Social Psych
Which of the following best explains why social loafing occurs?
A) People feel more motivated in large groups
B) Tasks become easier when shared
C) Individual effort cannot be observed or evaluated
D) Group members compete with one another
Answer: C
When individual contributions are invisible, people feel less accountable and reduce their effort.
A Pearson correlation of r = −0.72 is found between the number of hours employees spend in unstructured meetings per week and their self-reported productivity. A manager concludes that reducing meetings will directly cause productivity to increase. What is wrong with this conclusion?
A) Nothing — a correlation of −0.72 is strong enough to establish a causal relationship between meetings and productivity
B) The negative sign indicates the variables move in the same direction, so the manager has misread the relationship
C) The conclusion is only invalid if the correlation was computed on a sample rather than the full population
D) Correlation describes the relationship between two variables but does not establish causation — a third variable or reverse causation could explain the pattern
Answer: D
Correlation quantifies the direction and strength of a relationship but cannot establish that one variable causes another. Unmeasured variables (e.g., workload, role clarity) could drive both variables, or productivity could be influencing meeting frequency rather than the reverse.
A manager who is well-liked by her team uses her warm relationships and personal credibility to gain buy-in for a new policy, rather than invoking her formal authority or threatening consequences. Which base of power is she primarily drawing on?
A) Legitimate power, because her managerial position grants her the formal right to direct employee behavior
B) Referent power, because employees are influenced by their desire to be associated with and approved by someone they admire
C) Expert power, because her effectiveness stems from the knowledge and experience she has accumulated over time
D) Coercive power, because the implicit threat of damaged relationships acts as a form of social punishment
Answer: B
Referent power derives from others' identification with and desire to be liked by the leader. It is distinct from legitimate power (positional authority), expert power (knowledge), and coercive power (punishment).
An employer requires all applicants for a warehouse position to pass a cognitive ability test. Data show that 60% of White applicants pass but only 40% of Black applicants pass. Under the 4/5ths rule, what is the correct conclusion?
A) No adverse impact exists because the absolute pass rate for Black applicants is still above 33%
B) Adverse impact exists because 40/60 = 0.67, which falls below the 0.80 threshold
C) No adverse impact exists because cognitive ability tests are inherently job-related and legally defensible
D) Adverse impact exists only if the employer cannot demonstrate that the test was developed using content validity
Answer: B
The 4/5ths rule compares the selection rate of the protected group to the majority group. Here, 40/60 = 0.67, which is below the 0.80 threshold, indicating adverse impact regardless of the test's validity.
Free 400...IF
You tell us your favorite memory from Year 1
A charity first asks you to donate $500, you decline, and they follow up asking for $20. What compliance technique is this?
A) Foot-in-the-door
B) Low-balling
C) Labeling technique
D) Door-in-the-face
Answer: D
A large request is refused first, making the smaller follow-up request seem much more reasonable by comparison.
A population has μ = 60 and σ = 8. A score of X = 52 is obtained. What is the z-score, and what does it tell you about the location of this score in the distribution?
A) z = +1.00; the score is one standard deviation above the mean
B) z = −1.00; the score is one standard deviation below the mean
C) z = −0.75; the score falls three-quarters of a standard deviation below the mean
D) z = +0.75; the score falls three-quarters of a standard deviation above the mean
Answer: B
z = (X − μ)/σ = (52 − 60)/8 = −8/8 = −1.00. The negative sign indicates the score is below the mean, and the value of 1.00 indicates it is exactly one standard deviation away.
Jose works alone in a small, windowless room with no air conditioning, performing the same repetitive task all day with no opportunity for interaction or variety. According to the Demands-Control Model, how would his job be classified, and what does this predict about his stress levels?
A) An "active job"
B) A "low stress job"
C) A "passive job"
D) A "high stress job"
Answer: D
The Demands-Control Model predicts that the most stressful jobs combine high demands with low control. Jose faces a demanding quota, physical stressors, and zero autonomy over his environment — a textbook high-stress job profile.
The Army Alpha and Beta tests developed during WWI are historically significant in I/O psychology primarily because they demonstrated that:
A) Cognitive ability is a poor predictor of job performance under high-stress conditions like combat
B) Psychological assessment could be applied at scale to make personnel decisions, legitimizing the field's practical value
C) Industrial engineering and time-motion studies were insufficient for managing large military workforces
D) The scientist-practitioner model could be replicated outside of clinical psychology settings
Answer: B
The Army Alpha and Beta tests, developed under Robert Yerkes, were among the first large-scale applications of psychological assessment for personnel decisions, establishing I/O psychology as a practically useful discipline.
