One of the MPPs from your province is supporting legislaiton that would impose heavy fines on aggressive drivers who run red lights. One of your classmates thinks this is a good idea. “The textbook taught us a lot about punishment and reward. It’s simple. If we punish aggressive driving, its frequency will decline.” Is your classmate right? Might the new law backfire? Might another policy be more effective in promoting safe driving?

One of your friends is outgoing, funny, and a star athlete on the women’s lacrosse team. She has started to date a man who is introverted and prefers playing computer games to attending parties. You tease her about the contrast in personalities, and she replies, “Well, opposites attract.” Is she right?

In a late 2013 article in the Toronto Star, Donna Yawching (who is black) recounts the following story: After parking curbside in downtown Toronto, she was approached by a (white) woman who owned the car in front. The woman asked Yawchingto move her car back so that she could get out more easily. Yawching replied “Oh, I just wanted to leave enough space for someone else to park.” After checking to make sure that the woman had not been squeezed in on either side, she added “You can get out easily,” and hurried off. When she returned to the car, she found a note on the windshield: “Thanks bitch. You really further your stereotype.” Your friend reads this story and says “That’s terrible, but surely it’s an isolated incident. Sure, there are still a few racist people out there, but if you do surveys and ask people what they think about people of other races, they say they’re fine with them.” What would you tell your friend?

One of your friends has a very unique fashion sense and always wears clothes that are just a little bit different from what everyone else is wearing, for example, a neon orange track suit with a battered fedora. Most of the time, you appreciate your friend for his quirky personality. One day he tells you that he chooses his clothes carefully to make a fashion statement. “Most people follow the crowd,” he announces. “I don’t. I’m an individual, and I make my own choices, without influence from anyone else.” Could he be right? What examples might you provide for or against your friend’s claim?

A classmate is shaken after learning about the Milgram (1963) study, in which participants were willing to obey orders to administer painful electric shocks to another person, even after he begged them to stop. Worse, the Burger (2009) study shows that it was not just participants “back then” who were capable of this behaviour: Modern participants do the same thing. “Some people are just sheep!” she says. “I know that you and I wouldn’t behave like that.” Is she right? What evidence would you give her to support or oppose her claim?

When your family gathers for a summer barbeque, your cousin Wendy brings her fiancée, Amanda. It is the first time Amanda has met the whole family, and she seems nervous. She talks too much, laughs too loud, and rubs everyone the wrong way. Later, when you are alone with your mother, she rolls her eyes. “It’s hard to imagine Wendy wanting to spend the rest of her life married to someone that annoying.” You decide to be more generous, because you think your mother might have fallen prey to the correspondence bias. How could you change your mother’s mind?