Social psychology and behavior sample question 1

The 50-peso group, because with little external justification they reduce dissonance by changing attitude

Social psychology and behavior sample question 2

high in strength, close in immediacy and larger in number.

Social psychology and behavior sample question 3

Among those who expected to choose, argument quality will matter more than the communicator's fame

Social psychology and behavior sample question 4

The guards’ behaviour cannot be put down to the role alone, since experimenter encouragement is an alternative explanation.

Social psychology and behavior sample question 5

Automatic associations can differ from consciously endorsed attitudes, so the two measures may capture different processes.

MCAT · Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior · Psychology

Social psychology and behavior

Social psychology and behavior is part of Psychology in the MCAT Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section. The questions below are written in the style of the real test, each with the answer and a worked explanation.

Question types you will see here include attribution bias identification, conformity and obedience variables, dissonance and attitude change and group process identification.

Common traps: confusing actor-observer with self-serving bias; treating a situational explanation as dispositional; assuming all cultures show the same error.

Sample questions

Question 1
Volunteers in Manila performed a dull task, then were paid either 50 pesos or 5,000 pesos to tell the next volunteer it was fun. Later, which group is expected to rate the task as more enjoyable, and why?
- A.
  The 5,000-peso group, because the larger payment reinforced their positive statements about the task
- B.
  The 50-peso group, because with little external justification they reduce dissonance by changing attitude
- C.
  Both equally, because telling someone else it was fun does not change one's own view of the task
- D.
  The 5,000-peso group, because a large payment shows the task must have been valuable to them
Answer: B. The 50-peso group, because with little external justification they reduce dissonance by changing attitude
Lying for a small reward leaves no adequate external reason, so the discomfort is resolved by coming to believe the task was fun (B). A applies reinforcement logic that predicts the opposite. C ignores dissonance. D reverses the effect of justification.
Question 2
According to social impact theory, a group of sources has the greatest effect on a target when the sources are:
- A.
  low in strength, remote in space and time, and few in number.
- B.
  high in strength, far away and few in number.
- C.
  low in strength, close by and many in number.
- D.
  high in strength, close in immediacy and larger in number.
Answer: D. high in strength, close in immediacy and larger in number.
Social impact theory says influence grows with the sources' strength (status or importance), immediacy (closeness in space or time) and number, so D. Each other choice leaves out at least one of the three factors or reverses it.
Question 3
Participants read either strong or weak arguments for a new water filter, delivered by either a celebrity or an unknown engineer. Half were told they would choose a filter the next week; half were not. According to the elaboration likelihood model, which result is most likely?
- A.
  Among those who expected to choose a filter, celebrity status will influence attitudes more than argument quality
- B.
  Argument quality will matter only for participants who did not expect to choose a filter
- C.
  Argument quality and celebrity status will matter equally for every participant in the study
- D.
  Among those who expected to choose, argument quality will matter more than the communicator's fame
Answer: D. Among those who expected to choose, argument quality will matter more than the communicator's fame
Personal involvement motivates careful processing via the central route, where argument strength drives attitude change; uninvolved people rely on peripheral cues such as celebrity. A reverses the routes, B reverses the role of involvement, and C ignores that involvement changes which route is used.
Question 4
In a prison simulation, volunteers assigned as guards became harsh. Later reports showed that experimenters had encouraged the guards to be tough. Which conclusion is best justified?
- A.
  The results prove that personality plays no role in how people behave when they are assigned a powerful role in a simulated institution.
- B.
  The results show deindividuation alone caused the harshness.
- C.
  The results confirm that people obey authority whenever they hold a role.
- D.
  The guards’ behaviour cannot be put down to the role alone, since experimenter encouragement is an alternative explanation.
Answer: D. The guards’ behaviour cannot be put down to the role alone, since experimenter encouragement is an alternative explanation.
Coaching by the experimenters means guards may have been following cues about what was expected, so role absorption is not the only explanation (D). A overreaches. B and C credit a single cause that the encouragement undermines.
Question 5
On a reaction-time task, a participant responds faster (680 ms) when faces of group Y share a response key with unpleasant words than when they share it with pleasant words (800 ms). On a questionnaire she reports no prejudice toward group Y. Which interpretation is best supported?
- A.
  She is deliberately lying on the questionnaire in order to appear free of prejudice, since the reaction-time result is the true measure.
- B.
  Automatic associations can differ from consciously endorsed attitudes, so the two measures may capture different processes.
- C.
  The reaction-time result proves she will discriminate against group Y in any situation.
- D.
  Her questionnaire answers must reflect her true attitude, because self-report is more direct.
Answer: B. Automatic associations can differ from consciously endorsed attitudes, so the two measures may capture different processes.
B fits: implicit associations and explicit attitudes often diverge. A assumes deception, but a divergence does not require it. C overstates what a reaction-time score predicts for behaviour. D assumes explicit and implicit attitudes must match.

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