Ch8 Interpersonal Attraction And Test Questions & Answers

Chapter 8

 Interpersonal attraction and close relationships

1. Bowlby (1969) argued that there is a biological basis for __________.

a. complementarity

b. affiliation

c. attachment

d. mutuality

e. propinquity

2. What is the commonly-accepted explanation for our preference to be with others when we are afraid?

a. attachment

b. social comparison

c. cognitive dissonance

d. social conformity

e. cognitive balance

3. What is the affect regulation hypothesis about?

a. secure attachment

b. social comparison

c. similarity-attraction rule

d. mutuality in intimacy

e. regulating affect

4. The propinquity effect for liking predicts that we will like:

a. strangers

b. our next door neighbours

c. only the opposite sex

d. similar others

e. those who like us

5. The Schachter experiments, participants who were asked to perform a series of embarrassing tasks:

a. preferred to be with other participants

b. escaped through the back door before the experiment began

c. indicated no preference as to waiting alone or with others

d. preferred to be alone

e. preferred to be with the experimenter

6. In a secure attachment, we see others are:

a. objects of attachment

b. safe havens

c. anxious-ambivalent

d. attached to us

e. none of the above

7. A basis of affiliation in situations of uncertainty is the process of:

a. social penetration

b. social comparison

c. social reinforcement

d. equity

e. none of the above

8. Social comparison is a process whereby:

a. people prefer to be with people in a different situation

b. people who are uncertain or fearful, turn to people in the same situation

c. people seek out others to identify with them due to genetically wired-in drive

d. people interacting together try to compare their inputs and outputs in order to maximize their gains

e. people compare their characteristics with others to determine their self-esteem

9. The phrase ‘misery loves miserable company’ best reflects the process of:

a. social penetration

b. social reinforcement

c. equity

d. social comparison

e. none of the above

10. Based on Schachter's (1959) study involving a Dr. Gregor Zilstein, which of the following has an important effect on affiliation?

a. propinquity

b. reciprocation

c. reinforcement

d. similarity

e. fear

11. Which of the following has been relate to a secure attachment style?

a. general marital satisfaction

b. a more positive schema regarding close relationships

c. more supportive and trusting to their partners

d. limited to a romantic partner

e. all except d

12. In their field study of patients about to undergo major surgery, Kulik and Mahler found that patients preferred to:

a. wait with others about to have the same surgery

b. have a roommate who was already recovering from the same surgery

c. have the company of a family member or close friend for as long as possible while waiting for their surgery

d. wait alone

e. have a roommate who was waiting for a different type of surgery

13. Elizabeth is going away to college and plans to live in the college residence. According to research on propinquity, Elizabeth is most likely to make friends with:

a. people who live in another residence

b. students who live on the main floor

c. people who live near the stairwells

d. students who live on other floors

e. students in the next room

14. Levinger and Snoek (1972) propose that interpersonal relationships can be described in terms of a series of identifiable stages. How many are there?

a. five

b. four

c. three

d. six

e. seven

15. We are more likely to become friends with people we see frequently. This is the effect of:

a. reciprocation

b. affiliation

c. propinquity

d. attachment

e. mutuality

16. Which of the following represents the finding of the study of friendships within the student apartment building? Students who became friends were most likely to be:

a. similar in their attitudes

b. similar in their interests

c. similar in their values

d. all of the above

e. none of the above

17. When people are aware of each other and interact in rather casual terms, the relationship is described as:

a. surface contact

b. awareness

c. affiliation

d. attachment

e. mutuality

18. Increased opportunities for interaction, and increased anticipation of future interaction are involved in explaining the effects of __________ on attraction.

a. attachment

b. similarity

c. complementarity

d. propinquity

e. attributions

19. A clear contradiction to the ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ saying is illustrated in:

a. the proximity effect

b. the mere exposure effect

c. the watching hypothesis

d. mutuality

e. reciprocation

20. The __________ effect suggests that meeting a person repeatedly tends to lead to more positive evaluations of that person.

