Quiz: Social Influence and Obedience — 27 questions

1. Which description best defines social influence?

A. A personal tendency to preserve existing opinions despite social pressure

B. A process that modifies perceptions, judgments, attitudes, or behaviors through encounters with others

C. A group structure that assigns roles and responsibilities to its members

D. A method that obtains behavior through physical force or formal punishment

Answer: (B)

Explanation

Social influence involves changes in perception, judgment, attitude, or behavior following encounters with other people. Coercion is narrower because it specifically seeks behavior through force, rather than covering all forms of social influence.

2. Which set correctly lists the six mutually reinforcing vectors of social influence?

A. Leadership, communication, conflict, negotiation, conformity, and institutional change

B. Personality, social perception, rewards, requests or obedience, group phenomena, and organizational power

C. Biology, language, education, perception, motivation, and individual decision-making

D. Emotion, memory, intelligence, family background, economic status, and technological access

Answer: (B)

Explanation

The six vectors are personality factors, social perception, promises of need satisfaction and rewards, interpersonal requests or obedience, group phenomena, and organizational power. The other sets combine related psychological or organizational concepts but omit the specified six-vector structure.

3. What distinguishes voluntary agreement to a request from obedience to an order?

A. Agreement is deliberate, whereas obedience produces effects that are necessarily negative

B. Agreement changes attitudes, whereas obedience changes behavior without affecting social relationships

C. Agreement occurs in groups, whereas obedience occurs between two isolated individuals

D. Agreement is accepted freely, whereas obedience involves an order backed by authority or coercion

Answer: (D)

Explanation

A voluntary agreement is freely accepted in response to a request, while obedience involves submission to an order from a legitimate authority or through coercion. The distinction concerns how the behavior is obtained, not whether it occurs in a group or produces a particular effect.

4. Why is coercion generally less effective than engagement for producing sustainable behavior?

A. Coercion depends on shared discussion, whereas engagement relies on pressure from an authority

B. Coercion strengthens personal identification with behavior, whereas engagement separates behavior from identity

C. Coercion changes attitudes quickly but prevents people from expressing their personal values

D. Coercion can produce compliance without creating the attitude change needed to maintain the behavior

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Coercion can make a person comply while leaving the underlying attitude unchanged, so the behavior is less likely to endure. Engagement can support a deeper change in attitude or mindset, making continued behavior more sustainable.

5. Which statement best distinguishes coercion from persuasion or engagement?

A. Coercion relies on information, whereas persuasion obtains behavior through submission to authority

B. Coercion and persuasion use the same mechanism but differ in whether groups are involved

C. Coercion creates internal commitment, whereas persuasion produces compliance through external pressure

D. Coercion may obtain behavior without changing attitudes, whereas persuasion can support more lasting change

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Coercion can secure behavior even when the person's attitude remains unchanged, while persuasion or engagement may foster a more lasting transformation. Authority, information, persuasion, seduction, and manipulation are distinct ways of influencing thought or behavior.

6. In Moriarty's 1975 restaurant experiment, what proportion of participants attempted to stop the thief after engagement?

A. 100%

B. 2%

C. About 50%

D. 12%

Answer: (A)

Explanation

After participants were engaged, every participant attempted to stop the thief, producing a rate of 100%. The lower rates were 2% without contact and 12% with light contact, so those figures do not represent the engagement condition.

7. How does identification transform an externally determined behavior?

A. It separates the behavior from personality and establishes a contract to prevent its recurrence

B. It links the behavior to the person's personality and higher social values, making it internally attributed

C. It explains behavior through situational pressure while preserving its external determination

D. It replaces personal attitudes with the demands of a leader, group, or organizational culture

Answer: (B)

Explanation

Identification makes behavior appear connected to the person's personality and to valued social principles, shifting it toward internal attribution. Separating behavior from personality and arranging prevention of recurrence describes de-identification instead.

8. What is the purpose of de-identification after a bad behavior has occurred?

A. To separate the behavior from the person's personality and establish a contract preventing recurrence

B. To convert an external demand into an internal commitment through identification

C. To attribute the behavior to shared values and reinforce its acceptance by the group

D. To connect the behavior with the person's identity so that it becomes a stable personal characteristic

Answer: (A)

Explanation

De-identification breaks the naturalization link between the bad behavior and the person's personality, then establishes a contract aimed at preventing repetition. Connecting successful behavior to personality and values is the function of identification.

