Instructor Resource
Thomas/Peterson, Cross-Cultural Management, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Test Bank
Chapter 4: How Culture Works: Fundamentals of Cross–Cultural
Interaction
Multiple Choice
1. ______ explains how we develop mental representations and how our mental representations
influence the way we process information about people and social events.
A. Schemas
B. Social cognition
C. Complexity
D. Type 1
2. Mental representations are called ______ when they define a category or scripts when they contain a
behavioral sequence.
A. schemas
B. intercultural situations
C. Type 2
D. behavioral sequences
3. ______ are derived from our past experiences and are simple representations of the complex
concepts that they represent.
A. Schemas
B. Behavioral sequences
C. Type 1
D. Intercultural situations
4. ______ help us reduce the complexity of our environment to a manageable number of categories.
A. Correlations
B. Mental representations
C. Behavioral sequences
Instructor Resource
Thomas/Peterson, Cross-Cultural Management, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
D. Schemas
5. ______ cognition is often referred to as Type 1 and Type 2 cognition which have implications for our
intercultural relationships.
A. Complexity
B. Type 2
C. Social
D. Schema
6. ______ social cognition happens spontaneously with little or no conscious thought.
A. intercultural
B. mental
C. Type 2
D. Type 1
7. ______ social cognition is not automatic and requires conscious thought.
A. Type 2
B. Intercultural
C. Schema
D. Mental
8. Robert went to his weekly meeting where business was conducted the same way it is at all weekly
meetings. Everyone behaved as Robert expected and he was able to react to their behaviors with ease.
In this situation, Robert was able to base his behavior on ______ social cognition.
A. Type 2
B. Type 1
C. Behavioral
D. Schema
9. Our capacity for engaging in ______ social cognition is very limited and tiring.
A. intercultural
B. Type 2
C. Type 1
D. complexity
10. James just arrived in a new country and is finding himself placed unfamiliar situations. He feels
distracted as he tries to pay attention things that are happening around him. It is likely that James is
relying on ______ cognition.
A. complexity
B. schemas
C. Type 1
D. Type 2
11. ______ cognition requires effortful thinking which makes ordinary life in an unfamiliar culture more
challenging.
A. Type 1
B. Complexity
C. Type 2
D. Behavioral
12. Avery has been living in Venezuela for 6 months. His cultural expertise has developed and he is
beginning to interact in appropriate ways with less cognitive effort. In other words, Avery has begun to
use more ______ social cognition.
A. simple
B. Type 2
C. Type 1
D. complexity
13. The ______ is the inner or private self that consists of thoughts and feelings that cannot be directly
known by others.
Instructor Resource
Thomas/Peterson, Cross-Cultural Management, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
A. self-schema
B. cross-cultural interaction
C. intercultural interaction
D. social identity
14. The characteristics of the ______ include personally significant personality traits like competent,
attractive, irritable, or conscientious.
A. intercultural interaction
B. self-schema
C. social identity
D. cross-cultural interaction
15. ______ include memories associated with personal experiences that people see as having shaped
who they are as individuals.
A. Social identity
B. Cross-cultural interaction
C. Self-schemas
D. Intercultural interaction
16. A (n) ______ self-schema is typical in Western cultures in which people are expected to think and act
as autonomous individuals with unique attributes.
A. independent
B. intercultural interaction
C. interdependent
D. cross-cultural interaction
17. In people with a ______ self-schema, individuality is less differentiated and more connected to a
particular group of other people.
A. cross-cultural interaction
B. interdependent
C. independent
Instructor Resource
Thomas/Peterson, Cross-Cultural Management, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
D. intercultural interaction
18. ______ is the total of the social categories that people use to describe themselves.
A. Scripts
B. Societal sanctions
C. Social identity
D. Internalization
19. ______ are largely unconscious mental representations that shape how we think and act in a given
situation.
A. Social identity
B. Selective avoidances
C. Scripts
D. Internalization
20. Unlike schemas, ______ are concerned with how a sequence of events will unfold and how we can
adjust our actions appropriately.
