Question 1

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 the same way in a similar situation as the person whose behavior we are trying to explain. If there is high consensus, we are more likely to attribute the behavior to external factors, whereas low consensus may lead us to attribute the behavior to internal factors. Consistency refers to whether the person's behavior is consistent across time, distinctiveness refers to whether the person's behavior is unique to a specific situation or occurs across situations, and frequency simply refers to how often the behavior occurs.

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

The racing driver is more likely to attribute his skid off the road to external factors such as slick conditions on the asphalt rather than internal factors such as personal problems or late-night partying. Therefore, option B, slick conditions on the asphalt are the most appropriate choice.

Question 3

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 self-serving bias, where people attribute their successes to internal causes (such as their own abilities or effort) but blame external factors (such as bad luck or other people) for their failures. Choice A is incorrect because people do not take credit for both good and bad situations. Choice C is incorrect because people do not deny responsibility for both good and bad situations. Choice D is incorrect because people do not take credit for bad situations.

Question 4

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 answer of Betty went to the dentist to have...

Question 5

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 live in the same housing development and are in close proximity, making it easier to interact and get to know each other.

Question 6

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 7

The fundamental attribution error is part of the ________.

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency for people to over-emphasize dispositional explanations for others' behavior and under-emphasize situational explanations. This bias is part of the broader actor-observer bias, which refers to the tendency for people to make different attributions about their own behavior (emphasizing situational factors) versus the behavior of others (emphasizing dispositional factors). The other options, just-world hypothesis and self-serving bias, are related to attributional biases but are not specifically related to the fundamental attribution error. The primacy effect refers to the tendency for people to remember information that they learned first more easily than information that they learned later.

Question 8

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

Accepted Answer

This is known as a defensive attribution, where we try to protect our self-esteem by attributing our failures to external factors rather than our own abilities or choices.

Question 9

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

Accepted Answer

The racing driver is likely to attribute her win to her own performance as she considers her own actions and efforts to be the most influential factor in achieving victory. Choices A and D suggest external factors outside her control, while B suggests other drivers' mistakes were the main reason for her 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, as he attributes his successes to internal factors (being smart) but blames external factors (the test being too hard) for his failures.

Question 11

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 tendency described in the question is known as the self-serving bias. It refers to our tendency to take credit for our successes and blame external factors for our failures.

Question 12

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 to attribute other people's behavior to internal or dispositional causes, rather than external or situational factors. This means that we often overemphasize personal factors, such as personality traits or character flaws, when trying to explain why someone did something.

Question 13

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

Accepted Answer

This phenomenon is known as the fundamental attribution error, where we tend to overemphasize personal characteristics (such as personality traits) when explaining the behavior of others, while underemphasizing situational factors (such as the context or environment) that may have influenced their behavior. On the other hand, we tend to attribute our own behavior to situational factors rather than personal traits.

Question 14

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 the distinctiveness heuristic, which suggests that people base their attributions on the distinctiveness of the behavior – in other words, how specific it is to the particular situation.

Question 15

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. Therefore, option A is the best choice. The self-serving bias refers to the tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors and our failures to external factors. The recency effect refers to the idea that we tend to remember and give more weight to information that we have encountered more recently. The primacy effect refers to the idea that we tend to remember and give more weight to information that we encounter first.

Question 16

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

The concept described in the question, where the consistency of a behavior in the presence of a presumed cause affects our attribution of the behavior, is known as consistency. Therefore, the correct answer is A. Distinctiveness refers to whether the behavior is specific to a certain situation or occurs in multiple situations. Consensus refers to whether others also exhibit the same behavior in that situation. Frequency is not a relevant concept for this question.

Question 17

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

Accepted Answer

The just-world hypothesis suggests that people believe that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, as a way to make sense of the world and maintain a sense of justice and fairness. However, research has shown that this belief is not always accurate and can lead to victim-blaming and other negative attitudes towards those who experience misfortune.

Question 18

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.

Question 19

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

Accepted Answer

Japanese students studying in the United States usually attribute their successes to external sources, such as luck or help from others, and their failures to internal sources, such as lack of ability or effort. This is because Japanese culture emphasizes group harmony and avoiding shame or bringing attention to oneself, so they may be more likely to downplay their own abilities and attribute success to outside factors, while taking personal responsibility for any failures.

Question 20

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 rely on consistency (whether the behavior is consistent across situations), consensus (whether others behave the same way in the situation), and distinctiveness (whether the behavior is distinctive or unique to the situation) to draw conclusions about the causes of behavior. He did not include frequency as one of the kinds of information we use.

Quiz 15: Social Psychology