When 15-year-old Valerie discovers that she earned an A on last week's assignment, she expresses pride to her teacher and explains that she worked very hard on it. On the way home from school, however, she tells her friends that she didn't put much effort into the project at all and so is quite surprised about her high grade. From the perspective of research on attributions, how can we best explain Valerie's conflicting statements?
A) She suspects that her friends have performance goals rather than mastery goals, and she is trying to go along with the crowd.
B) She knows that her teacher is more likely than her friends to have an entity view of intelligence, and she tailors her explanations accordingly.
C) She knows that her teacher values hard work but that her friends do not, and she tailors her explanations accordingly.
D) Her social goals are taking precedence over her achievement goals on both occasions.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Valerie is tailoring her explanations to fit the specific expectations of her audience. She knows that her teacher values hard work and effort, so she expresses pride in her work to her teacher. However, she also knows that her friends may not value hard work in the same way, so she downplays her effort to fit in with them. This is an example of social tuning, where individuals adjust their behavior and language to match the expectations of their audience.

When 15-Year-Old Valerie Discovers That She Earned an a on Last