A. work group interactions
B. scripts
C. selective avoidances
D. societal sanctions
21. Julie joined a meeting of colleagues in her new department. Though she had never been in a
meeting in her new department, she used her extensive experience with meetings from her previous
department to guide her behavior. In other words, Julie relied on a (n) ______ to guide her behavior in
the new situation.
A. societal sanction
B. internalization
C. script
D. work group interaction
22. When people from one culture behave in ways that are surprising to people from another culture in
a business meeting, all those attending the meeting need to make thoughtful (______ cognition) rather
than spontaneous adjustments.
A. work group interactions
B. Type 2
C. Scripts
D. internalization
23. ______ are acceptable standards of behavior that are shared by members of our cultural group.
A. Work group interactions
B. Scripts
C. Societal sanctions
D. Cultural norms
24. At Acme Organization, meetings start on time and everyone is expected to arrive early. This
unspoken rule about meetings represents a (n) ______ of the organization.
A. societal sanction
B. norm
C. script
D. work group interaction
25. Social groups enforce norms if and when they perform any of the following functions EXCEPT:
A. facilitate the group’s demise
B. increase the predictability of group member’s behavior
C. reduce embarrassment for group members
D. express the central values of the group
26. ______ is the process by which individuals interpret the messages received from their senses and
thereby give meaning to their environment.
Instructor Resource
Thomas/Peterson, Cross-Cultural Management, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
A. Avoidance
B. Perception
C. Interpersonal attraction
D. Internalization
27. What is perceived and what is screened out are influenced by all of the following EXCEPT:
A. the mindset of the perceived
B. the characteristics of the perceiver
C. the situation
D. the person or object being perceived
28. A (n) ______ has goals that focus attention on information that will help meet those goals.
A. internalize
B. learner
C. perceiver
D. interactor
29. When confronted with information contrary to our existing views, we sometime use ______ to “tune
it out” by diverting our attention elsewhere.
A. internalization
B. cognition
C. scripts
D. selective avoidance
30. Perceptions of ______ lead to interpersonal attraction because it validates our view of the world and
the way it should be.
A. similarity
B. interactions
C. cross-cultural interactions
D. internalization
31. When someone agrees with us, ______ validates our view and provides evidence that we are
correct.
A. cross-cultural interactions
B. similarity
C. consensual validation
D. internalization
32. ______ of a cultural group are based on simplifying the plethora of information about individuals
and societies that is provided by our environment.
A. Resistance
B. Complexity
C. Stereotypic expectations
D. Familiarity
33. ______ theory suggests that within every complex society certain groups are dominant over others
and enjoy a disproportionate amount of privilege.
A. National cultures
B. Social dominance
C. Resistance
D. Inclusive
34. ______ helps us to understand and react to our environment by linking the observation of an event
to its causes—either internal or external.
A. attribution
B. resistance
C. inclusion
D. stereotypes
35. ______ occurs when we are more likely to attribute desirable behaviors by members of our in-group
to internal causes but more likely to attribute desirable behaviors of out-group members to transient
external causes.
A. Resistance
B. Attribution error
C. Stereotypes
D. Interaction
36. Gabriel is watching two teams perform a task. He perceives that members of his team are
performing well due to their ability while perceiving that the other team is performing well due to luck.
It is likely that Gabriel is making a (n) ______ error.
A. resistance
B. social dominance
C. attribution
D. stereotype
37. ______ tend to focus on their in-group rather than comparing themselves with out-groups.
A. Individualists
B. Collectivists
C. Nationalists
D. Monoculturalists
38. ______ tend to make many comparisons between in-group and out-group performance and also
make a distinction between groups with which they do and do not compare themselves.
A. collectivists
B. behaviorists
C. Individualists
D. nationalist
39. People with ______ self-schemas will be motivated to express internal needs, rights, and the
capacity to withstand undue social pressure.
A. self-enhancement
B. independent
C. interdependent
D. self-verification
40. Those with ______ self-schemas will be motivated to be receptive to others, to adjust to their needs,
and to restrain their inner needs or desires.
