Chapter 3
Study Questions
Why do we want to look and be consistent in most situations?
This is because consistency is considered a good personality trait. It is associated with intellectual and personal strength.
Why do we find even rigid, stubborn consistency desirable in many situations?
This is because it prevents people from having to think or reason on their own, which can be tiring.
3. Which four factors cause a commitment to affect a person's self-image and
consequent future action?
These are if the commitment is effortful, public, active, and viewed as internally
motivated.
What makes written commitments so effective?
This because they seem more tangible and permanent.
5. What is the relationship between the compliance tactic of low-balling and the term
"growing its own legs"?
Once a compliance professional is able to get another person’s commitment to something (e.g. buy a car) due to reasons that the person believes in (i.e. Getting a good offer), the person usually remains committed to the action (i.e. buying a car) even if the reasons are taken away. As such, low balling takes place when the compliance professional uses the person’s commitment in a manipulative way.
Critical Thinking
1. Suppose you were advising American soldiers on a way to avoid consistency
pressures like those used to gain collaboration from the POWs during the Korean War.
What would you tell them?
I would tell them to not be deceived by acts of kindness.
2. In referring to the fierce loyalty of Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners, one
commentator has said, "if you can persuade your customers to tattoo your name on their
chests, you'll probably never have to worry about them shifting brands." Explain why
this would be true. In your answer, make reference to each of the four factors that
maximize the power of a commitment on future action.
This is because the act of putting a tattoo of one’s name on their chest takes effort; is an active decision on the part of the person; is public as other people can see the tattoo; and is viewed as something that the person liked to be done to their body.
3. Imagine that you are having trouble motivating yourself to study for an important
exam that is less than a week away. Drawing upon your knowledge of the commitment
process, describe what you would do to get yourself to put in die necessary study time.
Be sure to explain why your chosen actions ought to work.
I would write down my goal of studying everday for two hours, and I would show this to my mom. The act of writing it down is active, effortful, and internally motivated, and showing it to my mom makes it public.
4. Think about the traditional large wedding ceremony that is characteristic of most
cultures. Which features of that kind of event can be seen as commitment-enhancing
devices for the couple and their families?
It is public as it is witnessed by many. It is effortful as it takes a lot of preparation. It is also active and internally motivated as it was based on the couple’s decision.
How does the ad that opens this chapter reflect the topic of the chapter?
That commitment and consistency are strengthened when the commitment is written and is actively and publicly made.
Chapter 4
Study Questions
1. Describe the principle of social proof and how it can explain the effect of canned laughter on
an audience's reaction to comedy material.
The use of canned laughter makes people laugh even when the comedy material is not funny. Just because laughter can be heard, the audience would feel like laughing is the right thing to do.
2. In the Festinger, Riecken, and Schachter study of the end-of-the-world cult, group members
pushed to win new converts only after their doomsday predictions proved false. Why?
This is because gaining more people to believe in what the cult members believe in serves as proof of the belief’s truthfulness. This was one way for them to regain the dignity they lost from the failed doomsday.
3. Which two factors maximize the influence of social proof on an individual? What was it
about the Jonestown, Guyana, situation that allowed these two factors to operate forcefully?
These two factors are uncertainty and the number of people acting in a particular way. In Jonestown, the cult members were in an uncertain place, and seeing the number of cult members committing suicide encouraged the others to commit suicide, too.
What is pluralistic ignorance? How does it influence bystander intervention in emergencies?
Pluralistic ignorance is when everyone is trying to see what the others are doing, which becomes the basis of their own actions. In the case of bystander intervention, when someone who sees an emergency sees that no one else is helping in the emergency, then they are likely to ignore the emergency as well.
5. Which naturally occurring conditions of city life reduce the chance of bystander intervention
in an emergency?
These conditions include the presence of police officers everywhere and the quick response of medical response teams, as well s the large crowds of people milling around.
6. What is the Werther effect? How does it explain the puzzling relationship between highly
publicized suicide stories and startling increases in the number of airplane and automobile
fatalities following publication of the stories?
The Werther effect is when people imitate suicidal acts that are highly publicized. An increase in suicide rates occur after a highly publicized suicide is reported in the news. Those who want to be more discreet in their suicidal act stage a car accident or plane crash.
