The Textbook Describes a Study That Used the Minimal Group

question 19

Multiple Choice

The textbook describes a study that used the minimal group paradigm to divide participants into two groups.In this study, participants filled out an attitude questionnaire twice-once to record their own attitudes and once to record how they thought another ingroup or outgroup member might respond.Results showed that participants tended to

• A) assume that their beliefs were more similar to those of fellow ingroup members than to those of outgroup members.
• B) estimate ingroup members' beliefs more accurately than outgroup members' beliefs.
• C) overestimate variability in ingroup attitudes but to underestimate variability in outgroup attitudes.
• D) assume that ingroup members held more socially desirable beliefs than outgroup members.

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Definitions:

Bureaucratic Ritualism

Involves bureaucrats becoming so preoccupied with rules and regulations that they make it difficult for the organization to fulfill its goals.

Dehumanization

Occurs when bureaucracies treat clients as standard cases and personnel as cogs in a giant machine. This treatment frustrates clients and lowers worker morale.

Bureaucratic Ritualism

A phenomenon within bureaucracies characterized by a strict adherence to rules and procedures to the extent that the original objectives of the organization are undermined or lost.

Group Inequalities

Disparities between different social groups in access to resources, opportunities, and rights, often rooted in historical, economic, or social factors.