9. Which situation best illustrates cognitive dissonance?

A. A person feels harmony because several beliefs support the same behavior

B. A person remembers a past decision without evaluating its consequences

C. A person changes an opinion after receiving new factual information

D. A person feels discomfort because a behavior conflicts with an important belief

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Cognitive dissonance arises when conflicting cognitions or behavior create psychological discomfort and motivate restoration of consistency. Harmony among beliefs describes cognitive consistency rather than dissonance.

10. When conflicting beliefs concern a person's primary values, how does cognitive dissonance typically change?

A. It becomes stronger and increases motivation to reduce the conflict

B. It remains unchanged because values do not affect psychological tension

C. It disappears because important values prevent conflicting beliefs from forming

D. It becomes weaker and reduces motivation to address the conflict

Answer: (A)

Explanation

Conflict connected to primary values produces stronger dissonance and greater motivation to restore consistency. The importance of the values makes the contradiction more psychologically significant.

11. Which example best demonstrates engagement rather than an attitude alone?

A. A voter generally favors a candidate without participating in a campaign

B. A student agrees that exercise is beneficial but makes no commitment

C. A volunteer publicly promises to organize an event and begins planning it

D. A customer privately approves of a policy but takes no action

Answer: (C)

Explanation

Engagement links a person to their own action through a promise or the beginning of behavior, activating responsibility and persistence. A favorable attitude without action does not create the same personal connection.

12. Which action would generally create the strongest engagement?

A. Publicly making a costly, explicit commitment that cannot easily be withdrawn

B. Casually expressing a preference that can be changed without consequence

C. Privately considering a reversible choice with minimal consequences

D. Privately repeating a low-cost behavior without stating a commitment

Answer: (A)

Explanation

Engagement is strengthened when an action is public, explicit, repeated, irrevocable, costly, consequential, and freely chosen. A private, reversible, low-cost preference has fewer of these engaging features.

13. What does the freezing effect produced by engagement involve?

A. Avoiding commitment by postponing a decision until more options become available

B. Selecting a new course whenever the original action fails to meet expectations

C. Maintaining a freely chosen decision while narrowing the range of later choices

D. Reopening several alternatives whenever an earlier decision has disappointing results

Answer: (C)

Explanation

The freezing effect stabilizes a freely chosen action and narrows subsequent choices, even when the action does not produce its expected outcome. Ordinary reconsideration instead keeps alternative choices open.

14. How can the social value placed on consistency affect a person's behavior?

A. It can make people detach from earlier actions when new options appear

B. It can encourage alignment with previous actions and escalation of commitment

C. It can encourage changing course whenever an earlier choice becomes costly

D. It can reduce the importance of appearing reliable to other people

Answer: (B)

Explanation

Consistency is the socially valued tendency to appear and remain aligned with what one has already done, which can produce escalating commitment. Changing course despite earlier actions reflects inconsistency rather than this tendency.

15. Which sequence correctly illustrates the foot-in-the-door technique?

A. A requester offers a gift and then asks for repayment of comparable value

B. A requester begins with a large favor and later asks for a smaller compatible favor

C. A requester praises a person and then asks for agreement with a new opinion

D. A requester begins with a small favor and later asks for a larger compatible favor

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Foot-in-the-door gains compliance through an inexpensive initial behavior followed by a more costly request consistent with it. Beginning with a large request followed by a smaller one describes door-in-the-face.

16. What psychological tendency explains why someone may feel obligated to return a favor?

A. Reciprocity, because people tend to repay services or gifts in kind

B. Consistency, because people tend to align with what they previously decided

C. Likeability, because positive feelings make a requester more appealing

D. Engagement, because personal action can increase responsibility and persistence

Answer: (A)

Explanation

Reciprocity is the tendency to repay what another person has given, such as a service or gift. Likeability concerns positive feelings toward the requester rather than an obligation to return a benefit.

17. Which sequence correctly illustrates the door-in-the-face technique?

A. A requester establishes familiarity, then asks for agreement through personal praise

B. A requester makes a costly request likely to be refused, then asks for a smaller favor

C. A requester makes a small request, then follows with a larger favor consistent with it

D. A requester gives a benefit, then asks the recipient to return a comparable benefit

Answer: (B)

Explanation

Door-in-the-face starts with a large request expected to be rejected and follows with the smaller request the requester actually wants. The reverse sequence, from a small request to a larger one, is foot-in-the-door.

