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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What fear does Schelling say informs the behavior that is ingrained in people's decisions where to sit in a theater?
(a) The fear of being called on stage.
(b) The fear of violent teachers.
(c) The fear of a pop quiz in class.
(d) The fear of being involved.

2. What does Schelling say is an atomic pile is an example of?
(a) A paradoxical process.
(b) A critical-mass model.
(c) A lemon model.
(d) A half-life model.

3. Why can the Golden Gate Bridge charge a double toll for traffic in one direction without fear of being unfair?
(a) Because even one-way drivers will return one day.
(b) Because tolls are designed to repair social inequality.
(c) Because the traffic reverses direction at the end of every day.
(d) Because people coming south have more money than people in the city.

4. What does Schelling say about a bike owner buying a bike for $90 and selling it for $150?
(a) He says that the owner still has to pay overhead, so the exchange is equal.
(b) He says that the exchange replaces a real bicycle with abstract money.
(c) He says that the exchange is consistent with laws of capitalism.
(d) He says that the owner gains a profit of $60.

5. What name does Schelling give to the effect people have on each other's behavior?
(a) Contingent behavior.
(b) Anxiety of influence.
(c) Emotional intelligence.
(d) Archetypal intelligence.

6. How does Schelling say the success of society is evaluated?
(a) In the welfare of the least successful individuals.
(b) In the health and success of individuals.
(c) In the success of the leaders and superior individuals.
(d) On the aggregate, not the individual level.

7. What does Schelling say social conventions mediate between?
(a) Desire and restraint.
(b) Order and chaos.
(c) Individual interest and collective purpose.
(d) Violence and the threat of punishment.

8. What is the first thing Schelling says a social behavior model can be?
(a) A precise statement of a set of relationships.
(b) A form of accounting.
(c) A flow chart.
(d) A hypothetical explanation of individual's motives.

9. What does Schelling say constrains the social scientist's model for race segregation?
(a) Quantitative analysis.
(b) Qualitative analysis.
(c) Political analysis.
(d) Historical analysis.

10. What does Schelling say about Christmas cards?
(a) Sometimes they are sent out of guilt.
(b) They make a map of social relations.
(c) There is generally a balance between how many each person receives.
(d) They do not follow any laws of distribution.

11. What does Schelling say is important in economics?
(a) Generalizations.
(b) Natural laws.
(c) Randomness.
(d) Individual behavior.

12. How does Schelling describe the system of skiers going up a lift and coming down the trails?
(a) As a transformative system.
(b) As a static system.
(c) As an open system.
(d) As a closed system.

13. What does Schelling say race discrimination can lead to?
(a) Economic discrimination.
(b) Violence.
(c) Race hatred.
(d) Harmful segregation.

14. How does Schelling say the Russian's space program affected America's space program?
(a) The Americans answered the Russians feat for feat.
(b) There was a short lag before America's investment caught up with and surpassed the Russians'.
(c) The Americans were determined not to be outdone from the beginning.
(d) The Russians were determined to win superiority, but victory cost more than they could afford.

15. How does Schelling describe a decision such as choosing a seat in a theater?
(a) As a special case that cannot be analyzed using any particular interpretive framework.
(b) As something common and seemingly thoughtless that is nonetheless informed by subliminal motives.
(c) As a commonplace act that manifests the unconscious childhood sexual trauma of the individual.
(d) As a decision that can be predicted by mathematical laws of possibility.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Schelling say social scientists hope to describe by characterizing a system?

2. What does Schelling use his lecture to an audience of 800 people to illustrate?

3. What does Schelling say distinguishes the sociologist from other scientists?

4. What does Schelling say the measles story is an example of?

5. What does Schelling say about economic systems that allow unequal distribution of wealth?

(see the answer keys)

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