Question 1

Harold Kelley's covariation model is one ________ theory presented in your text.

Accepted Answer

Harold Kelley's covariation model is a classic theory in social psychology that falls under the category of attribution theory.

Question 2

Tina is very happy in her marriage.She is going to make ________ attributions about the positive behaviors of her spouse.

Accepted Answer

If Tina is happy in her marriage, she will likely make internal attributions about her spouse's positive behaviors, meaning that she will attribute them to his or her personal traits or characteristics rather than external factors. For example, if her spouse surprises her with a thoughtful gift, she might think, "He is such a caring and attentive person," rather than, "He only did that because he knows it's our anniversary." Self-serving attributions (C) involve attributing one's own positive behaviors to internal factors and negative behaviors to external factors, and implicit attributions (D) refer to automatic, unconscious judgments about the causes of behavior.

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a type of information included in the covariation model of attribution?

Accepted Answer

Additive is not a type of information included in the covariation model of attribution. The other three types are consensus (referring to whether others behave similarly in the same situation), distinctiveness (referring to whether the individual behaves similarly in different situations), and consistency (referring to whether the individual behaves similarly across time in the same situation).

Question 4

Rafael has always hated mathematics courses.However, he likes most other courses at the university.Most other students tend to avoid math courses whenever possible, too.Given this information about consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus, most people would make a(n) ________ attribution for Rafael's attitude.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Rafael has always hated mathematics courses.However, he...

Question 5

When distinctiveness is ________, consensus is ________, and consistency is high, people are likely to make an external attribution.

Accepted Answer

When a behavior is highly distinctive (unusual for the individual), consensus (others would behave the same in the situation) is low, and consistency (the behavior occurs consistently in the same situation) is high, people are more likely to make an external attribution. This is because the behavior is seen as caused by the situation rather than the individual.

Question 6

________ information addresses the extent to which the same person responds similarly to different stimuli.

Accepted Answer

Distinctiveness information refers to how differently a person reacts to various stimuli, indicating the extent to which their behavior changes across different situations.

Question 7

________ attribution is to person to as ________ attribution is to situation.

Accepted Answer

Internal attribution refers to explaining someone's behavior based on their personal characteristics, while external attribution refers to explaining someone's behavior based on external factors such as situational influences.

Question 8

Simon laughed long and hard when he saw his mother slip and fall.Neither his sister nor his father laughed when they saw her fall.Simon has seen both his mother and other people fall before, but didn't laugh then.According to Kelley's covariation model, observers privy to this information are likely to assume that

Accepted Answer

According to Kelley's covariation model, people make attributions about behavior based on three types of information: consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency. In this scenario, observers might assume that there was something unique about this particular incident that made Simon laugh, as he did not laugh when other people fell. Therefore, the best choice is B.

Question 9

Lixue and Hayk are in an unhappy marriage.When Hayk brings home flowers, Lixue thinks, "There must have been a sale at the grocery store" or, "I suppose those are leftover from some party at work." Her attribution reflects the attribution of a ________ behavior to an ________ cause.

Accepted Answer

Lixue's thoughts about the flowers suggest she is attributing Hayk's positive behavior (bringing home flowers) to external causes (a sale or leftovers), rather than internal, personal reasons.

Question 10

When making an attribution, Dan considers how his roommate has behaved in similar situations in the past.Dan is using _______ information.

Accepted Answer

Dan is using consistency information to make an attribution about his roommate's behavior. Consistency information refers to whether an individual's behavior is consistent across different situations over time.

Question 11

When observers consider the extent to which different people respond in the same way toward a given stimulus, they are using ________ information.

Accepted Answer

Consensus information refers to the extent to which different people respond in the same way to a given stimulus. It is used to understand how common or widespread a particular reaction or behavior is among different individuals in response to the same situation or stimulus.

Question 12

The logical outcome of distressed couples making external attributions for positive behavior and internal attributions for negative ones is that the relationship is going to

Accepted Answer

When distressed couples make external attributions for positive behavior, such as discounting their partner's positive actions as due to luck or circumstances rather than a genuine reflection of their partner's character, and internal attributions for negative behavior, such as blaming their partner's negative actions on their character rather than giving them the benefit of the doubt, this leads to a cycle of negativity and low satisfaction in the relationship. Therefore, the logical outcome is for the relationship to become less satisfying.

