Deck 5: Perception, Interpretation, and Attitudes Across Cultures

Question 1

What is attribution theory? Why is it important in understanding cross cultural differences?

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

You have a meeting scheduled in 10 minutes. However, you stay to talk to an employee with a problem and arrive late to your meeting. You are probably in a __________ culture.

A) Western.
B) Traditional.
C) Sympathetic.
D) Group Oriented.
E) Polychronic.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following groups are more likely to have interdependent selves?

A) Americans.
B) British.
C) Australians.
D) Chinese.
E) noneof these.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Research shows that the self-serving bias effect is least likely to occur among which nationality?

A) Latin Americans.
B) Americans.
C) Japanese.
D) British.
E) South Africans.

Question 5

Work commitment is

A) the level of importance of one's work relative to one's life. The extent to which work is an important value or motivator relative to other life activities.
B) the level of dedication and allegiance to the firm or group and motivation to work on its behalf.
C) the desire to maximize one's material prosperity tied to strong beliefs in capitalism.
D) the need to believe one lives in a world where people generally get what they deserve.
E) the tendency to make attributions about our own behavior by taking credit for success and blaming others for failure.

Question 6

The level of dedication and allegiance to the firm or group and motivation to work on its behalf is

A) the Protestant work ethic.
B) in-group bias.
C) group orientation.
D) work commitment.
E) organizational commitment.

Question 7

Which of the following groups is the least satisfied with their work?

A) French.
B) Australians.
C) Japanese.
D) Mexicans.
E) all of these are equally dissatisfied.

Question 8

Stereotypes can come from

A) in-groups and out-groups.
B) lack of contact.
C) media influences.
D) all of these.
E) noneof these.

Question 9

Inferences about what other people are like based on group membership is called

A) attribution theory.
B) stereotypes.
C) group orientation.
D) attitude.
E) all of these.

Question 10

An attitude

A) is a learned social tendency to react emotionally toward some object or person.
B) is formed when perceptions gradually occur over and over again.
C) toward self, others, or work varies across cultures.
D) involves none of these.
E) involves all of these.

Question 11

Which of the following is not a characteristic of an Asian view of self?

A) interdependence of people.
B) paternalism.
C) uniqueness.
D) solidarity.
E) group cohesion.

Question 12

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a Western view of self?

A) uniqueness.
B) interdependence.
C) individual achievement.
D) self-reliance.
E) independent.

Question 13

In _______________ cultures, modesty appears to be valued.

A) group-oriented.
B) high-context.
C) low-context.
D) individual-oriented.
E) Western.

Question 14

Shane has a set schedule and becomes highly irritated when there is deviation from this schedule. Shane is probably from a culture that views time as

A) monochronic.
B) globular.
C) polychronic.
D) circular.
E) face.

Question 15

Polychronic perceptions of time tend to be

A) precisely divided.
B) viewed as a commodity.
C) viewed as an economic language.
D) focused on doing one thing at a time.
E) fluid and flexible.

Question 16

A new computer program resulted in lower production costs and streamlining. The computer programmer is taking credit for the company's success. This is an example of

A) self-effacing.
B) mirror imaging.
C) group orientation.
D) internal attribution.
E) external attribution.

Question 17

Define perception and discuss its implications for understanding others.

Question 18

Discuss the attitudes other countries have towards Americans and how this has an impact on conducting foreign business.

Question 19

Identify the two views of self and give at least five characteristics for each of them.

Question 20

Discuss the effect of context on perception and how it might impact business dealings.

Question 21

Discuss differences in job satisfaction across cultures. What impact might your culture have on your level of job satisfaction?

Question 22

Define organizational commitment and work commitment. What is the difference between the two concepts?

Question 23

How might in-group bias influence a manager's behavior in a diverse or multicultural setting?

Question 24

List three characteristics each of monochronic and polychronic time.

Question 25

Discuss the common misperceptions that monochronic and polychronic cultures have about each other. Why?

Question 26

Discuss how cross-cultural differences in personal space might affect a business meeting. Provide an example from at least two different cultures.

Question 27

____________ is a learned tendency to react emotionally toward some object or person.

A) behavior.
B) perception.
C) attitude.
D) attribution.
E) stereotype.