18. Which factor can increase likeability and make people more willing to agree with a requester?

A. A public commitment that becomes difficult to reverse

B. A gift that creates an obligation to provide repayment

C. A costly initial request followed by a smaller request

D. Familiarity, similarity, praise, shared success, or cooperation

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Likeability is positive emotion toward someone, influenced by familiarity, similarity, praise, shared success, and cooperation. A gift may activate reciprocity, while request sequencing and commitment describe other influence processes.

19. Why does scarcity often increase the perceived value of an opportunity?

A. Greater abundance makes the opportunity appear more prestigious

B. Reduced demand makes the opportunity seem easier to obtain

C. Additional choices make the opportunity appear less familiar

D. Limited availability makes losing the opportunity feel more likely

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Scarcity raises desirability because limited availability or threatened choice creates a perceived loss. Abundance does not produce the same sense that access may be taken away.

20. Which motivation commonly has greater influence on behavior than the prospect of gaining something new?

A. The confidence created by having several choices

B. The fear of losing something already available

C. The satisfaction associated with completing a task

D. The curiosity produced by unfamiliar alternatives

Answer: (B)

Explanation

People are often more strongly motivated by avoiding a loss than by pursuing a potential new gain. Curiosity and satisfaction may affect behavior, but they do not express this loss-focused pattern.

21. Which feature distinguishes legitimate authority from coercion?

A. Authority operates through scarcity, whereas coercion operates through abundance

B. Authority depends on physical distance, whereas coercion depends on familiarity

C. Authority removes personal responsibility, whereas coercion creates personal choice

D. Authority rests on recognized social status, whereas coercion rests on force

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Legitimate authority is socially learned and accepted through recognized status, often signaled by titles or uniforms. Coercion differs because it obtains compliance through force rather than recognized legitimacy.

22. What did the teacher believe was happening to the learner during Milgram’s experiment?

A. The learner was receiving increasingly strong electric shocks for wrong answers

B. The learner was evaluating the experimenter’s instructions from another room

C. The learner was observing a demonstration involving harmless electrical equipment

D. The learner was choosing which teacher would receive each shock level

Answer: (A)

Explanation

The teacher believed that incorrect answers caused the learner to receive progressively stronger electric shocks. In reality, the learner was a confederate whose responses were scripted, making the second option incorrect.

23. What proportion of participants in Milgram’s original study continued to the maximum apparent shock of 450 volts?

A. 65%

B. 35%

C. 90%

D. 50%

Answer: (A)

Explanation

Milgram reported that 65% of participants obeyed the experimenter through the maximum apparent shock level. The other percentages do not match the reported completion rate.

24. Which situation best illustrates an agentic state?

A. A person rejects institutional instructions after deciding they conflict with personal values

B. A person evaluates the consequences of an action and accepts responsibility for them

C. A person follows a request because it offers a direct personal reward

D. A person views themselves as an instrument of an authority and transfers responsibility to it

Answer: (D)

Explanation

In an agentic state, the individual experiences themselves as an instrument of a social or institutional authority and shifts responsibility to that entity. Accepting personal responsibility describes an autonomous state instead.

25. Which combination of conditions is expected to increase obedience to an authority figure?

A. Low authority prestige and close physical proximity to the victim

B. High authority prestige and greater physical distance from the participant

C. Low authority prestige and greater physical distance from the victim

D. High authority prestige and close physical proximity to the participant

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Obedience tends to rise when the authority has high prestige and is physically close to the participant. A nearby victim has the opposite effect because the victim’s suffering becomes more salient.

26. Why does physical proximity to the victim generally reduce obedience?

A. Greater proximity makes the participant feel less personally involved in the task

B. Visible suffering can trigger empathy and make compliance more difficult

C. Visible suffering reduces the participant’s awareness that instructions were given

D. Greater distance makes the authority appear less legitimate to the participant

Answer: (B)

Explanation

A nearby victim provides visible signs of suffering, which can activate empathy and reduce obedience. Proximity to the authority, rather than proximity to the victim, generally strengthens compliance.

27. What happened when other teachers openly disobeyed the experimenter in Milgram’s procedure?

A. About 90% of the real participants disobeyed as well

B. About 50% of the real participants ignored the other teachers

C. About 65% of the real participants continued to the maximum shock

D. About 35% of the real participants became more obedient

Answer: (A)

Explanation

When other teachers disobeyed, 90% of the actual participants also disobeyed, demonstrating that group influence can release individuals from authority. The other percentages do not describe this modeled-disobedience condition.