Free Social Psychology MCQs with Answers

289 Social Psychology MCQs from Psychology, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

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  • A. ending friendships
  • B. nonconformity
  • C. cultural traditions
  • D. norms

Explanation: Westernized child-rearing more often stresses independence, individuality, and nonconformity, whereas many Asian cultures place greater…

Correct answer: nonconformity
  • A. Social change
  • B. Vertical mobility
  • C. Status group
  • D. None of theseMental Health

Explanation: Vertical mobility means moving up or down the social hierarchy, such as changing from a lower-status occupation to a higher-status one.

Correct answer: Vertical mobility
  • A. social
  • B. comparative
  • C. psychological
  • D. school

Explanation: Peer influence concerns how other people affect an individual’s attitudes, decisions, and behaviour, which is a central concern of social…

Correct answer: social
  • A. Reciprocity norm
  • B. Foot-in-the-door technique
  • C. Compliance motive
  • D. Door-in-the-face techniqueArts & Entertainment

Explanation: The reciprocity norm is the expectation that people should return benefits or favours received from others.

Correct answer: Reciprocity norm
  • A. Festinger
  • B. Taylor
  • C. Jensen
  • D. Lorenz

Explanation: Leon Festinger proposed cognitive dissonance theory, which explains the discomfort produced by inconsistency between beliefs, attitudes…

Correct answer: Festinger
  • A. Dissonance theory
  • B. Equity theory
  • C. Comparison theory
  • D. Incompatibility theory

Explanation: Cognitive dissonance theory proposes that inconsistency between a person's thoughts, attitudes, or actions creates psychological tension.

Correct answer: Dissonance theory
  • A. they appear dominant, and women judge men as especially attractive if they appear submissive
  • B. they appear mature, and women judge men as especially attractive if they appear mature
  • C. they appear youthful, and women judge men as especially attractive if they appear youthful
  • D. they appear youthful, and women judge men, as especially attractive if they appear matureGet Study Guides

Explanation: Research on mate preferences has often found that men value cues of youthfulness in women, whereas women tend to value cues of maturity in…

Correct answer: they appear youthful, and women judge men, as especially attractive if they appear matureGet Study Guides
  • A. neuroscience
  • B. behavior genetics
  • C. evolutionary
  • D. social-cultural

Explanation: The explanation links delinquency to gang membership and the social pressures operating within that group, which reflects a…

Correct answer: social-cultural
  • A. DNA
  • B. Sex
  • C. Parental investment
  • D. Sexual investment

Explanation: From a sociobiological perspective, women are predicted to prefer partners capable of substantial parental investment because pregnancy…

Correct answer: Parental investment
  • A. emotional
  • B. social
  • C. cognitive
  • D. innate

Explanation: Wanting to please one's parents involves social influence and relationships, so it is a social motivational factor.

Correct answer: social
  • A. sexual orientation
  • B. gender identity
  • C. sexual identity
  • D. set pointDiscover Lesson Plans

Explanation: Sexual orientation describes the enduring pattern of sexual attraction toward males, females, both, or neither.

Correct answer: sexual orientation
  • A. ventromedial hypothalamus
  • B. anterior commissure
  • C. anterior cingulated cortex
  • D. lateral hypothalamus

Explanation: Cyber-ostracism is a form of social exclusion, which is associated with increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, especially…

Correct answer: anterior cingulated cortex
  • A. Strengths-based selection systems
  • B. transformational leadership
  • C. 360-degree feedback
  • D. flow experience

Explanation: Transformational leaders communicate an inspiring vision and motivate followers to pursue shared goals beyond routine compliance.

Correct answer: transformational leadership
  • A. may increase towards women
  • B. may perpetuate the myth that women enjoy being raped
  • C. does both a and b
  • D. does neither a nor b

Explanation: Research suggests that aggressive pornography can increase aggression toward women and reinforce the false rape myth that women enjoy or…

Correct answer: does both a and b
  • A. Provide employees with relatively easy work assignments
  • B. inform employee of the exact deadlines for the completion of work projects
  • C. discourage employees from critically discussing controversial company policies
  • D. mediate a personal dispute between two argumentative employees

Explanation: A socially oriented leader focuses on relationships, cooperation, and resolving interpersonal problems, making mediation between disputing…

Correct answer: mediate a personal dispute between two argumentative employees
  • A. Sexual
  • B. achievement
  • C. self-actualization
  • D. safety
  • E. belongingness

Explanation: Belongingness needs involve acceptance, affiliation, and maintaining group relationships, so they can make people conform to peers.

Correct answer: belongingness
  • A. Environmental
  • B. Personality
  • C. Cognitive
  • D. Dispositional

Explanation: Heider's attribution theory contrasts situational causes with dispositional causes, which are explanations based on a person's traits or…

Correct answer: Dispositional
  • A. Team process
  • B. Psychological safety
  • C. Team availability
  • D. Groupthink
  • E. Team beliefs

Explanation: Psychological safety is the shared feeling that team members can speak up, ask questions and take interpersonal risks without ridicule or…

Correct answer: Psychological safety
  • A. Organizational psychologists have recently changed their focus on leadership from personality to environmental factors and back to personality again
  • B. Charismatic leadership and transformational leadership are opposing leadership styles
  • C. Charismatic leaders exercise intense influence over others and have high expectations of their followers' performance, but usually communicate their goals and visions in a confused way
  • D. Some studies suggest that transformational leaders inspire dissatisfaction amongst their employees, resulting in lower productivity

Explanation: Leadership theories moved from trait or personality explanations toward situational and environmental explanations, with later renewed…

Correct answer: Organizational psychologists have recently changed their focus on leadership from personality to environmental factors and back to personality again
  • A. Social roles
  • B. Transactional leadership
  • C. Transformational leadership
  • D. Hawthorne effect
  • E. Formalization

Explanation: Jim Jones used an apparently inspirational vision and intense personal influence to induce followers to commit a catastrophic act…

Correct answer: Transformational leadership