A. interdependent
B. motivational
C. independent
D. self-enhancement
41. ______ occurs when one says or acts one way in public but feels quite differently in private.
A. Self-enhancement
B. Dissonance
C. Motivation
D. Self-verification
42. For those with ______ selves, feeling good about oneself means being unique and expressing one’s
inner attributes.
A. independent
B. self- enhancement
C. interdependent
D. motivational
43. For those with a(n) ______ self, a positive self-image is derived from belonging, fitting in, occupying
one’s proper place, engaging in appropriate action, and maintaining harmony.
A. interdependent
B. motivational
C. self-verification
Instructor Resource
Thomas/Peterson, Cross-Cultural Management, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
D. independent
True or False
1. Social cognition explains how we develop mental representations and how our mental
representations influence the way we process information about people and social events.
2. The image that the word fish brings to mind is part of a mental representation called a script.
3. We create a schema for people of a nationality by assigning a set of characteristics to a particular
national culture label.
4. Schemas are largely unconscious mental representations that shape how we think and act in a given
situation.
5. Norms can be more important predictors of behavior in collectivist than in individualist cultures.
6. What is perceived and what is screened out are influenced by the characteristics of the perceiver, the
person (or object) being perceived, and the situation.
7. We are attracted to people whom we perceive to be similar to us because this validates our view of
the world.
8. Stereotypic expectations of a cultural group are a result of the natural cognitive process of social
categorization.
9. Stereotypic expectations of others tend to become self-perpetuating.
12. Social dominance theory suggests that within every complex society certain groups are dominant
over others and enjoy a disproportionate amount of privilege.
13. Scripts help us to understand and react to our environment by linking the observation of an event to
its causes.
15. We are more likely to attribute desirable behaviors by members of our in-group to internal causes
but more likely to attribute desirable behaviors of out-group members to transient external causes.
17. If a business situation is familiar to us, it may evoke a preexisting behavioral sequence, a script (Type
1 cognition).
19. Social norms are found to be a more important determinant of behavior for people from
individualistic than from collectivistic societies.
Completion (Fill in the Blank)
1. Social cognition has implications for our intercultural relationships. ______ social cognition happens
spontaneously with little or no conscious thought while ______ social cognition is not automatic and
requires conscious thought.
2. The inner or private self that consists of thoughts and feelings that cannot be directly known by
others is the ______. It includes memories associated with personal experiences that people see as
having shaped who they are as individuals.
3. When we are more likely to attribute desirable behaviors by members of our in-group to internal
causes but more likely to attribute desirable behaviors of out-group members to transient external
causes we are committing ______ error.
4. As a manager, Mary is motivated to express herself in meetings and she is able to stop people
pressurizing her into doing things she does not want to do. It is likely that Mary has a(n) ______ self-
schema.
5. As a manager, George is flexible and adjusts to the needs of those around him even if those needs
conflict with his own. It is likely that George has a(n) ______ self-schema.
Instructor Resource
Thomas/Peterson, Cross-Cultural Management, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Essay
1. Describe social cognition and how its main components are affected by culture.
Ans: Social cognition explains how we develop mental representations and how our mental
representations influence the way we process information about people and social events. Stored in
2. How do culturally stereotypic expectations affect other aspects of thought and behavior?
3. When people draw conclusions, how do the attribution differences associated with culture affect the
process?
Ans: Attribution helps us to understand and react to our environment by linking the observation of an
event to its causes. The search for and assignment of cause for behavior seems to be a mental process
4. There are five factors that influence the extent to which we categorize others as a member of our
group or not. Discuss three of the factors and how they work.
Ans:
• Certain category indicators, such as race and gender, may be universal indicators of group
5. Describe how cultural differences in self-concept are important to motivation?
Ans: Culture guides choices by giving meaning and ascribing value to motivational variables. Cultural
values influence an individual’s needs and prescribe the behavior required to satisfy those needs. The
distinction between independent and interdependent self-schemas has several motivational