Deck 3: Privilege, Social Construction, Attribution, and Fairness

Question 1

Privilege is _______ to the one who has it but _______ to others?

A) innate; not
B) invisible; obvious
C) irrelevant; important
D) obvious; invisible

Answer 1

B

Question 2

How should a situation of social inequality be framed to create guilt in members of a dominant group?

A) individual disadvantages
B) other-group disadvantages
C) own-group privilege
D) merit and effort

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The belief that one deserves the opportunities he or she is given is calle?

A) entitlement
B) the "Millennial" attitude
C) social justice
D) reverse discrimination

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The belief that good things come to others based solely on their efforts and talents is called ?

A) justice
B) entitlement
C) biased attributions
D) meritocracy

Question 5

An opportunity is given to a minority member that the majority group feels they deserved instead. Which is the dominant group most likely to experience?

A) perceptions of the fundamental attribution error
B) feelings of poor interactional justice
C) feelings of reverse discrimination
D) a sense of social construction

Question 6

Which of the following is most consistent with belief in a meritocracy?

A) Systems focusing on effort and talent are unfair.
B) Poor people are poor because they are not working hard enough.
C) Whites are afforded more opportunities because they are more privileged than others.
D) Minorities get higher positions because of social inequalities.

Question 7

Which statement best characterizes an institutional "ism?" It

A) primarily affects individuals rather than groups.
B) affects businesses and organizations but not specific individuals.
C) can be changed easily.
D) is often a culture-wide issue that favors the dominant group.

Question 8

How can institutional "isms" occur in work organizations?

A) Policies and procedures
B) Norms and customs
C) Governing structures
D) All of the above

Question 9

___________ states that we specifically create our understanding of reality and give meaning to the world as we encounter it?

A) constructivism
B) naturalism
C) rationalism
D) creationism

Question 10

Gergen (1985) discussed assumptions underlying constructionist thought. Which of the following is one of those assumptions?

A) Our knowledge of the world arises from systematic study of reality.
B) Individuals with a constructionist perspective tend to be more optimistic about social change.
C) Persistent interpretations are those successfully supported and communicated socially.
D) Social construction results from social categorization of individuals into groups.

Question 11

Which of the following is a social construct?

A) sex
B) age
C) gender
D) weight

Question 12

Sex refers to _______ but gender refers to _________ ?

A) nature; nurture
B) the category associated with biological characteristics; the social understanding of male and female
C) the social understanding of male and female; the category associated with biological characteristics
D) nurture; nature

Question 13

What does Phinney (1996) believe is the actual use of the concept of race?

A) categorization of a person based on skin color
B) categorization of a person based on social and physical characteristics
C) categorization of a person based on genetic makeup
D) categorization of a person based on others' responses to them and the implications of those responses

Question 14

What does the one-drop rule (or rule of hypodescent) say?

A) Mixed-race people are assigned to the race considered higher on the social hierarchy.
B) Mixed-race people can be considered as the race of their choosing regardless of the social hierarchy.
C) Mixed-race people are assigned to the race considered lower on the social hierarchy.
D) Mixed-race people are an entirely separate racial category on the social hierarchy.

Question 15

Phinney (1996) says there are three central aspects of ethnicity related to its psychological significance. Which of the following is NOT one of those aspects?

A) collection of attitudes, behaviors, and cultural values that characterize ethnic groups
B) sense of a shared history of conflict
C) sense of shared ethnic identity
D) consequences of being in the ethnic group

Question 16

What are two general types of attributions?

A) dispositional and situational
B) static and dynamic
C) social and personal
D) cognitive and emotional

Question 17

In the fundamental attribution error, we over-attribute others' behavior to _____ factors?

A) cognitive
B) motivational
C) external
D) internal

Question 18

You notice that a subordinate's performance is not up to standard. You conclude that he does not have relevant skill or knowledge. This illustrates

A) an external attribution.
B) the fundamental attribution error.
C) the operation of Equity Theory.
D) the process of social construction.

Question 19

You failed a recent exam. You think back to the exam day and remember that you were distracted by the person sitting next to you coughing the entire time, but you also know you did not study as much as you should have. If you are acting to preserve your self-esteem, to what would you be more likely to attribute your failure?

A) the coughing classmate
B) your inadequate studying
C) your lack of knowledge
D) both A and B

Question 20

According to Equity Theory (Adams, 1965), an individual judges the fairness of a situation by?

A) comparing the outcomes to self to outcomes of a relevant other.
B) subtracting inputs from outcomes and comparing the results of self to a relevant other.
C) comparing ratio of inputs to outcomes of self to that of a relevant other.
D) comparing to one's previous outcomes.

Question 21

Which type of justice refers to the general outcomes of a decision?

A) procedural justice
B) interactional justice
C) distributive justice
D) social justice

Question 22

An employee is unhappy with his performance evaluation because he believes his supervisor did not consider enough information, such as the fact that the office is short-handed. This illustrates the operation of

A) distributive justice.
B) interactional justice.
C) procedural justice.
D) none of these.

Question 23

What are the three main types of justice or fairness?

A) procedural, distributive, and interactional
B) individual, social, and organizational
C) intended, perceived, and actual
D) input, output, and process

Question 24

Explain the concept of privilege and give an example of how it applies in your life.

Question 25

How would you explain the idea of privilege to a co-worker or friend? How would you show them how it could affect their judgments about others?

Question 26

Have ideas of meritocracy affected the academic or social lives of you or someone you know? Give an example of how this concept applies.

Question 27

Distinguish institutional racism/sexism from individual racism/sexism.

Question 28

Why is it important for diversity professionals to understand the concepts of institutional racism and sexism?

Question 29

In this text, how are the terms "sex" and "gender" distinguished? How are they different? How does this illustrate the process of social construction?

Question 30

What are the meanings of "race" in everyday language, and in social and biological science?

Question 31

Define the term "hypodescent" and show how it exemplifies the social construction process.

Question 32

How does ethnicity differ from race? What are three aspects of ethnicity?

Question 33

Are quotas good or bad? Justify your response.

Question 34

Give an example of how habits of attribution apply to the perception of others' behavior in organizations. How can these habits work to the disadvantage of underrepresented groups?

Question 35

Give a brief explanation of Equity Theory. How does it illustrate "an individualistic and meritocratic understanding of fairness"?

Question 36

List three factors that lead a procedure to seem fair (or unfair). Give an example of one of these factors as it might apply in the context of managing diversity and inclusion.