Psychology: CUET Mock Test - 4 - CUET MCQ

According to Rusbult’s investment model, commitment is crucial for maintaining successful intimate relationships.

This concept is based on several key factors:

• Commitment: A strong sense of dedication to the relationship helps partners navigate challenges together.
• Mutual support: Providing emotional and practical support strengthens the bond between partners.
• Understanding: Effective communication and empathy foster a deeper connection.
• Love: While being in love is important, it is the commitment that sustains the relationship over time.

In summary, the most significant factor in Rusbult's model is the commitment to the relationship, which influences how partners resolve conflicts and grow together.

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a group prioritises consensus over critical evaluation of ideas. This often leads to poor decision-making and can have serious consequences. The tragic case of the Challenger space shuttle launch illustrates this concept well. Here’s how groupthink played a role:

• Pressure to Conform: Team members felt compelled to agree with the majority, suppressing their doubts.
• Overconfidence: The group underestimated the risks associated with launching in cold weather, dismissing engineers’ concerns.
• Isolation from Dissenting Opinions: Critical voices were sidelined, leading to a lack of diverse perspectives on the issue.
• Illusion of Invulnerability: The team believed their previous successes would continue, ignoring potential dangers.

These factors combined to create a dangerous environment where critical thinking was diminished. Ultimately, the decision to launch despite warnings resulted in a catastrophic failure, underscoring the risks associated with groupthink.

According to social identity theory, we derive a large part of our identity and feelings about ourselves from the groups we belong to.

These groups can significantly shape our self-perception and social interactions. Here are some key points to consider:

• Social Groups: Our identity is often influenced by the various groups we identify with, such as family, friends, or cultural communities.
• Belonging: Being part of a group fosters a sense of belonging, which can enhance our self-esteem and well-being.
• Shared Experiences: Groups provide shared values and experiences, further solidifying our identity.
• In-group vs. Out-group: Identification with a group can create distinctions between those we see as part of our group and those outside it.

The stage of development where individuals typically experience conflict over leadership and the group's identity is known as the Storming stage. During this phase, members may face challenges such as:

• Disagreements over roles and responsibilities.
• Struggles to establish authority and decision-making processes.
• Emergence of personalities which may cause tension within the group.
• A need for negotiation and compromise to move forward.

Successfully navigating this stage is crucial for the group's development, as it sets the foundation for stronger collaboration in later stages.

Characteristics that differentiate a group from a mere collection of people include:

• Mutual interdependence: Members rely on one another to achieve shared goals.
• Defined roles and expectations: Each member has specific responsibilities, which help the group function effectively.
• Presence of status differentials: Some members may hold more authority or influence than others, establishing a hierarchy.

These elements collectively contribute to the formation of a cohesive group, distinguishing it from a simple gathering of individuals.

Intergroup contact allows for direct communication and cooperation, which helps to break down stereotypes and reduce prejudice between groups.

Anna's respect for elders comes from observing the behavior of her parents and teachers. This reflects learning through modelling, where individuals imitate others' actions.

Extremity refers to attitudes that are expressed in a very positive or very negative way, indicating the intensity of the attitude.

Schizophrenia is the psychological disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, using bizarre language and inappropriate affect. The alternative answers refer to mental disorders that are not characterized by these symptoms.

Major depressive disorder follows a recurrent course. Although some people have isolated episodes, most experience multiple episodes of depression that may become more severe over time (e.g. Lewinsohn, Zeiss & Duncan, 1989). Mild forms of depression with just a few symptoms rather than full-blown major depressive disorder can predict the onset of more serious depression later on (e.g. Pine et al., 1999).
Although depression was once thought to be a disorder of adulthood, we now know that it affects people of all ages, including children. The age of onset of major depressive disorder is decreasing, and the rates of major depressive disorder in childhood and adolescence are increasing rapidly. Early onset predicts a worse course of depression over time (e.g. Lewinsohn et al., 1994), so depression in childhood and adolescence is a serious problem that can lead to ongoing difficulties throughout life.

The assertion (A) is true, as the  biological factors, including neurotransmitter imbalances, can cause psychological disorders. However, the reason (R) is false because low serotonin activity leads to depression, not schizophrenia, which is associated with excess dopamine activity.

Anorexia nervosa involves a distorted body image, leading to refusal to eat, compulsive exercise, and significant weight loss.