a. similarity

b. complementarity

c. mere exposure

d. Doppler

e. propinquity

21. Which of the following is supported by research on interpersonal attraction?

a. familiarity breeds attraction

b. familiarity breeds contempt

c. beauty times brains equals a constant

d. what is beautiful is frivolous

e. none of the above

22. The mere exposure effect provides one possible explanation for:

a. why familiarity breeds contempt

b. why familiarity leads to liking

c. the equity phenomenon

d. why familiarity leads to matching

e. the matching phenomenon

23. There are several reasons why physical proximity determines attraction. Which of the following is not one of them?

a. increase in opportunities for interaction

b. increase in the anticipation of interaction

c. similarity in attitudes and values

d. the mere exposure effect

e. all of the above

24. The finding that people pair off with others who are about as attractive as themselves is known as:

a. complementarity

b. physical attractiveness stereotype

c. similarity

d. the matching phenomenon

e. the reciprocity effect

25. According to Feingold (1989), the matching phenomenon occurs least often among:

a. female friends

b. romantic couples

c. male friends

d. new relationships

e. fixed marriages

26. Pairs of friends and lovers tend to be __________ in physical attractiveness.

a. high

b. moderate

c. equal

d. unequal (one is usually more attractive)

e. uncorrelated

27. In the study by Kiesler and Baral (1970) in which the self-esteem of male participants was deliberately manipulated, they found that:

a. participants whose self-esteem had been lowered were more likely to make advances toward a female with low esteem

b. participants whose self-esteem was lowered were more likely to make advances to a female with high self-esteem

c. participants whose self-esteem was lowered were more likely to make advances toward an unattractive female than an attractive female

d. participants whose self-esteem had been enhanced were more likely to make advances toward an unattractive than an attractive female

e. participants whose self-esteem was lowered were more likely to make advances toward an attractive than an unattractive female

28. John, an average-looking student has been dating three people. Anne is an extremely attractive and popular student. Mary is rather plain looking, rather unattractive in fact, but she is a very bright student. Emily is moderately attractive. According to the matching hypothesis:

a. John is most likely to develop a more serious relationship with Emily

b. John is more likely to develop a romantic relationship with Anne than with Emily

c. John will probably continue to date Mary but not the other two girls

d. six months from now John is more likely to still be seeing Mary than either of the other two girls

e. none of the above

29. When shown a picture of an average young woman, men who had been watching the TV show ‘Charlie's Angels’ rated her as __________ than did men who had not been watching the program.

a. more intelligent

b. more attractive

c. less attractive

d. less intelligent

e. less confident

30. According to Pennebaker's research in country-and-western bars, men perceive women to be __________ at closing time.

a. more intoxicated

b. less intoxicated

c. more attractive

d. less attractive

e. more attractive and intoxicated

31. Studies on interpersonal attractiveness have shown that:

a. we often attribute negative personality characteristics to attractive people

b. attractive children are very unpopular among their same-sex peers

c. we expect nothing unusually favourable or unfavourable from physically attractive people

d. we tend to attribute positive personality characteristics to attractive people

e. the findings are too contradictory to warrant a firm conclusion

32. Which of the following is true of Dion, Berscheid and Walster's (1972) study of ratings given to very attractive, average, and unattractive persons? The attractive person was:

a. rated as having a higher occupational status

b. said to be more likely to be happily married

c. thought to be content in his social life

d. all of the above

e. none of the above

33. According to evolutionary theory, what factor drives our positive orientation towards physically attractive people?

a. a ‘beautiful is good’ stereotype

b. matching

c. reproductive fitness

d. post-decision dissonance

e. none of the above

34. The results of many studies cited in the text suggest that differences in the psychological characteristics of attractive and unattractive people are:

a. in the eyes of the beholder

b. the result of self-fulfilling prophecies

c. innate

d. an example of demand characteristics

e. a result of persistent discrimination against unattractive people

35. In the study by Dion and Dion (1987), participants were asked to fill out a Just World scale and later shown photographs of attractive and unattractive males and females and asked to rate them on a variety of characteristics. They found that believers in a just world:

a. rated physically attractive males as having more socially desirable characteristics

