AP Psychology 4.3: Social Situations and Groups
Practice AP Psychology 4.3 questions on social norms, persuasion, conformity, group influence, social facilitation, the bystander effect, and helping.
- Syllabus
- Effective Fall 2025
- Course
- AP Psychology
Exam points
- Explain how attitudes, stereotypes and implicit associations influence social judgments and behavior.
- Apply persuasion, cognitive dissonance and social influence concepts to explain attitude change.
- Analyze prejudice, discrimination and conformity using evidence from social psychological research.
Covered syllabus points
4.3 Psychology of Social Situations question 1
[Maximum number: 3]
Rayce is exploring the idea of using online videos to sell his line of custom-made skateboards. While his friend
is making a video of him performing tricks at a local skate park, a large crowd forms to watch. Each time
Rayce successfully completes a trick, the crowd loudly applauds and yells, showing their approval.
Question (a)
(a)
Part A
Explain how each of the following relates to Rayce's skateboarding while the crowd is watching him.
- Vestibular sense
- Social facilitation
[ 1 ]
Question (i)
(i)
Social facilitation
[ 1 ]
response must indicate that Rayce will perform his tricks better if there is an
audience present.
OR
The response must indicate Rayce will perform less well at a certain trick if he is not very
good at that trick if an audience is present.
Acceptable explanations include:
- After the crowd gathers, his jumps are higher, and his turns are tighter because of
the crowd's presence.
- Because he is doing a fairly new trick the presence of a crowd impedes his
performance.
Unacceptable explanations include:
- Rayce is very social, so he enjoys performing in front of the crowd.
Question (b)
(b)
Part B
Later, Rayce puts the video of himself online, complete with bright graphics and fast-tempo music. He
quickly gains new customers for his business by allowing people to try his skateboard free for an hour.
Explain how each of the following relates to the effectiveness of this sales campaign.
- Divergent thinking
- Peripheral route to persuasion
- Reciprocity norm
[ 2 ]
Question (i)
(i)
Peripheral route to persuasion
[ 1 ]
response must indicate the campaign used attention-grabbing elements.
Acceptable explanations include:
- Rayce uses graphics and music in his video to persuade people to buy his
skateboards.
- Customers are persuaded to buy the boards by the cool soundtrack in the video.
Unacceptable explanations include:
Responses that refer to central route to persuasion or specific information (e.g., facts,
statistics, logic, details) about the skateboard.
- Rayce informs people about a study that was conducted that showed that his
skateboards allow skaters to jump three inches (on average) higher than they
normally do when performing an Ollie.
Question (ii)
(ii)
Reciprocity norm
[ 1 ]
response must indicate that because potential customers are getting something
from Rayce (e.g., one-hour free trial, a sticker, cool hat), they feel obliged to return the
favor by making a purchase or promoting the product.
Acceptable explanations include:
- Because Rayce allowed them to try the skateboard for free, customers returned
the favor by buying a skateboard.
Unacceptable explanations include:
Responses that do not clearly refer to how the customer reciprocated.
- Rayce was nice and gave customers one free hour with the skateboard, so they
reciprocated.
Responses that refer to motivation or modeling.
- People saw Rayce do cool tricks in the video and wanted to do cool tricks like him.
4.3 Psychology of Social Situations question 2
[Maximum number: 2]
A survey was conducted to determine the state of the physical and psychological health of high school students.
Part B
Some of the survey questions related to risky behaviors. The results indicated that 90 percent of high school
students' risky behaviors were influenced by social factors.
Explain how each of the following may contribute to an increase in risky behaviors.
- Deindividuation
- Normative social influence
Point 4
The response must include that the presence of other people diminishes one's sense of self-awareness OR
increases feelings of anonymity OR diminishes one's sense of individual responsibility or inhibition. This
increases one's engagement in risky behavior.
- Score: "A person feels anonymous in large groups, so they do irresponsible things."
- Score: "Drew is at a concert with 100,000 other people, so he loses his sense of self-awareness and tosses
his empty soda can on the field instead of throwing it in the recycle bin like he normally would do."
- Do NOT score other group-related phenomena such as groupthink, group polarization, social facilitation,
social loafing, bystander effect.
Point 5
The response must indicate that a person engages in risky behavior in order to fit in/gain social approval or avoid
social disapproval.
- Score: "People might do risky things because they think it will make them look cool in the eyes of
others."
- Score: "Susie has never stolen anything, but when she is shopping with friends, she sees them
shoplifting, so she steals to fit in with her classmates."
- Do NOT score references to informational social influence or simply learning by observation or
conformity.
Note: A response can use descriptions of fitting in, such as belonging.
Note: Using "normal" alone is not enough to indicate social approval. If a response uses the word "normal," it
must also clearly describe social approval in the eyes of others.
Part C
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