Question 13

________ information addresses the extent to which an actor behaves in a similar way in response to a stimulus across time and circumstances.

Accepted Answer

Consistency information refers to the extent to which an actor behaves in a similar way in response to a stimulus across time and circumstances. Consensus information refers to the extent to which other people behave in the same way in response to a stimulus, while distinctiveness information refers to the extent to which an actor behaves differently in response to different stimuli. Uniformity is not a term typically used in the field of psychology.

Question 14

Based on research on attributions within married couples presented in your text, consider the following couple: Dean claims that every time Erica does something kind it is just because she wants to impress his mother, and every time she does something rude he says it is because she is a mean person.What kind of relationship are they most likely to have?

Accepted Answer

Dean's frequent negative attributions about Erica's behavior indicate a pattern of negative thinking and communication within their relationship. Over time, this is likely to lead to resentment, conflict, and dissatisfaction.

Question 15

Anna usually doesn't like movies with violent scenes.Still, she saw Sin City-a violent movie-five times, and loved it.Everyone else-including critics-really liked Sin City, too.In this example, distinctiveness is ________ and consensus is ________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Anna usually doesn't like movies with violent...

Question 16

"Jen's bicycle was stolen yesterday," Jason said, "and that's why she's so cranky today." Jason has just used an ________ to explain the cause of Jen's behavior.

Accepted Answer

Jason attributed Jen's crankiness to an external event (her bicycle being stolen), which is an example of external attribution.

Question 17

"Ellen is always crabby and tense, and that's why she's acting so impatient today," Grace remarked.Grace has just used a(n) ________ attribution to explain the cause of Ellen's impatience.

Accepted Answer

Grace has attributed Ellen's impatience to her internal character traits, specifically her tendency to be crabby and tense.

Question 18

The attributional perspective that addresses behaviors that occur over time, place, and different actors and targets is the ________ model.

Accepted Answer

The covariation model focuses on how people make attributions based on patterns of behavior across time, place, and actors, and it is concerned with identifying the causes of behavior by examining how it covaries with other variables. By contrast, the correspondent inference model is concerned with assessing whether a specific behavior is attributable to an underlying disposition of the actor, while the perceptual salience model emphasizes the impact of visually striking or attention-grabbing factors on attributions. The fundamental attribution error is a bias in which people tend to overemphasize dispositional causes and de-emphasize situational causes when explaining other people's behavior.

Question 19

Researchers have found that couples who are happy in their marriages make very different attributions for their partners' behaviors than couples who are unhappy.Specifically, couples in happy marriages make ________, while couples in unhappy marriages make ________.

Accepted Answer

Happy couples tend to attribute negative behaviors to external factors and positive behaviors to internal factors, while unhappy couples do the opposite.

Question 20

Suppose a certain student, Nathan, falls asleep during every chemistry class.Suppose further that Nathan is the only one who falls asleep in this class, and that he falls asleep in all of his other classes.According to Kelley's covariation model of attribution, how will people explain Nathan's behavior (falling asleep)?

Accepted Answer

Kelley's covariation model suggests an attribution to something unusual about Nathan because his behavior (falling asleep) is low in consensus (no one else falls asleep), low in distinctiveness (he falls asleep in all classes, not just chemistry), and high in consistency (he always falls asleep in class).

Quiz 4: Social Perception: How We Come to Understand Other People

Harold Kelley's covariation model is one ________ theory presented in your text.

Tina is very happy in her marriage.She is going to make ________ attributions about the positive behaviors of her spouse.

Which of the following is NOT a type of information included in the covariation model of attribution?

When distinctiveness is , consensus is , and consistency is high, people are likely to make an external attribution.

________ information addresses the extent to which the same person responds similarly to different stimuli.

attribution is to person to as attribution is to situation.

Lixue and Hayk are in an unhappy marriage.When Hayk brings home flowers, Lixue thinks, "There must have been a sale at the grocery store" or, "I suppose those are leftover from some party at work." Her attribution reflects the attribution of a behavior to an cause.