b. had a positive bias toward winners in life and perceived attractive males as belonging to this category

c. had a positive bias toward winners in life and perceived attractive females as belonging to this category

d. both a and b

e. both a and c

36. When we meet physically attractive people we tend to:

a. attribute negative personality characteristics to them

b. attribute positive personality characteristics to them

c. expect nothing unusually favourable or unfavourable about them

d. trust them less

e. distrust them completely

37. Newcomb's study of how friendships developed among students in a residence or a university in the United States indicate that:

a. ‘similar’ students formed friendships initially, but as the weeks passed, ‘complementary’ students began to form friendships that turned out to be more lasting

b. those whose attitudes were initially most similar were likely to form close friendships

c. those whose attitudes and interests were initially complementary were most likely to form close friendships

d. perceived attitude similarity was significantly related to attraction only in the final weeks of the study

e. the students, for the most part, changed their attitudes and values to keep friendships formed earlier on

38. When a person is similar to us in values and attitudes, we:

a. are less likely to expect the person to be attracted to us because it is opposites that attract

b. are likely to adopt a wait-and-see attitude

c. are more likely to like the person

d. often find the person unstimulating and rather boring

e. tend to develop a complementary-type relationship with them

39. The notion that a person's attraction to someone depends on the proportion of similar attitudes between them is known as:

a. Byrne's law

b. the matching phenomenon

c. the principle of similarity

d. the law of reciprocity

e. balance theory

40. Byrne's Law states that attraction is determined by the:

a. level of physical attractiveness

b. matching in physical attractiveness

c. proportion of similar attitudes

d. balance between attraction and attitudes

e. perceived similarities in values

41. In Newcomb's study of the development of friendships in a rooming house, which statement most accurately represents the results?

a. those who were most similar later became attracted to each other

b. the discovery of similarities preceded attraction

c. attraction developed among those matched in physical attraction

d. attraction developed rapidly before people knew whose attitudes were similar to their own and whose were not

e. repulsion from dissimilar people preceded attraction

42. The finding that attraction develops rapidly, before people have much information about each other's attitudes, supports the hypothesis that:

a. attraction increases with the proportion of similar attitudes

b. attraction is the consequence of perceived similarity

c. we assume that the people whom we like are more similar to us than they really are

d. attitudes are really irrelevant to attraction

e. attraction is irrelevant to judgments of similarity

43. Research on self-monitoring and interpersonal attraction has shown that:

a. high self-monitors tend to choose romantic partners on the basis of physical attractiveness

b. low self-monitors tend to choose friends on the basis of similarity preferences for recreational activities

c. high self-monitors tend to be guided by similarities in personality traits and attitudes

d. low self-monitors tend to be guided by similarities in personality traits and attitudes

e. both a and d

44. Which of the following would be consistent with a prediction by Heider's balance theory?

a. you like people because it satisfies a need for approval

b. you would prefer to disagree with someone you like

c. you would prefer to be liked by someone who dislikes you

d. you would like or dislike people for intellectual reasons

e. none of the above

45. Under which of these circumstances is similarity likely to lead to decreased liking?

a. someone outperforms us on a task that is of little importance to us

b. very good friends have similar attitudes

c. a number of roommates have a high similarity in values

d. a person that stresses several similarities with us suffers a nervous breakdown

e. two people both love tennis

46. Proponents of the balance theory of interpersonal attraction are unable to:

a. explain why we like those who like us

b. explain why proximity is rewarding

c. explain why we like those who support our views

d. predict which of the components will change in order to restore balance

e. balance theories that offer explanations for all the above

47. Research indicates that online dating sites:

a. provide a broad range of facts and impressions of potential partners

b. self-presentation is more spontaneous

c. self-disclosure often happens more rapidly than in face-to-face situations

d there is no clear evidence that the matching procedures that dating sites use is superior to more traditional face-to-face situations

e. all of the above

48. In the experiment testing the similarity effect on attraction in which participants were presented with photos of people, it was found that:

a. attraction was significantly lower when people were told the person in the photo had attitudes dissimilar to their own

b. attraction was the same when people received no information about the person's attitudes as it was when they were told the person's attitudes were dissimilar to their own

c. attraction depended on physical characteristics alone

d. attraction was significantly higher when the person in the photo was both wealthy and attractive

e. attraction was affected by only similarity and not by dissimilarity in attitudes of the person in the photo

