Question 1

The actor-observer effect suggests that

Accepted Answer

The actor-observer effect suggests that actors and observers tend to view the actor's behavior differently, with actors attributing their actions to situational factors and observers attributing the same actions to dispositional factors.

Question 2

After writing an exam, Yani told everybody that he did not study very hard and spent the weekend partying and playing video games.However, when the exam grades were posted the following week, Yani told everybody that he never studied so hard for an exam in his life and he described himself as brilliant.What is this an example of?

Accepted Answer

The self-serving bias is a common type of cognitive bias that involves attributing successes to internal or personal factors while attributing failures to external or situational factors. In this scenario, Yani attributes his success (a good grade on the exam) to his own efforts and intelligence, which is a classic example of the self-serving bias.

Question 3

"He does it everywhere, he does it all the time, and no one else does it." Which attribution is the speaker likely to make?

Accepted Answer

The statement "He does it everywhere, he does it all the time, and no one else does it" suggests that the behavior is consistent across different situations and unique to the individual, leading to a dispositional attribution. This means the speaker is likely to attribute the behavior to the person's character or personality, rather than to external circumstances.

Question 4

Other things equal, high consensus behaviour on the part of an employee will lead a manager to make a dispositional attribution about the behaviour.

Accepted Answer

High consensus behavior suggests that most people in the same situation would behave similarly, leading a manager to make a situational attribution rather than a dispositional one.

Question 5

Bob resigns from a job that most of his friends consider to be a very good job.Which of the following is a dispositional attribution of the reason for Bob's resignation?

Accepted Answer

Dispositional attribution refers to attributing someone's behavior to their internal characteristics or personality traits. In this case, saying Bob is irresponsible and doesn't know a good thing when he sees it (choice B) is attributing his resignation to his personal disposition or character, rather than external circumstances.

Question 6

Orli is absent a lot, her co-workers are also absent a lot, but she was almost never absent in her previous job.What kind of attribution is her manager likely to make?

Accepted Answer

The manager is likely to make a situational attribution because Orli's absenteeism aligns with her co-workers' behavior, suggesting that the work environment or situation may be influencing her attendance.

Question 7

The self-serving bias

Accepted Answer

The self-serving bias involves attributing successes to internal factors and failures to external factors, which may involve providing excuses for one's own behavior.

Question 8

Gloria is absent a lot, her co-workers are seldom absent, and she was absent a lot in her previous job.What kind of attribution is her manager likely to make?

Accepted Answer

The manager is likely to attribute Gloria's frequent absences to her disposition, as the pattern of behavior is consistent across different situations (both in her current job and her previous job) and differs from that of her co-workers, suggesting an internal characteristic or trait rather than external circumstances.

Question 9

The fact that people will explain the very same behaviour differently on the basis of events that happened after the behaviour occurred is suggested by

Accepted Answer

The answer of The fact that people will explain the...

Question 10

Which is a potential example of the fundamental attribution error?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which is a potential example of the...

Question 11

"Karen acts differently from everyone else, but Byron acts the same as everyone else." The speaker here is invoking a ________ cue to describe Karen's behaviour and a ________ cue to describe Byron's behaviour.

Accepted Answer

The answer of "Karen acts differently from everyone else, but...

Question 12

The tendency for actors to attribute their behaviour to situational factors can be overcome by

Accepted Answer

The self-serving bias is the tendency for individuals to attribute their successes to internal factors and their failures to external factors, which can counteract the tendency to attribute behavior solely to situational factors.

Question 13

A reporter covering a price fixing trial felt that the alleged price fixer was a crook.The alleged price fixer testified that his boss pressured him to engage in illegal activities.The alleged price fixer felt that the reporter's stories about the trial were the product of a vindictive and nasty mind.The price fixer explained his own behaviour ________ and that of the reporter ________.

Accepted Answer

The price fixer explained his own behavior as influenced by the situation (his boss's pressure) and attributed the reporter's behavior to the reporter's disposition (vindictive and nasty mind), making the correct answer "situationally; dispositionally."

Question 14

After writing an exam, Yani told everybody that he studied really hard and spent a great deal of time preparing for the exam.However, when the exam grades were posted the following week, Yani did not talk about how he studied but instead told everybody that the exam was not fair and was poorly graded.What is this an example of?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of the self-serving bias, where Yani attributes his potential poor performance to external factors (the fairness and grading of the exam) rather than to internal factors (his own abilities or effort), which is a way to protect his self-esteem.

Question 15

When we explain a behaviour by referring to some internal personality characteristic, we are NOT offering

Accepted Answer

A situational explanation refers to explaining behavior based on external factors or the environment, contrasting with dispositional explanations that focus on internal personality characteristics.

Question 16

On a construction site, Ray drops a wrench and it almost hits Cecil on the head.If Cecil develops a situational (as opposed to dispositional)explanation of Ray's behaviour he might assume that

Accepted Answer

Cecil's assumption that the wrench was oily and it slipped is a situational explanation because it attributes the incident to external circumstances (the condition of the wrench) rather than to Ray's personal characteristics or intentions.

Question 17

"He does it everywhere, he does it all the time, and no one else does it." Which cue combination is the speaker invoking?

Accepted Answer

The speaker is indicating that the behavior is unique to the individual (low consensus), occurs frequently (high consistency), and happens across different situations (low distinctiveness).

Question 18

Samantha engages in a low consensus behaviour.What other combination of cues will ensure that an observer makes a dispositional attribution about the behaviour?

Accepted Answer

According to Kelley's Covariation Model, an observer is likely to make a dispositional attribution (attributing the behavior to the person's traits) when the behavior is low in consensus (not many people behave this way), low in distinctiveness (the person behaves this way in many situations), and high in consistency (the person behaves this way across time). Option B matches these conditions.

Question 19

We may rely on dispositional explanations when making judgments about the behaviour of other people because

Accepted Answer

We often rely on dispositional explanations (attributing someone's behavior to their personality or character traits) because we underestimate the influence of situational factors on their behavior, not fully appreciating how their actions might change in different contexts.

Question 20

Taylor is seldom absent, her co-workers are seldom absent, and she was seldom absent in her previous job.What kind of attribution is her manager likely to make?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Taylor is seldom absent, her co-workers are...

Quiz 3: Perception, Attribution, and Diversity