above 0.80
32. High degree of congruence between attitude and behaviour was found by the recent studies conducted by:
(a) Schuman and Johnson (1976)
(b) Sheffield (1949)
(c) Demboraski (1978)
(d) Hovland (1949)
(e) Chaikan (1979)
33. Public opinion (attitude) is a familiar example of one of the methods of measuring attitudes. What is the name of this method?
(a) Social Distance Method
(b) Self-report method
(c) Method of equal-appearing intervals
(d) Method of summated ratings
(e) Method of Scalogram analysis
34. The perceived social pressure to carry out the behaviour is termed as:
(a) Subjective Norm
(b) Standard Norm
(c) Objective Norm
(d) Dissonance
(e) Consonance
35. The most acceptable definition of attitude stresses:
(a) Its evaluative aspect
(b) Its affective aspect
(c) Its Conative aspect
(d) Its behavioural aspect
(e) Its cognitive aspect
36. Reinforcement approaches suggest that the acquisition and maintenance of attitudes are learned through:
(a) Latent Learning
(b) Generalisation
(c) Differentiation
(d) Reward and Punishment
(e) None of the above
37. Learning and reinforcement theories approach attitudes as:
(a) Unlearned responses to stimuli
(b) Rewards
(c) Punishments
(d) Learned responses to stimuli
(e) None of the above
38. When two cognitions that contradict one another are held simultaneously:
(a) A state of dissonance is experienced
(b) A state of consonance is experienced
(c) A state of distance is experienced
(d) A state of conflict is experienced
(e) None of the above
39. By changing one’s attitude to become more congruent with the behaviour:
(a) Consonance is typically reduced
(b) Distance is typically reduced
(c) Dissonance is typically reduced
(d) Tension is reduced
(e) Anxiety is reduced
40. Which theory suggests that dissonance is not aroused by counter attitudinal behaviour, rather, attitude change occurs when people view their own behaviour and attempt to understand the reasons behind it?
(a) Balance Theory
(b) Cognitive Dissonance Theory
(c) Self-perception Theory
(d) Social Learning Theory
(e) None of the above
41. One of the major criticisms of the method of equal-appearing intervals is that:
(a) The attitudes of the judges may influence their judgements
(b) The attitudes of the Subjects fluctuate
(c) The personalities of the judges are dynamic
(d) The past experiences of the Subjects may influence the judges
(e) None of the above
42. The semantic-differential technique was originally developed to measure the:
(a) Commutative meaning of concepts
(b) Denotative meaning of concepts
(c) Social learning of the Subjects
(d) Affiliation motive of the Subjects
(e) None of the above
43. The total set of attitudes of an individual is called:
(a) Attitude cluster
(b) Attitude constellation
(c) Attitude grouping
(d) Attitude conglomeration
(e) None of the above
44. A survey interview question form which permits the respondent to answer freely in his own words is popularly known as:
(a) Critical question
(b) Close-end question
(c) Free question item
(d) Open-end question
(e) None of the above
45. Guttman has used a statistic to indicate the proportional accuracy with which responses to the individual statements in a set of statements can be reproduced from the total scores, what is it?
(a) Coefficient of proportion
(b) Coefficient of proportional accuracy
(c) Coefficient of correlation
(d) Coefficient of reproducibility
(e) None of the above
46. An Indian Psychologist has done several studies to measure attitude towards family planning programmes in India. Who is he?
(a) Dr. K. N. Jha (1968)
(b) G. Kundu (1966)
(c) R.N. Rath (1972)
(d) Kamala Gopal Rao (1968)
(e) K. Chowdhury (1953)
47. Two Indian psychologists used the Thurstone and Liken techniques to develop scales to measure attitude towards family planning on an All India basis in 1964. Who are they?
(a) K. C. Panda and R. Kanungo
(b) K. Chawdhury and T. Ganguly
(c) T. Ganguly and R. N. Rath
(d) R. N. Rath and B. Kuppuswamy
(e) N. C. S. Rao and K. G. Rao
48. Commenting on the various attempts, one Indian psychologist once said, “considering the importance of attitude scale construction, the work done in this regard does not seem to be very adequate; and there are not many well established and widely accepted standardized scales of attitude available for Indian conditions.” Who was that psychologist?
(a) Kamala Gopal Rao (1968)
(b) K. Chowdhury (1953)
(c) T. Ganguly (1958)
(d) R.N. Rath (1972)
(e) K. C. Panda (1964)
49. The aim of KAP studies is to find the relationship between:
(a) Knowledge, attitude and practice
(b) Cognition, emotion and intelligence
(c) Intelligence, attitude and creativity
(d) Personality, creativity and attitude
(e) None of the above
50. Likert scale is a direct method of measuring an individual’s evaluation of an attitudinal object using:
(a) 7-point scale on which degree of agreement is indicated
(b) 8-point scale on which degree of agreement is indicated
(c) 5-point scale on which degree of agreement is indicated
(d) 4-point scale on which degree of agreement is indicated
(e) None of the above
51. The use of coercion to bring about attitude change is known as:
(a) Hypnosis
(b) Stereotype
(c) Prejudice
(d) Brainwashing
(e) None of the above
52. The theories that emphasize how people subjectively understand, interpret and experience the world are known as:
(a) Consonance Theories
(b) Dissonance Theories
(c) Learning Theories
(d) Cognitive Theories
(e) Consistency Theories
53. A generalized expectation regarding appropriate behaviour in a given situation is called:
(a) Norm
(b) Standard
(c) Reference
(d) Goal
(e) Incentive
54. In which method of attitude measurement bipolar adjectives are used to obtain a direct measure of evaluation of an attitudinal object?
(a) Equal appearing intervals
(b) Summated rating
(c) Scalogram analysis
(d) Semantic differential scaling
(e) Social Distance scale
55. The way in which people think about and understand their social world is known as :
(a) Cognitive Dissonance
(b) Social Cognition
(c) Cognitive Consonance
(d) Social Distance
(e) None of the above
56. A science which seeks to predict and understand social behaviour is called:
(a) Social Psychology
(b) Anthropology
(c) Political Science
(d) Geology
(e) None of the above
57. The discipline that examines how a person’s thoughts, feelings and actions are affected by others is known as:
(a) Social Psychology
(b) Anthropology
(c) Geology
(d) Sociology
(e) None of the above
58. The learning due to the observation of others receiving rewards and punishments is called:
(a) Social Learning
(b) Latent learning
(c) Verbal Learning
(d) Vicarious learning
(e) Non-verbal Learning
59. Who has emphatically told that an attitude is the equivalent of a conditioned response ?
(a) Staats (1975)
(b) Greenwald (1968)
(c) Leon Festinger (1957)
(d) Doob (1947)
(e) Griffitt (1970)
Answers
1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (d) 4. (d) 5. (a) 6. (a) 7. (a) 8. (d) 9. (a) 10. (c) 11. (a) 12. (c) 13. (a) 14. (a) 15. (c) 16 (a) 17. (c) 18. (a) 19. (d) 20. (a) 21. (d) 22. (c) 23. (a) 24. (a) 25. (d) 26. (d) 27. (a) 28. (a) 29. (c) 30. (a) 31. (b) 32. (a) 33. (b) 34. (a) 35. (a) 36. (d) 37. (d) 38. (a) 39. (c) 40. (c) 41. (a) 42. (a) 43. (b) 44. (d) 45. (d) 46. (d) 47. (a) 48. (a) 49. (a) 50. (a) 51. (d) 52. (d) 53. (a) 54. (d) 55. (b) 56. (a) 57. (a) 58. (d) 59. (a)