An organization implements a selection test and later discovers that it correctly identifies high performers but also rejects a significant number of candidates who would have succeeded. In selection decision terminology, these rejected candidates represent:
A) True negatives, because they were correctly identified as not meeting the cutoff score
B) False positives, because the test predicted success but they ultimately failed on the job
C) False negatives, because the test incorrectly classified qualified candidates as unqualified
D) True positives, because their rejection reflects the test's accuracy in maintaining high performance standards
Answer: C
False negatives are qualified candidates who are wrongly rejected by the selection system. This is a cost to both the individual and the organization, representing missed talent that the test failed to identify correctly.
What happened to obedience rates as the physical proximity of the "learner" increased in Milgram's studies?
A) Obedience rates increased
B) Obedience rates stayed the same
C) Obedience rates decreased
D) Results varied by gender
Answer: C
The more present and "real" the learner became, the fewer shocks the teacher administered.
In a two-factor ANOVA examining the effect of job demands (high vs. low) and job control (high vs. low) on employee burnout, the main effect of job demands is significant, but the interaction between job demands and job control is also significant. What does the significant interaction tell you that the main effect alone cannot?
A) That job demands are a stronger predictor of burnout than job control when both factors are considered together
B) That the effect of job demands on burnout is the same regardless of how much control employees have
C) That the effect of job demands on burnout depends on the level of job control — the relationship between demands and burnout changes at different levels of control
D) That both main effects must be re-evaluated using post-hoc tests before any conclusions about burnout can be drawn
Answer: C
An interaction means the effect of one factor depends on the level of another. In Karasek's model, high demands are most harmful when combined with low control — the interaction reveals this conditional relationship that main effects alone cannot capture.
A new employee joins a company that claims to value work-life balance but routinely expects staff to answer emails after hours without explicit acknowledgment. The employee begins to feel deceived and disengaged. Which concept best explains the mechanism driving this reaction?
A) Role ambiguity, because the employee lacks clear guidance about what behavior is actually expected in the job
B) Cognitive dissonance, because the discrepancy between the company's stated values and actual practices creates psychological discomfort
C) A psychological contract violation, because the implied mutual obligations of the employment relationship have not been honored
D) Organizational deviance, because the employer's behavior violates established norms of fair treatment within the organization
Answer: C
A psychological contract consists of the unwritten, perceived mutual obligations between employee and employer. When the organization fails to honor those implied commitments — such as the promise of work-life balance — a violation occurs that drives dissatisfaction and disengagement.
A supervisor rates an employee highly on teamwork, communication, and reliability — largely because that employee recently delivered an outstanding presentation, even though their day-to-day performance on those dimensions is average. This is best described as:
A) Recency error, because the most recent event is disproportionately influencing all ratings
B) Contrast error, because the employee is being compared to lower-performing peers rather than against objective standards
C) The halo effect, because one strong performance is inflating ratings across unrelated dimensions
D) Leniency error, because the supervisor is systematically avoiding low ratings to prevent conflict
Answer: C
The halo effect occurs when one salient positive event or trait causes a rater to overrate an employee across unrelated performance dimensions, which is precisely what is described here.
The Central Limit Theorem states that as sample size increases, the distribution of sample means approaches a normal distribution regardless of the shape of the population. What is the practical implication of this for hypothesis testing in I/O psychology research?
A) Researchers can use parametric hypothesis tests with large samples even when the original population distribution is not normal, because the sampling distribution of the mean will be approximately normal
B) Larger samples always produce statistically significant results because the standard error decreases as n increases, making any mean difference detectable
C) The Central Limit Theorem only applies when the population is symmetric, limiting its usefulness for skewed organizational data such as salary distributions
D) Researchers must always collect samples of at least n = 100 before any parametric test can be legitimately applied, regardless of the research context
Answer: A
The Central Limit Theorem guarantees that the distribution of sample means will approximate normality with sufficiently large samples (generally n ≥ 30), even if the underlying population is skewed. This justifies the use of parametric tests in many real-world I/O research contexts where population normality cannot be assumed.
A politician spreads damaging rumors about a rival to win an election. What type of aggression best describes this?
A) Relational aggression
B) Instrumental aggression
C) Hostile aggression
D) Reactive aggression
Answer: A
Relational aggression uses social status and relationships to harm someone, such as through gossip or reputation damage.
A researcher conducts a study and obtains a statistically significant result at α = .05. A colleague argues they should have used α = .01 instead. If the alpha level had been set to .01, what would happen to the critical region and the probability of a Type I error?
A) The critical region would get larger and the probability of a Type I error would increase
B) The critical region would get smaller and the probability of a Type I error would decrease
C) The critical region would stay the same but the probability of a Type II error would increase
D) The critical region would get larger and the probability of a Type II error would decrease
Answer: B
Decreasing alpha makes the criterion for rejection more stringent, shrinking the critical region and reducing the probability of falsely rejecting a true null hypothesis (Type I error). However, this simultaneously increases the risk of Type II error.
A team has been working together for several months and has developed a strong sense of cohesion. During a critical product decision, members who raise concerns are met with eye-rolls, and the group dismisses market research that contradicts their plan. Which phenomenon does this best illustrate?