The correct answer is All of these

Key Points

• Acculturation refers to cultural and psychological changes resulting from contact with other cultures.
• Contact may be direct (e.g. when one moves and settles in a new culture) or indirect (e.g. through media or other means).
• It may be voluntary (e.g. when one goes abroad for higher studies, training, job, or trade) or involuntary (e.g. through colonial experience, invasion, political refuge).

The following four acculturative strategies have been derived:

• Integration: It refers to an attitude in which there is an interest in both, maintaining one’s original culture and identity while staying in daily interaction with other cultural groups.
• Assimilation: It refers to an attitude, in which people do not wish to maintain their cultural identity, and they move to become an integral part of the other culture.
• Separation: It refers to an attitude in which people seem to place a value on holding on to their original culture, and wish to avoid interaction with other cultural groups.
• Marginalization: It refers to an attitude in which there is a little possibility or interest or interest in one’s cultural maintenance and little interest in having relations with other cultural groups.

The skills that are needed for a specific job are also known as a skill set. When hiring, employers will usually include the skill set required to be able to perform the job in the job posting. The applicants who most closely match the required skills will have the best chance of getting selected for a job interview.

Social facilitation is a social phenomena in which being in the presence of others improves individual task performance. That is, people do better on tasks when they are with other people rather than when they are doing the task alone.

The correct answer is Impression formation.
Key Points:

• Impression formation is the process of integrating information about a person to form a lasting cognitive judgment or thought about them.
• It involves combining cues like behavior, appearance, and context to create a mental image of an individual.

More formally, cohesiveness denotes the strength of all ties that link individuals to a group. These ties can be social or task oriented in nature. Specifically, a group that is tied together by mutual friendship, caring, or personal liking is displaying social cohesiveness.

The correct answer is Attitudes.

Key Points:
Attitudes are mental states involving evaluations (positive, negative, or neutral) of an "attitude object" (e.g., a person, idea, or thing).
Example: Liking a particular food reflects a positive attitude toward it.

Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance has been widely recognized for its important and influential concepts in areas of motivation and social psychology.

Systematic desensitisation, or graduated exposure therapy, is a behaviour therapy developed by the psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe. It is used when a phobia or anxiety disorder is maintained by classical conditioning. It shares the same elements of both cognitive-behavioural therapy and applied behaviour analysis.

Aversion therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being subjected to some form of discomfort.’

Cognition refers to mental activity including thinking, remembering, learning and using language. When we apply a cognitive approach to learning and teaching, we focus on the understanding of information and concepts.

Logotherapy was developed by neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl and is based on the premise that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life. Frankl describes it as "the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy" along with Freud's psychoanalysis and Adler's individual psychology.

In psychology, frustration is a common emotional response to opposition, related to anger, annoyance and disappointment. Frustration arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfilment of an individual's will or goal and is likely to increase when a will or goal is denied or blocked.

The correct answer is Alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
Key Points:

• The general adaptation syndrome (GAS), proposed by Hans Selye, describes the body’s response to stress in three stages:
  • Alarm: The body reacts to a stressor with a "fight-or-flight" response, mobilizing resources.
  • Resistance: The body adapts to the stressor, maintaining heightened alertness, but resources begin to deplete.
  • Exhaustion: Prolonged stress depletes physical and mental resources, leading to fatigue or illness.

The correct answer is Both [a] and [b].
Key Points:

• Stressors are events or situations that trigger stress.
• Frustration (e.g., blocked goals) and conflict (e.g., competing demands) are common types of major stressors.
• Example: Failing an exam (frustration) or choosing between two job offers (conflict) can induce stress.

The correct answer is Stress response.
Key Points:

The stress response is the body’s immediate reaction to external stressors (e.g., noise, crowding, or a bad relationship).

It involves physiological changes like increased heart rate or adrenaline release, often described as the "fight-or-flight" response.

Strain, by contrast, refers to the long-term effects of sustained stress.

The concept of cognitive appraisal was advanced in 1966 by psychologist Richard Lazarus in the book Psychological Stress and Coping Process. According to this theory, stress is perceived as the imbalance between the demands placed on the individual and the individual's resources to cope.

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a discipline that has evolved in the last 40 years to study the relationship between immunity, the endocrine system, and the central and peripheral nervous systems.

A coping style is a characteristic manner of responding to stressful situations. There are three basic coping styles: task-oriented coping, emotion-oriented coping, and avoidance-oriented coping.