Chapter 36: Quiz

1. "Dark psychology" is: - A) A recognized academic field - B) A marketing label for selling manipulation books/courses — not a real field of psychology - C) A subdivision of clinical psychology - D) Endorsed by the APA

Answer: B. No academic department, journal, or research program exists under this name.

2. Systematic reviews of NLP find: - A) Strong evidence for all NLP claims - B) No evidence for NLP's specific claims — eye movement patterns, representational systems, and anchoring are all unsupported - C) Mixed evidence - D) That NLP is the most effective therapy

Answer: B. Witkowski (2010) and Sturt et al. (2012) found no support for NLP's claims.

3. The 1957 "Eat Popcorn" subliminal advertising study was: - A) Replicated multiple times - B) Fabricated — James Vicary admitted he made up the data - C) The foundation of modern advertising - D) Banned by the government because it worked too well

Answer: B. The study that launched subliminal advertising fears was a hoax.

4. Hypnosis is: - A) Mind control - B) A real state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility — but not mind control; you can't be hypnotized against your will or values - C) Fake - D) Only used for entertainment

Answer: B. Hypnosis is real but not what pop culture claims. It has legitimate clinical applications.

5. Cialdini's influence principles (reciprocity, social proof, etc.) are: - A) Pseudoscience like NLP - B) Well-replicated social psychology findings that explain normal social influence — not "mind control" but genuine insights into how persuasion works - C) Only applicable to sales - D) Not supported by research

Answer: B. Cialdini's principles are among the most well-replicated and practically useful findings in social psychology.

6. NLP's "eye movement" model (looking up-left = recall, up-right = lying) is: - A) Supported by multiple studies - B) Debunked — no reliable association between eye movement direction and truthfulness (Wiseman et al., 2012) - C) Used by police worldwide - D) Only accurate for right-handed people

Answer: B. The NLP eye-movement model has no empirical support.

7. The chapter's key distinction is between: - A) Good manipulation and bad manipulation - B) Real social influence research (Cialdini — well-supported) and pseudoscientific manipulation claims (NLP, dark psychology — unsupported) - C) Old psychology and new psychology - D) Academic and popular psychology

Answer: B. Legitimate influence research provides genuine insights; NLP and dark psychology are pseudoscience dressed up as secret knowledge.