A) Group polarization
B) Social loafing
C) Groupthink
D) Social conformity
Answer: C
Groupthink is characterized by suppression of dissent, dismissal of outside information, and desire for unity overriding realistic appraisal. The prescribed remedies include assigning devil's advocates and introducing fresh external perspectives.
According to the 70:20:10 model of organizational learning, what proportion of workplace learning occurs through formal training programs, and what is the implication for how organizations should invest in development?
A) 70%, suggesting formal programs should remain the primary vehicle for skill development
B) 20%, suggesting peer learning and mentoring deserve equal investment to formal training
C) 10%, suggesting organizations should prioritize designing rich on-the-job and social learning experiences rather than relying heavily on formal programs
D) 30%, suggesting formal and informal learning contribute roughly equally when combined into blended programs
Answer: C
The 70:20:10 model holds that 70% of learning comes from on-the-job experience, 20% from social learning, and only 10% from formal programs — implying that organizations over-invest in formal training relative to experiential and relational development.
Kim experiences competing demands from two supervisors who each expect her full attention during the same work periods, leaving her stuck-in-the-middle with no good option. She also has more tasks assigned in a single shift than one person can reasonably complete. Which two distinct psychological stressors does this represent?
A) Role ambiguity and role overload
B) Interpersonal conflict and emotional labor
C) Role conflict and role overload
D) Work-life conflict and role ambiguity
Answer: C
Role conflict occurs when demands from different sources are incompatible (two supervisors pulling Kim in different directions), while role overload occurs when an employee is expected to fulfill too many roles simultaneously. These are two distinct psychological stressors present in Kim's situation.
In Darley and Latané's seizure study, which condition produced the fastest helping response?
A) When the participant believed four others were also present
B) When the participant believed one other person was present
C) When the participant believed they were the only bystander
D) Group size had no effect on response time
Answer: C
When participants thought they were the sole bystander, they helped fastest and most reliably due to undivided responsibility.
A researcher measures employee stress before and after a mindfulness intervention using the same participants. Which t-test is appropriate, and what is the key advantage of this design over using two separate, independent groups?
A) A repeated-measures t-test is appropriate; its key advantage is that it eliminates individual differences as a source of variability, making the test more sensitive to treatment effects
B) An independent-measures t-test is appropriate; its advantage is that it requires fewer assumptions about the normality of the population
C) An independent-measures t-test is appropriate; its advantage is that participants cannot carry over knowledge from the first measurement to the second
D) A repeated-measures t-test is appropriate; its key advantage is that it doubles the sample size by producing two scores per participant, increasing statistical power through n alone
Answer: A
The repeated-measures design uses difference scores (D = X₂ − X₁) which remove individual differences from the error term, reducing variance and increasing the sensitivity of the test. This is its primary statistical advantage over independent-measures designs.
During collective bargaining, a union negotiates wages, benefits, seniority-based promotions, and contract duration simultaneously, making trade-offs across multiple issues to reach a long-term agreement both sides can sustain. This approach is best characterized as:
A) Distributive negotiation, because the union is still competing for limited organizational resources across all four issues
B) Mediation, because a neutral third party would be required to manage negotiations across this many dimensions
C) Integrative negotiation, because the multi-issue, long-term focus allows for trade-offs that produce mutually beneficial outcomes
D) Fact-finding, because surfacing the details of wages and benefits publicly creates pressure for an appropriate resolution
Answer: C
Integrative negotiation is distinguished by its broad, multi-issue, long-term perspective that enables win-win trade-offs. Distributive negotiation focuses narrowly on one issue in a zero-sum frame, which does not describe this scenario.
The Griggs v. Duke Power (1971) Supreme Court decision fundamentally changed personnel selection practices by establishing which principle?
A) Employers must provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities before administering selection tests
B) The 4/5ths rule must be applied to all selection procedures regardless of whether the test was developed internally or by a third party
C) Affirmative action programs are constitutionally permissible when used to correct documented historical inequities in the workforce
D) Employers must demonstrate that selection tests are job-related when those tests produce adverse impact against protected groups
Answer: D
Griggs v. Duke Power established that employment tests producing disparate impact must be shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity — shifting the burden of proof to employers and fundamentally reshaping how selection tools are validated.
Here's a harder one to swap in if you'd like:
Normative vs. Informational Influence A student is unsure how formally to dress for a college orientation, so they look around and copy what other students are wearing. Which type of social influence best explains this behavior?
A) Normative influence, because they want to be liked and accepted
B) Obedience, because they are following an authority figure's expectations
C) Informational influence, because they are using others' behavior as a guide when uncertain
D) Deindividuation, because they want to blend into the crowd
Answer: C
Informational influence occurs when we conform to others' behavior because we don't know how to act and assume they know something we don't. Normative influence (A) is about wanting to fit in socially, not about genuine uncertainty.