Question 28

When asked to describe himself, Anthony said, "I am an extrovert." This response is an example of a(n)

A) abstract self-description.
B) concrete self-description.
C) general self-description.
D) individual self-description.
E) collective self-description.

Question 29

In which country do people tend not to take credit for success or to externalize failure?

A) the U.S.
B) South Africa.
C) the former Yugoslavia.
D) Japan.
E) India.

Question 30

Blaming others for failure is an example of

A) cowardice.
B) mirror imaging.
C) group orientation.
D) internal attribution.
E) external attribution.

Question 31

We often guess what someone is thinking by using their behavior to infer or attribute characteristics.

Question 32

Most cultures define lateness as about 19 minutes.

Question 33

Most of the time perceptions are automatic.

Question 34

What people in one culture need to perceive may be different from what those in other cultures need to perceive.

Question 35

The Russians have the most favorable opinions of the US compared to Germany, China, France and Japan.

Question 36

Employees from Western (and capitalist developed) cultures have less job satisfaction than those in Eastern (Communist/socialist) cultures.

Question 37

Julie was late for a meeting with her Brazilian counterpart, Hector. Hector likely blames Julie's lateness on a lack of caring.

Question 38

Juan sees his American counterparts putting in long hours and missing out on much family time. He is likely to form an attitude about Americans as being too connected to their jobs.

Question 39

If perceptions occur over and over again, we may form an attitude about that topic.

Question 40

There are relatively few systematic differences in the way that cultures process information about people and events.

Question 41

Americans were more likely to use general trait descriptions of themselves and less likely to use situational descriptions than were the Japanese.

Question 42

Unlike Americans, Brazilians tend to blame a tardy person and attribute their tardiness to a lack of caring.

Question 43

Out-group bias is self-serving for members of one's own cultural group

Question 44

Leniency bias tends to be the same among all cultures.

Question 45

There are at least four different ways that time is perceived and experienced across cultures: monochronic, polychronic, circular and linear.

Question 46

The tendency to make attributions about our own behavior by taking credit for success

A) attribution theory.
B) external attribution.
C) self-serving bias.
D) a just world.
E) internal attribution.

Question 47

The premise on how we assign causes to someone's behavior is called

A) Protestant ethic.
B) attribution theory.
C) a just world.
D) stereotypes.
E) culture.

Question 48

_________________ time is a perception that time is fluid and flexible, or never ending.

A) monochronic.
B) globular.
C) polychronic.
D) face.
E) monochrome.

Question 49

If a manager expects an employee to negotiate and close a contract in one meeting, she or he is probably from a(n) _____________ culture.

A) American
B) Asian
C) polychronic
D) monochronic
E) Latin

Question 50

Monochronic perceptions of time tend to be

A) divided precisely.
B) viewed as a commodity.
C) an economic language.
D) focused on doing one thing at a time.
E) all of these.

Question 51

One study of six countries showed that bank clocks in ____________ were the most accurate.

A) the U.S.
B) Japan
C) Indonesia
D) the U.K.
E) Taiwan.

Question 52

Western cultures tend to view time as

A) monochronic.
B) unlimited.
C) flexible and fluid.
D) polychronic.
E) group oriented.

Question 53

Selective perception

A) enables one to interpret and understand all of one's surroundings.
B) helps one to attend to all stimuli around.
C) enables one to interpret and understand a portion of one's surroundings.
D) enables one to avoid cross cultural challenges.
E) all of these.

Question 54

A research study about selecting characteristics that predict people's behavior found that:

A) the Chinese were more influenced by a person's conscientiousness toward others in forming impressions.
B) the Australians were more influenced by a person's conscientiousness toward others in forming impressions.
C) the Chinese were more influenced by a person's outgoingness in forming impressions of others.
D) the Chinese and Australians were both influenced by a person's conscientiousness toward others in forming impressions.
E) the Chinese and Australians were not influenced by a person's conscientiousness toward others in forming impressions

Question 55

Time is perceived as a commodity in Western cultures.

Question 56

Culture is a better predictor of work commitment than occupational level.

Question 57

Attitudes about Americans by people in other countries are fairly positive.

Question 58

Someone in a polychronic time culture is probably more comfortable with short-term relationships.