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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What tool does Schelling say social scientists use to describe behaviors such as human principles and household activities?
(a) Metaphors.
(b) Math.
(c) Graphic designs.
(d) Computer architecture.

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

3. What ingrained behavior does Schelling say informs the decision where to sit in a theater?
(a) Not to sit in the back.
(b) Not to sit near funny-looking people.
(c) Not to sit next to anyone.
(d) Not to sit in front.

4. What does Schelling say the number of bikes stolen is almost identical to?
(a) One third of the number of bikes bought new.
(b) The number of bikes reported stolen.
(c) The number of bikes that cannot be fixed each year.
(d) The number of bikes not reported stolen.

5. How does the heating system parallel human behavior in Schelling's example?
(a) A trait becomes more and more intense until it expresses itself in heat.
(b) A rising variable alternatively over and under performs.
(c) A vessel carries whatever hot or cold air or water runs through it.
(d) A voice distributes its energy into the environment around it.

6. What does Schelling say the "tipping" critical-mass model first described?
(a) The boom-bust cycle in economics.
(b) Dust being drizzles onto scales.
(c) Political change.
(d) New ethnicities moving into neighborhoods.

7. What does Schelling compare to the process of tracking the circulation of money in an economy?
(a) Musical chairs.
(b) The development and use of language.
(c) Rumors circulating.
(d) Water's movement from the ocean to clouds to rivers to the ocean.

8. How do people affect each other's decisions where to sit in theater?
(a) Theatres fill randomly.
(b) Early arrivals sit in back, then the rest fill from the rear.
(c) Theatres fill from the back-middle to the front and then to the back.
(d) Theatres fill from the middle to the sides and back.

9. What does Schelling say has to be closely attended to, in economic analysis?
(a) Rhetoric of equality.
(b) The invisible hand of the market.
(c) Definition of terms.
(d) Economists' desire for certain outcomes.

10. How does Schelling describe a critical-mass behavior?
(a) Something that can only take place if there is a large audience to watch it.
(b) Something that has to be restarted after a certain interval.
(c) Something that becomes self-sustaining once a certain number of people start to do it.
(d) Something that cannot be stopped once it begins.

11. What does the critical mass provide for the individual?
(a) Confidence that he is right.
(b) Safety in numbers.
(c) Deniability.
(d) A plausible excuse.

12. What does Schelling ultimately say about a decision such as where to sit in a theater?
(a) It is a common decision that people make the same way depending on where they are in the crowd.
(b) It is neither superficial nor thoughtless.
(c) It is neither meaningful nor memorable.
(d) It is not predictable but it nonetheless follows a pattern.

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

14. 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 being involved.
(c) The fear of violent teachers.
(d) The fear of a pop quiz in class.

15. What else does Schelling say social scientists consider in behavior modeling?
(a) Philosophical preferences.
(b) Religious history.
(c) Collective results.
(d) Ethnic conflicts.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Schelling say Hardin based his research on?

2. What does Schelling say people feel in a "bounded-neighborhood" model?

3. What does Schelling say is the key to predicting whether there will be a critical mass?

4. What additional explanation does Schelling offer for seat selection?

5. What does Schelling say individual behaviors have in economic analysis?

(see the answer keys)

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