Critical Thinking
1. If you had to deliver a lecture to heart patients concerning the best way to secure help
should they experience heart trouble in a public place, which steps would you tell them
I would tell them to call 911.
2. In early 1986, someone injected cyanide into Tylenol capsules on store shelves,
creating widespread publicity and a national furor after a New York woman died from
ingesting one of the capsules. The weeks that followed saw a rash of product tampering
incidents. Three other popular over-the-counter medications were found laced with
poison; pieces of glass were inserted in packages of cereal and ice cream; even
bathroom tissue was not immune— in one office building, the toilet paper in the public
restrooms was sprayed with Mace. Although the Tylenol incident itself could not have
been foreseen, explain why, after reading this chapter, you might have predicted the
aftermath.
The aftermath can be explained by the Werther effect.
3. Suppose you were a TV producer given the delicate job of creating a series of public
service programs designed to reduce teenage suicide. Knowing that research suggests
that previous programming may have inadvertently increased teen suicides via the principle
of social proof, what would you do to use the same principle to make it likely that your
shows would reduce the problem among those who watched? Who would you interview
on-camera? Would any of them be troubled teenagers? Which questions would you ask
them?
I would rather interview teens who survived from suicidal attempts, and I would ask them question about what made them want to survive the incident. I would also ask them questions on how their lives have progressed since the incident.
4. Describe a situation in your past in which you were tricked into compliance by
someone who counterfeited the principle of social proof. How would you handle a
similar situation today?
I was coerced into buying a product just because the salesperson told me that my friends also purchased the product. Today, I would not easily listen to other people’s feedback but would rely more on my own knowledge and gut instinct.
How does the ad that opens this chapter reflect the topic of the chapter
The ad depicts that all Americans invest in savings bonds.
Chapter 5
Study Questions
1. To what does the term halo effect refer? How can it help explain the relationship
between a person's physical attractiveness and that person's general attractiveness in the
eyes of others?
The halo effect occurs when one positive trait of a person becomes the basis for how people perceive their entire personality. For example, an attractive person is usually perceived as a good person.
2. We tend to like people who say they like us (that is, who give us compliments). We
also tend to like people who say they are like us (that is, similar to us). In the latter case,
what is the evidence that we tend to say yes to similar others in an automatic fashion?
Marchers in an anti-war demonstration automatically sign a petition being presented by someone who is dressed like them even without reading the document first.
3. A series of studies on the creation and reduction of hostility between groups was
conducted at boys' summer camps. After hostility was generated, which procedures
successfully reduced the hostility? Which were unsuccessful?
Creating situations that required cooperation towards the achievement of a common goal was successful. Merely doing things together without a common goal was not.
4. To what does the tendency to bask in reflected glory refer? Under which conditions
and for which kind of person is this tendency most likely to appear?
It is the tendency for one to seek prestige not from generating and promoting their own achievements but from generating and promoting their associations to other people’s achievements. It most likely appears in people who have poor self-concepts.
Critical Thinking
1. In a letter to her sister, Jane Austen wrote, "I do not want people to be very agreeable,
as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal." To which trouble associated with
liking people could she have been referring?
Austen does not easily like people but can’t help liking them when they are agreeable.
2. Will Rogers, who boasted, "I never met a man I didn't like," obviously felt differently
than Austen about the advantages of liking others. What would be the consequences of
Rogers's more expansive approach to interpersonal relations? Think about your own
interpersonal style. Is it closer to Rogers's or Austen's? Why?
Rogers’ approach would make him a likeable person. I am more like Austen because I don’t easily like people unless we have something in common.
3. What parallels can you see between the findings of the boys' camp studies and those
of studies on the effects of (a) school desegregation and (b) cooperative learning in the
classroom?
4. Suppose you wanted the person sitting next to you in class to like you more. Using
the factors discussed in this chapter, describe how you would arrange your next
encounter to accomplish your goal.
In our next encounter, I would engage him in a conversation about an interest that we share.
5. How does the ad that opens this chapter reflect the topic of the chapter
It shows that being together or belonging to the same group promotes liking.