49. According to the reinforcement-affect model:

a. we like a person with whom we associate reward even if we do not attribute the reward to that person

b. we tend to like people if we feel a duty to do so

c. we like a person if we somehow get rewarded by them

d. we tend to like people even if they are obnoxious if we expect to have further interaction with them

e. continuous rewards lead to the development of affect

50. We tend to like people whom we associate with feeling good, according to:

a. balance theory

b. reinforcement-affect theory

c. repulsion theory

d. gain/loss effect

e. none of the above

51. You tend to be less attracted to someone who criticizes you if that person:

a. often criticized you in the past

b. previously acted positively to you

c. was someone you had disliked

d. was someone whom you had previously liked

e. has less social power than you

52. Sometimes we tend to like even obnoxious people because we expect to have further interaction with them. This is referred to as:

a. the social responsibility norm

b. reinforcement-affect model

c. the ‘no-choice’ effect

d. the equity rule

e. excitation-transfer theory

53. Which of the following is true of self-disclosure?

a. a person who engages in self-disclosure is always liked more

b. disclosure tends to elicit reciprocated disclosure

c. a person who engages in self-disclosure is always liked less

d. self-disclosure leads to infatuation but not true love

e. none of the above

54. We do not like people who disclose highly personal information to us if:

a. they are not the sort of people who open up to everyone

b. they do it as soon as we meet

c. we have asked them to tell us about themselves

d. they seem to reveal values and attitudes

e. we believe they trust us and have singled us out for the disclosure

55. The idea that people alternate in giving personal information about themselves to each other is known as:

a. the reciprocity norm for self-disclosure

b. the norm of reciprocity in helping situations

c. the stable exchange stage of relationships

d. a reciprocal friendship

e. mutuality

56. Self-disclosure is important at __________ stage of a relationship.

a. the surface contact

b. the awareness

c. the mutuality

d. every stage

e. both a and b

57. When people go out together for several times and discuss many different topics, this represents the __________ aspect in Altman and Taylor's model of self-disclosure.

a. depth

b. breadth

c. equality

d. mutuality

e. intimacy

58. What social psychological phenomenon has been liked to gambling or addictive behaviours at the level of opioid, oxytocin and dopamine in the brain?

a. negative attitudes

b. love relationships

c. attachment

d. affiliation

e. self-disclosure

59. The extent to which intimate details are revealed refers to the __________ of self disclosure in Altman and Taylor's social penetration theory.

a. breadth

b. depth

c. width

d. willingness

e. limits

60. Turkel (2011) used what to provide human companionship to isolated older people in residences?

a. robots

b. social websites

c. children

d. dogs

e. cats

61. Which hypothesis best accounts for why people are frequent users of Internet social websites?

a. ‘rich get richer’

b. social compensation

c. a for girls, b for boys

d. a for boys, b for girls

e. neither is supportable

62. Rubin found that scores on scales measuring liking and loving were moderately related. What distinguished loving from liking?

a. sexual arousal

b. gazing into each other’s eyes

c. persistence over time

d. passion

e. none of the above

63. Sternberg’s triangular theory of love consists of:

a. passion

b. commitment

c. intimacy

d. all of above

e. none of above

64. According to the equity theory of personal relations, people:

a. give and receive goods in a relationship

b. want to feel that they are not exploited, and are not taking unfair advantage of others

c. gladly accept lavish generosity from others

d. do not object when their relationship with another person is out of balance for a long time

e. who consider themselves overburdened in a relationship are likely to be happy that they are being of some value to others

