Question 1

Which of the following is not one of the kinds of information Kelley believed we use to draw conclusions about the causes of behavior?

Accepted Answer

Kelley believed that we use three kinds of information to draw conclusions about the causes of behavior: consistency (the extent to which the behavior occurs over time), distinctiveness (the extent to which the behavior is unique to a particular situation), and consensus (the extent to which other people behave similarly in the same situation). Frequency is not one of the kinds of information Kelley identified.

Question 2

Research has found that Japanese students studying in the United States usually attribute their successes to ________ sources and their failures to ________ sources.

Accepted Answer

Research has found that Japanese students studying in the United States often attribute their successes to external sources such as luck, help from others, or task difficulty, while their failures are attributed to internal sources such as lack of ability, effort, or preparation. This is due to cultural differences in attribution styles, where Japanese culture tends to emphasize humility and avoid self-promotion, leading individuals to be more likely to attribute successes to external factors and failures to internal factors.

Question 3

The tendency to give too much emphasis to personal factors when accounting for other people's actions is called ________.

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency for people to overemphasize dispositional or internal explanations when observing others' behavior, rather than considering situational factors.

Question 4

A racing driver whose car skids off the road in an important event is most likely to attribute his performance to ________.

Accepted Answer

The most likely reason for the car skidding off the road is the slick conditions on the asphalt, which is a factor outside of the driver's control. Personal problems and late-night partying may affect performance, but are unlikely to cause a specific event like skidding off the road. Errors in judgment are possible, but less likely than slick conditions.

Question 5

The tendency to explain our successes according to our personal abilities and attribute our failures to forces beyond our control is called the ________.

Accepted Answer

The self-serving bias is the tendency to explain our successes according to our personal abilities and attribute our failures to external factors beyond our control.

Question 6

Betty went to the dentist to have a filling replaced. Kim, however, found out she needed root canal work. According to the just-world hypothesis, ________.

Accepted Answer

The just-world hypothesis suggests that people get what they deserve, so it would imply that Betty has taken better care of her teeth than Kim, leading to her needing only a filling replacement.

Question 7

The fundamental attribution error is part of the ________.

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overemphasize dispositional (internal) explanations for others' behavior and to underestimate situational (external) explanations. This bias occurs when observing others, as opposed to oneself, leading to the actor-observer bias. The just-world hypothesis refers to the belief that people get what they deserve in life, and the self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute success to internal factors and failure to external factors. The primacy effect is the tendency to remember and give more weight to information that is presented first.

Question 8

Research indicates that we tend to attribute our own actions to ________ factors and the behavior of others to ________ factors.

Accepted Answer

This is known as the fundamental attribution error. We tend to explain our own behavior as being caused by situational factors (e.g. feeling tired, having a bad day) but attribute the behavior of others to personal factors (e.g. laziness, incompetence).

Question 9

A racing driver who wins an important event is most likely to attribute her performance to ________.

Accepted Answer

The most likely attribution for the racing driver's performance is her own nearly flawless performance in the event. This is because she would be aware of her own skills and capabilities as a driver and would likely credit her own performance for the win.

Question 10

When Jason gets an "A" on a math test, he claims it is because he is smart. However, when he fails a social studies test for which he didn't study, he claims the test was too hard. His behavior is an example of the ________.

Accepted Answer

Jason's behavior is an example of the self-serving bias, which refers to the tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors (such as our abilities) and our failures to external factors (such as situational factors like the difficulty of the task).

Question 11

Barbie and Ken just moved into a housing development. They are most likely to be attracted to ________.

Accepted Answer

Barbie and Ken are most likely to be attracted to their next-door neighbors as they are physically closest to them and may have more opportunities for interaction and connection.

Question 12

To the extent that a behavior occurs only when a particular event occurs, we tend to attribute the behavior to that event. This is an example of ________.

Accepted Answer

This is an example of distinctiveness, as the behavior is specific to a particular event or situation. Consistency refers to whether the behavior occurs consistently over time, consensus refers to whether others also exhibit the same behavior, and frequency refers to how often the behavior occurs regardless of the situation.

Question 13

The extent to which a behavior is the same whenever the presumed cause of the behavior is present affects our attributions of the behavior. This exemplifies ________.

Accepted Answer

This exemplifies consistency, which is one of the three dimensions of attribution theory, along with distinctiveness and consensus. Consistency refers to how often the behavior occurs when the presumed cause is present. If a behavior consistently occurs when a particular cause is present, we are more likely to attribute the behavior to that cause.

Question 14

Bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people, according to the ________.

Accepted Answer

The just-world hypothesis is the belief that people get what they deserve in life, meaning bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. This belief helps individuals maintain a sense of order and control in the world, but it is not always accurate or fair. The other options are not related to this belief.

Question 15

The tendency to explain our successes according to our personal abilities and attribute our failures to forces beyond our control is called ________.

Accepted Answer

The tendency to attribute our failures to forces beyond our control is called a defensive attribution. This is a protective mechanism that helps us maintain a positive self-image, even in the face of failure. On the other hand, the tendency to explain our successes according to our personal abilities is known as the self-serving bias. The fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency to overemphasize dispositional (internal) explanations for other people's behavior, rather than considering situational (external) factors. The primacy effect is a cognitive bias that refers to the tendency to remember information presented at the beginning of a list better than information presented later. A self-delusional thought does not accurately describe this phenomenon.

Question 16

According to attribution theory, when evaluating their own behavior, people tend to ________ for good situations and ________ for bad ones.

Accepted Answer

According to attribution theory, people tend to take credit for good situations and deny responsibility for bad ones. This is known as the self-serving bias, which suggests that individuals tend to take credit for success and blame external factors for failure.

Question 17

The term psychologists use to describe how close two people live to each other is ________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The term psychologists use to describe how...

Question 18

The degree to which other people behave the same way as one person behaves in a situation affects our attributions of that person's behavior. This is an example of ________.

Accepted Answer

Consensus refers to the extent to which other people behave in the same way in a given situation. When we observe consensus, we are more likely to attribute a person's behavior to external factors, rather than internal factors such as personality or character.

Question 19

The tendency of people to place too much emphasis on personal factors when accounting for other people's actions and too little emphasis on personal factors when accounting for our own actions is known as the ________.

Accepted Answer

The tendency described in the question is known as the actor-observer bias. It refers to the fact that people tend to attribute their own behavior to situational factors, while they attribute other people's behavior to dispositional factors.

Question 20

The most important factor in interpersonal attraction is usually ________.

Accepted Answer

Proximity is often considered the most important factor in interpersonal attraction because the more we see and interact with people, the more likely we are to start a relationship with them. This is known as the mere exposure effect.

Quiz 14: Social Psychology