This question has been regraded.

Which situation is most likely to favor an individual's engagement in anti-social behaviors?

*post test: everyone gets credit for this question since the answer choices do not clearly indicate which situation is the most competitive, and thus the most likely to favor anti-social behaviors.

Question

This question has been regraded.

Which situation is most likely to favor an individual's engagement in anti-social behaviors?

*post test:  everyone gets credit for this question since the answer choices do not clearly indicate which situation is the most competitive, and thus the most likely to favor anti-social behaviors.

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

This item presents a scenario-based question about when anti-social behaviors might be most likely to occur, but the answer options are not provided in the data. Given the single answer text that is supplied, we can still reason about the principle behind anti-social behavior in relation to resource competition.

Option presented: 'A limit on the amount of food people can purchase at the store.' This situation introduces scarcity and regulatory rationing, which are classic conditions that can heighten competition among individuals and groups. When resources are restricted, people may feel more endangered or justified in pursuing their own short-term gains, potentially leading to anti-social or rule-breaking behaviors such as hoarding, cutting in line, or self-serving actions to secure belongings. From a social-psychological perspective, scarcity can increase perceived threat and reduce prosocial tendencies, thereby elevating the likelihood of anti-social actions as a rationalized strategy.

In contrast, if other options (not shown) included scenarios like abundant resources, highly cooperative environments, or strong social norms with strict enforcement, those would typically reduce anti-social impulses. For example, ample resources with robust communal norms and effective enforcement tend to promote prosocial behavior and cooperation rather than rule-breaking.

Regarding the formatting note that the post-test credits everyone because the choices don’t clearly indicate the most competitive situation: conceptually, the core idea remains that competition and scarcity are key drivers of anti-social responses. When options are ambiguous or all equally neutral, instructional design would benefit from clarifying the relative competitiveness or threat level of each scenario to guide students toward the intended correct reasoning.

If you had access to additional options, you could compare them along axes such as resource availability (scarce vs. abundant), perceived fairness of distribution (equal vs. biased), social norms (strict vs. lax), and enforcement strength (high vs. low). Those dimensions typically map onto levels of anti-social versus cooperative behavior in social psychology literature.

In sum, given the supplied option, the rationale is that limiting food purchases creates scarcity-driven pressure that can elevate anti-social behaviors, whereas options with more abundance or stronger normative controls would likely suppress such behaviors. The absence of other choices prevents a definitive ranking across all possibilities, but the provided option aligns with established expectations about scarcity and social conduct.

PSYC 250 Spring 2025 Exam #1

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