65. Attraction to a stranger is a function of the proportion of similar attitudes. This is known as:

a. relativity principle

b. Byrne’ law

c. triangular theory

d. schema of similarity-attraction

e. physical beauty principle

66. A partner in a relationship who feels he is expressing more affection may demand an increase in affection from the partner or reduce his own affection. His behaviour is:

a. an attempt to achieve complementarity

b. an attempt to restore equity

c. an example of the over-exposure effect

d. an example of the matching phenomenon

e. a demonstration of the problems of social penetration

67. According to attachment theory, what is the goal of attachment?

1. secure base for exploring the world
2. basis for romantic love
3. safe haven
4. both b and c
5. both a and c

68. Which theory of interpersonal exchange describes resources in terms of concreteness and particularism?

a. Argyle and Dean's model

b. the equity model

c. the social penetration theory

d. triangular theory

e. Foa's model

69. Which of the following have been identified as attachment orientations?

a secure

b. avoidant

c. anxious

d. all of above

e. only a and b

70. The strongest predictor of satisfaction is rewards and costs. Such a statement supports:

a. the norm of equality

b. equity theory

c. social exchange theory

d. social comparison theory

e. balance theory

71. Social exchange is affected by:

a. costs versus rewards

b. communal versus exchange relationship

c. egocentric bias

d. perception of equity

e. all of the above

72. According to Sternberg’s triangular model of love, which of the following is NOT included?

a. passion

b. intimacy

c. decision

d. emotional arousal

e commitment

73. According to the model of interpersonal exchange, strict ‘bookkeeping’ of rewards and costs would indicate that:

a. a relationship is perfectly matched

b. a relationship is based on equity

c. the relationship has been on for a long time

d. the relationship is not yet intimate

e. the relationship is mutually satisfying

74. Which of the following is not characteristic of social exchanges in intimate relationships?

a. tend to be more particularistic

b. are less immediate

c. subject to egocentric bias

d. a need to ‘keep score’ of rewards and costs

e. all of the above

75. A longitudinal study of participants before and one or two years after they had become connected with the Internet (Kraut et al., 1998) found that greater use of the Internet was associated with:

a. declines in the participants' communication with others in their households

b. declines in the number of people they socialized with at least once a month

c. increased levels of loneliness and depression in those who spent most time on the Internet

d. all of the above

e. none of the above

76. The view that new relations are mostly based on shared values and that more lasting encounters are based on complementary needs, is known as:

a. noncorrespondent outcomes

b. the stage theory of interpersonal attraction

c. the law of proportional similarity

d. the cognitive balance principle

e. the sequential filter theory

77. Aron, Paris, and Aron (1995) found that falling in love is accompanied by:

a. increased impression management

b. an increase in the complexity of the self-concept

c. an increase in feelings of self-worth

d. a and b

e. b and c

78. According to the text, which of the following may characterize romantic love?

a. a passionate emotional and physical involvement

b. an interpersonal ‘game’ of manipulation without deep emotional involvement

c. passion and game-playing that may be very possessive

d. a rational and deliberate process of choosing a mate

e. all of the above

79. Which of the following is not one of Sternberg's components of love?

a. passion

b. attachment

c. intimacy

d. decision

e. commitment

80. According to Walster and Walster (1978) which of the following is an attribute of companionate love?

a. highly emotional

b. overwhelming and agonizing

c. deeply felt involvement

d. commitment and friendship

e. both c and d

81. The experiment where some male participants crossed a wobbly rope bridge and then met and rated a female confederate of the experimenter supports which model of romantic love?

a. attributional

b. triangular

c. rectangular

d. companionate

e. none of the above

82. According to Fehr's prototypical model of love:

a. our behaviour and experience in love is schema-driven

b. the typical example of love in Western cultures includes passion, intimacy and commitment

c. romantic love is less likely to be valued as a basis for marriage

d. a and c

e. a and b

83. Which of the following statements is not a true reflection of most research results on love?

a. women tend to fall in love more frequently and intensely than men

b. men tend to have a more ‘romantic’ view of love than women

c. women tend to have a more pragmatic attitude towards love than men

d. women are more likely than men to endorse items such as ‘marry whom you like regardless of their position’

e. men tend to fall in love more readily than women

84. Which of the following is true of the findings by Seligman, Fazio and Zanna in which people completed sentences about love which began with ‘... because I’ or ‘... in order to’?

