Question 1

__________ psychology looks at how the actual or imagined presence of others affects our thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

Accepted Answer

Social psychology specifically focuses on how the presence or absence of others impacts our behavior, thoughts, and emotions.

Question 2

Attributions are __________

Accepted Answer

Attributions are explanations that account for one's own behaviors and/or the behaviors of others. They can be internal (caused by personal factors) or external (caused by situational factors), and they can be positive or negative. Examples of attributions include "She got an A on the exam because she's smart" (internal, positive), "He missed the deadline because he's lazy" (internal, negative), "She won the race because she trained hard" (external, positive), and "He got into an accident because the roads were icy" (external, negative).

Question 3

When we assign causes to explain the behavior of others or ourselves we are making __________

Accepted Answer

Assigning causes to explain behavior is referred to as making attributions.

Question 4

A group of Ray's friends have been waiting for Ray for an hour. One says, "He never remembers anything." Another says, "He's probably caught in rush hour traffic." What are these friends doing that might be of interest to a social psychologist?

Accepted Answer

The friends are making attributions, which refers to the process of explaining the causes of behavior or events. They are making assumptions about why Ray is late (he never remembers anything; caught in traffic) based on their past experiences with him or knowledge about the situation. This is an important concept in social psychology as it can affect how people perceive and respond to others.

Question 5

What is the term for the process of developing our first knowledge about another person?

Accepted Answer

The process of developing our first knowledge about another person is called impression formation. This involves gathering information about the person through observation, communication, and other interactions, and then interpreting and organizing this information to form an overall impression of the person.

Question 6

Our overall impression of, and attitude toward, an individual is often predominantly influenced by the first information we receive about that person, rather than information that comes later. This phenomenon is called the __________

Accepted Answer

The primacy effect refers to the cognitive bias where our initial impression of someone influences our overall attitude toward them more strongly than information that comes later.

Question 7

Tyra blames her poor performance in college on a poor memory that she has had since birth. Tyra's behavior is an example of __________

Accepted Answer

Tyra is attributing her poor performance to a dispositional factor (her poor memory), which is a personal characteristic or trait, rather than the situation (college) or external factors.

Question 8

What is the primacy effect, as it relates to impression formation, more commonly known as?

Accepted Answer

The primacy effect, as it relates to impression formation, is the tendency for the first pieces of information we receive about someone to carry extra weight in our overall impression of them. This is more commonly known as first impression.

Question 9

Social psychology differs from psychology in its focus on __________

Accepted Answer

Social psychology focuses on how individuals are influenced by their social environment and the social factors that influence behavior. It is concerned with how social interactions, social cognition, and relationship dynamics affect individual behavior and attitudes. It is different from psychology in that psychology focuses more broadly on the study of human behavior, including abnormal behavior, personality, and cognitive processes.

Question 10

Jovan believes that his poor performance on his psychology test was due to his consistent lack of preparation. This is an example of __________

Accepted Answer

Jovan's belief that his poor performance was due to his consistent lack of preparation is an example of a dispositional attribution. This means he attributes his failure to internal factors or personal characteristics, rather than external circumstances.

Question 11

When Michela was hired, her new boss was impressed because she came highly recommended by her former boss. After three months on the job, Michela's boss found out that her former boss had given her a good recommendation just to get rid of her and that Michela was really a poor, very unreliable, unqualified worker. Still, Michela's new boss thought she was a pretty good employee. This overall impression of her was probably due to __________

Accepted Answer

The primacy effect explains this situation because it refers to the tendency to remember and give more weight to information that we learn first. Michela's boss formed a positive initial impression based on the recommendation, which influenced his overall perception of her despite later learning negative information.

Question 12

"Look, Officer, I didn't see the stop sign back there because the sun was in my eyes." The police officer responds, "You were not paying attention." How would a social psychologist describe this situation?

Accepted Answer

The driver is making a situational attribution (the sun being in their eyes) for why they did not see the stop sign, while the officer is making a dispositional attribution (the driver not paying attention) for the cause of the driver's behavior.

Question 13

Social psychology is the scientific study of how a person's behavior, thoughts, and feelings are influenced by __________

Accepted Answer

Social psychology specifically studies how other people, whether they are physically present or not, impact an individual's behavior, thoughts and feelings. While cognition and mental processes do play a role in social psychology, they are not the focus of the field. And while social psychology falls under the umbrella of psychology, simply saying "psychology" is too broad to be the correct answer.

Question 14

If you fail this exam, and you believe it is the professor's fault for not adequately preparing you, your belief might be an example of __________

Accepted Answer

A situational attribution is when we attribute behavior to external factors such as the situation rather than internal factors such as personality. In this case, the belief that the professor did not adequately prepare the student is blaming the situation rather than the student's own abilities or personality.

Question 15

Alex is standing in line at Wal-Mart waiting to pay for his purchases. A man cuts in front of the line and drops his items on the counter. Alex says to his friend, "That man is incredibly rude." A social psychologist who is within earshot jots down a note so she can use the example in class. What does she write concerning Alex?

Accepted Answer

Alex made a dispositional attribution by attributing the man's behavior to his character or personality (being "incredibly rude"), rather than considering situational factors that might have influenced the man's actions.

Question 16

When we make situational attributions we are identifying the cause of an action as something __________

Accepted Answer

Situational attributions identify the cause of an action as something in the environment, such as the situation or context in which the behavior occurred. This is in contrast to dispositional attributions, which focus on the individual's personal characteristics or traits as the cause of their behavior. The other choices are not necessarily relevant when making attributions.

Question 17

Your best friend has been acting rather cool toward you lately. As you try to figure out why, you are engaging in the process called __________

Accepted Answer

Attribution refers to the process of interpreting and explaining events, behaviors, and interactions in order to understand their causes and implications. In this scenario, the individual is attempting to understand the cause of their friend's behavior towards them.

Question 18

The process we use to obtain critically important social information about others is known as __________

Accepted Answer

The process of obtaining critically important social information about others is known as social perception. Social investigation and social validity are not commonly used terms in this context, and social identity refers to an individual's sense of self in relation to a group or society, rather than the process of obtaining information about others.

Question 19

A(n) __________ attribution involves looking at a particular behavior exhibited by an individual as resulting from their character or a particular trait.

Accepted Answer

A dispositional attribution means that the behavior is seen as a result of the person's inherent characteristics or traits. It is the opposite of a situational attribution, which would suggest that the behavior was a response to the circumstances or environment. Option A, objective, is not a relevant term in this context. Option D, primacy, refers to the idea that information presented first can have a disproportionate impact on people's judgments, but it is not relevant to the question of attribution.

Question 20

Two weeks after April had a wonderful first date with Justin, he still hasn't called her again. Which of the following would be a situational attribution for why he hasn't called?

Accepted Answer

A situational attribution focuses on external factors that could be influencing someone's behavior, rather than their personality or inherent traits. Option D provides a plausible situational explanation for why Justin hasn't called yet, as he may simply be too busy to do so. Options A, B, and C all provide dispositional attributions that assume Justin's lack of communication is somehow reflective of his character or values, rather than taking into consideration potential external factors.

Quiz 16: Social Psychology