BSocSc Bachelor of Social Science Bachelor of Social Science Psychology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which concept describes the tendency to attribute others' behavior to internal traits rather than situational factors?
- Self-serving bias
- Fundamental attribution error (Correct answer)
- Actor-observer bias
- Confirmation bias
Correct answer: Fundamental attribution error
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations while underestimating situational influences on others' behavior.
Question 2: In Erikson's psychosocial theory, the central conflict of adolescence is:
- Intimacy vs. isolation
- Industry vs. inferiority
- Identity vs. role confusion (Correct answer)
- Autonomy vs. shame
Correct answer: Identity vs. role confusion
Erikson identified identity vs. role confusion as the core developmental challenge during adolescence, involving exploration of personal identity.
Question 3: Which schedule of reinforcement produces the highest and most steady rate of responding?
- Fixed-ratio
- Variable-ratio (Correct answer)
- Fixed-interval
- Variable-interval
Correct answer: Variable-ratio
Variable-ratio schedules produce the highest, most consistent response rates because reinforcement is unpredictable, as seen in gambling behavior.
Question 4: The concept of 'learned helplessness' was originally demonstrated by which researcher?
- Albert Bandura
- Martin Seligman (Correct answer)
- Aaron Beck
- Carl Rogers
Correct answer: Martin Seligman
Martin Seligman demonstrated learned helplessness through experiments where dogs exposed to inescapable shocks later failed to avoid escapable ones.
Question 5: Which brain structure is most critically involved in forming new explicit (declarative) memories?
- Amygdala
- Cerebellum
- Hippocampus (Correct answer)
- Prefrontal cortex
Correct answer: Hippocampus
The hippocampus is essential for encoding new explicit memories; damage to it, as in patient H.M., results in anterograde amnesia.
Question 6: According to Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, dissonance is reduced by:
- Suppressing awareness of both cognitions
- Adding, changing, or reducing the importance of cognitions (Correct answer)
- Increasing arousal to override conflicting thoughts
- Projecting the conflict onto others
Correct answer: Adding, changing, or reducing the importance of cognitions
Festinger proposed that people reduce dissonance by changing one cognition, adding consonant cognitions, or downplaying the importance of the conflict.
Question 7: In psychophysics, Weber's Law states that the just noticeable difference (JND) is:
- Constant across all stimulus intensities
- A fixed absolute value regardless of context
- A constant proportion of the original stimulus (Correct answer)
- Inversely proportional to the background noise level
Correct answer: A constant proportion of the original stimulus
Weber's Law holds that the JND is a constant fraction (Weber fraction) of the original stimulus magnitude, not a fixed absolute amount.
BSocSc Bachelor of Social Science Bachelor of Social Science Psychology 2
Which concept describes the tendency to attribute others' behavior to internal traits rather than situational factors?