Question 1

The so-called "Pygmalion effect" is a type of ________.

Accepted Answer

The Pygmalion effect refers to the phenomenon where someone's expectations of another person can directly impact that person's performance. This is an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy, where a belief or expectation can become true simply because it is believed.

Question 2

Cognitive social psychologists call ready-made categories concerning people ________.

Accepted Answer

Ready-made categories concerning people are called schemata, which are mental representations of knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus, including people. Exemplars refer to specific examples of a concept or type of stimulus. Formal operations refer to a stage of cognitive development in Piaget's theory. Rationales are justifications or explanations for beliefs or behaviors.

Question 3

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 is known as the actor-observer bias. The self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute our successes to personal factors and our failures to situational factors. The recency effect refers to our tendency to remember more recent information better than earlier information, while the primacy effect refers to our tendency to remember earlier information better than later information.

Question 4

Judgments about whether a behavior is more revealing about a person or a situation have been studied under the heading of ________.

Accepted Answer

Judgments about the causes of behavior fall under the study of attribution theory, which examines how people make inferences about the motives and traits of others based on their behavior. The theory distinguishes between internal factors, such as personal characteristics, and external factors, such as situational factors, that may affect behavior.

Question 5

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

Consistency refers to the extent to which a behavior is the same whenever the presumed cause of the behavior is present. This affects our attributions of the behavior.

Question 6

The collection and assessment of information about other people, so as to form first impressions and to try and understand their behavior is known as ________.

Accepted Answer

Social cognition is the collection and assessment of information about other people, so as to form first impressions and to try and understand their behavior. The bystander effect refers to the phenomenon where individuals are less likely to provide help or intervene in an emergency situation when others are present. A response characteristic is any attribute or quality that is related to the way an individual responds to a particular stimulus or situation. Selective perception is a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual filters and interprets information in a way that confirms their preexisting beliefs or expectations.

Question 7

According to Heider, we usually attribute someone's behavior to ________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of According to Heider, we usually attribute someone's...

Question 8

The extent to which the first information we receive about someone influences our impression of that person more than later information is called the ________.

Accepted Answer

The primacy effect refers to the tendency for information that we receive first about someone to have a stronger influence on our overall impression of that person compared to information we receive later.

Question 9

A special kind of schema based on almost any distinguishing personal attribute is a ________.

Accepted Answer

A stereotype is a schema based on almost any distinguishing personal attribute, such as race, gender, age, profession, or socioeconomic status. It is a widely held but oversimplified and often inaccurate belief about a group of people. Stereotypes can influence how we perceive, judge, and interact with others, as well as how we evaluate ourselves.

Question 10

A set of characteristics believed to be shared by all members of a social category is a ________.

Accepted Answer

A stereotype is a set of characteristics that are believed to be shared by all members of a social category.

Question 11

When Erika first met Bill, she found him to be very pleasant and likable. However, over the next few weeks she hears repeated stories of his rude and insensitive behavior toward others. In spite of that, she continues to view him as a nice person who is just "misunderstood." Her refusal to see that her initial impression of Bill was mistaken is most likely due to the ________.

Accepted Answer

The primacy effect refers to the tendency to weigh initial impressions more heavily than subsequent information. Erika's initial positive impression of Bill influences her perception, despite later evidence of his rude behavior.

Question 12

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 types of information to draw conclusions about the causes of behavior: consistency (whether the person's behavior is consistently similar in the same situation), distinctiveness (whether the person's behavior is specific to that situation or occurs in other contexts), and consensus (whether others act similarly in that situation). Frequency is not one of the types of information Kelley believed we use.

Question 13

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

This is an example of consensus, which refers to the extent to which other people behave the same way as the person we are observing. If most other people behave similarly in the same situation, we are more likely to attribute the behavior to external factors rather than internal ones.

Question 14

The scientific study of the way in which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are affected by the real, imagined, or inferred characteristics or behavior of others is known as ________ psychology.

Accepted Answer

Social psychology focuses on how individuals interact with and influence each other in social situations. It examines topics such as conformity, attraction, aggression, and group dynamics. It is concerned with how social influences affect our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Other options, such as interpersonal, cognitive, and environmental psychology, do not specifically focus on social interactions and influences.

Question 15

John's friends told him that Mary was the homecoming queen last year. Al's friends told him that Mary was not invited to any of her friends' parties last year. Both John and Al take Mary out on blind dates. Which of the following is the most likely outcome?

Accepted Answer

John's friends told him that Mary was the homecoming queen last year, which suggests that she is popular and well-liked. Al's friends, on the other hand, told him that Mary was not invited to any of her friends' parties last year, suggesting that she may not be as social or outgoing. Based on this information, it is more likely that Mary will be friendlier toward John, who perceives her as popular and desirable, than toward Al, who has been led to believe that she is less social and perhaps even unpopular.

Question 16

When pairs of participants played a competitive game, and researchers told one member of each pair that the other was either hostile or friendly, the players who were led to believe that their partner was hostile behaved ________.

Accepted Answer

This choice is correct because it reflects the phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy, where an individual's expectations about another person lead them to act in ways that cause the other person to confirm those expectations. In this case, believing the partner to be hostile leads to behaviors that actually provoke hostility in the partner, demonstrating how perceptions can shape social interactions.

Question 17

Research indicates that the teachers' expectations of students ________.

Accepted Answer

Research has shown that teacher expectations can have a significant impact on student performance. When teachers have high expectations for their students, students are more likely to achieve at a higher level. On the other hand, when teachers have low expectations for students, they are less likely to achieve at a high level. Additionally, teacher expectations can also affect students' motivation, self-esteem, and overall attitude towards learning. Therefore, it is important for teachers to maintain high expectations for all students in their classroom.

Question 18

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 how often the behavior occurs, consensus refers to how others behave in the same situation, and frequency simply refers to how often the behavior occurs without regard to any specific event or situation.

Question 19

When the expectations of one person bring about the expected behavior in another person, the expectation has become a(n) ________.

Accepted Answer

A self-fulfilling prophecy is when a person's belief about someone else leads to behaviors that cause that belief to come true. In this scenario, the expectation of one person is causing the expected behavior in another person, which is an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The other options (attribution, primary drive, response characteristic) do not accurately describe this phenomenon.

Question 20

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 is a common tendency to give too much weight to personal factors (such as character or disposition) and too little weight to situational factors when making judgments about other people's behavior. This can lead to errors in our attributions of others' behavior, such as when we assume that someone is rude because they are a naturally rude person, rather than recognizing that they may be having a bad day or dealing with difficult circumstances.

Quiz 14: Social Psychology