a. participants who had filled out the ‘in order to’ sentences scored lower on the love scale

b. the ‘in order to’ group scored higher on the love scale

c. the ‘in order to’ group scored lower on both the love and liking scales

d. the ‘because I’ group and the controls scored lower on the love scale

e. none of the above

85. Research suggests that:

a. men tend to have a more ‘romantic’ view of love than women

b. women tend to have more pragmatic attitudes toward love than men

c. women tend to fall in love more frequently and intensely than men

d. all of the above

e. none of the above

86. In a study by Seligman, Fazio and Zanna, people completed sentences about love which began with ‘... because I’ or ‘... in order to ...’. Subsequently, participants who had filled out the ‘in order to’ sentences scored __________ than the other group.

a. lower on the love scale

b. higher on the love scale

c. lower on both the liking and loving scales

d. higher on both the liking and loving scales

e. higher on the love scale, lower on the liking scale

87. Compared to men who were interviewed on a low, solid bridge, men interviewed on a narrow, wobbly bridge tended to:

a. like the female interviewer more

b. included more sexual imagery in a projective test

c. were more likely to telephone the female interviewer later

d. both a and b

e. all of the above

88. According to Berscheid and Walster, passionate love is a product of:

a. beliefs in the idea of romantic love

b. a state of emotional arousal

c. an attribution about arousal as being love

d. all of the above

e. b and c

89. A recent review of the evidence on attractiveness found that:

a. perceivers can readily recognize cues for attractiveness that are related to health

b. attractiveness is more important to men than to women

c. men are attracted to exceptionally beautiful features rather than to people who appear close to average in facial and physical features

d. perceivers cannot reliably recognize cues for attractiveness that are related to health

e. attractiveness is more important to women than to men

90. According to Hill, Rubin and Peplau (1976) couples who tended to breakup were less similar on a number of characteristics. Which of the following is among them?

a. age

b. intelligence

c. future educational plans

d. sex-role attitudes

e. all of the above

91. According to Hill, Rubin and Peplau, the majority of breakups of intimate relationships are:

a. initiated by the males

b. initiated by the females

c. initiated by their parents

d. initiated in couples who became sexually involved at an early stage of the relationship

e. none of the above

92. According to the text, in an ‘empty shell’ marriage:

a. the marriage is unsatisfactory

b. barriers to leaving the marriage remain

c. one partner is involved in an alternative relationship

d. all of the above

e. a and b

93. Some evidence seems to suggest that:

a. men suffer more adverse effects of divorce than women

b. women suffer more adverse effects of divorce than men

c. the adverse effects of divorce are mostly identical on both males and females

d. the partner who initiates the divorce suffers less adverse effects

e. none of the above

94. What is loneliness according to your textbook?

a. person’s perception of deficient relationships

b. distressing, unpleasant

c. subjective

d. all of above

e. none of above

95. A recent study in which women at a shelter were interviewed found that the women's commitment to remaining in a relationship was determined by:

a. satisfaction with the relationship despite the abuse

b. guilt about their failure to contribute more to the relationship

c. fear of criticism from friends and family

d. the expectation that the relationship would change for the better as a result of their going to the shelter

e. none of the above

96. Which variable has been related empirically to stress?

a. romantic love

b. loneliness

c. being alone

d. attributional arousal

e. perceived similarity

97. Long and Averill (2003) argue that disengagement from the expectations of others, spirituality and contemplation are all benefits of ____?

a. loneliness

b. dominance

c. solitude

d. attachment

e. social comparison

98. A distressing subjective state of perceived deficiencies in a person's relationship is a description of:

a. shyness

b. social comparison jealousy

c. need complementarity

d. loneliness

e. none of the above

99. A lack of a network of friends acquaintances and colleagues refers to what type of loneliness?

a. emotional

b. chronic

c. social comparison

d. social

e. attributional

100. According to the textbook, loneliness is:

a. a result of perceived deficiencies in one's relationships

b. a result of being alone

c. a sign of mental illness

d. an objective state

e. absent when people are married