"Women are more likely to fall in love than men."
Answer: FALSE
(47.4% of people got this question correct)
Actually, men are more likely to fall in love than women. They are also less likely to break off a pre-marital relationship and have stronger romantic viewpoints on love than their female partners.
Taken from: Dion, K. L. & Dion, K. K. (1984). Psychological individualism and romantic love. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 17-33.
"A good way to get a lazy person in a group to carry their fair share is to ignore them."
Answer: FALSE
(61.3% of people got this question correct)
Ostracism can work as a way to increase hard work, but only if the person is female. Women feel bad when others ignore them, and consequently work harder. Men tend not to express emotions that appear feminine, such as distress. Although both men and women feel distressed when ostracized, men tend to hide this by being even lazier, just to show they are not distressed.
Taken from: Williams, K.D. & Sommer, K.L. (1997). Social ostracism by coworkers: does rejection lead to loafing or compensation? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 693-706.
"When people have new ideas, they look for information that disproves them, because this is the logical way to test them."
Answer: FALSE
(43.5% of people got this question correct)
Human beings often have a confirmation bias. This bias makes us more likely to look for information in support of an idea, and ignore opposite information.
This is a poor strategy because even if you have 100 pieces of evidence in support of a theory, you still only need one piece of evidence against it to disprove the theory.
Taken from: Frey, D. & Schulz-Hardt, S (2001). Confirmation bias in group information seeking and its implications for decision making in administration, business and politics. In F. Butero & G. Mugny (Eds.), Social Influence in Social Reality: Promoting Individual and Cognitive Change (pp 53-73). Ashland, OH: Hogrefe and Huber.
"Being optimistic allows for a smoother recovery after an illness or operation. "
Answer: TRUE
(91.8% of people got this question correct)
Researchers have demonstrated repeatedly that having an optimistic view can speed up recovery, diminish the need for later visits to the hospital, and promotes listening to the doctor. All in all, one can even say that optimism is generally a very healthy trait to have.
Taken from: Scheier, M. F., Matthews, K. A., Owens, J. F., Schulz, R., Bridges, M. W., Magovern, G. J., Sr., & Carver, C. S. (1999). Optimism and rehospitalization following coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Archives of Internal Medicine,159, 829-835.
"Suicide rates increase after suicides have been given attention in the media."
Answer: TRUE
(78.1% of people got this question correct)
Suicide rates do indeed increase after a suicide receives detailed interest in the media.
However, it tends to only occur among similar people. For example, after a young German man jumped in front of a train, the rate of suicides by jumping in front of trains rose dramatically, but this occurred only among other young, German men.
Taken from: Cialdini, R. (2007). The Media: Carriers of Contagious Information. In-Mind Magazine, 4.
"Our ideas become more extreme when we are in a group with others who share similar ideas."
Answer: TRUE
(89.6% of people got this question correct)
When we are in a group, we can develop stronger attitudes about certain issues than when we are alone. This phenomenon is known as group polarization. Conservative people in a group of conservatives become more conservative, risk-seekers become even riskier. This seems to be because there are no dissenting viewpoints, so no one argues against them.
Taken from: Myers, D.G. & Lamm, H. (1976). The group polarization phenomenon. Psychological Bulletin, 83, 602-627.
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