Question 1

Samantha is never late for work. But last Monday she arrived an hour late because of heavy traffic. According to the attribution theory, Samantha's behavior on that day scores ________.

Accepted Answer

According to the attribution theory, consistency refers to how often a behavior occurs over time. Since Samantha is never late for work and arrived an hour late only once, her behavior scores low on consistency.

Question 2

You are more likely to notice a car like your own due to ________.

Accepted Answer

Selective perception is the tendency for people to selectively focus on certain aspects of the environment and ignore others. Due to this phenomenon, individuals are more likely to notice a car like their own because they are primed to pay attention to that specific make and model.

Question 3

Megan Cardova, who works as a sales executive at Orbit Bank, has been failing to meet her sales targets for the last 10 months. Recently, she had a face-to-face discussion with her manager where she said that the unrealistic targets were the reason for her underperformance. The manager, however, noticed that all the other team members were achieving their targets and sometimes were even achieving more than the set numbers. Which of the following is Cardova's behavior most likely to be characterized by according to the attribution theory?

Accepted Answer

According to attribution theory, low consensus occurs when a behavior is not shared by others in similar situations. Since other team members are meeting their targets, Cardova's failure to do so is likely characterized by low consensus.

Question 4

Janice Yoder works in an environmental campaigning organization and often needs to interact with a large team for project implementation activities. However, she always finds it difficult to work as a part of a team. She always seems to have major disagreements with team members which lead to antagonistic relations between them. Though she has moved from one team to another, her relations with colleagues always seem to be hostile and cold. How would the attribution theory describe this behavior?

Accepted Answer

The behavior of Janice Yoder is high on consistency as it is consistently observed in her interactions with different team members, irrespective of the team and the project. The attribution theory suggests that consistent behavior is attributed to stable internal factors such as personality traits. Therefore, it can be inferred that Janice's hostile behavior towards team members is due to her personality traits rather than situational factors.

Question 5

________ bias indicates the tendency of an individual to attribute his own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.

Accepted Answer

Self-serving bias refers to people attributing their successes to internal factors such as their own abilities, while attributing failures to external factors such as bad luck or external circumstances. This bias allows individuals to maintain a positive self-image and protect their self-esteem.

Question 6

Which of the following terms best describes the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others?

Accepted Answer

The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others is known as the fundamental attribution error. Thus, choice A is the correct answer. The bandwagon effect refers to the tendency of individuals to conform to the beliefs or behaviors of a group. The contrast effect refers to the influence of the presence of one stimulus on the perception of a second stimulus. The self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when a belief or expectation about a person leads to behaviors that elicit behaviors that confirm the belief or expectation. Emotional dissonance refers to the conflict between genuine emotions and the emotions that one is required to display in a given situation.

Question 7

Johanna Murray, a climate campaigner at The National Footprint Foundation, is known in her organization to be a campaigner of caliber and high performance. She recently worked on a campaign against global warming during which she worked extremely hard to achieve project milestones. However, the campaign failed as it could not achieve the desired objective. Due to this, her manager, Brenda Owens gave her a poor performance appraisal. In the appraisal, Brenda said that Johanna was not motivated and failed to reach out to 25,000 people through Internet media to spread awareness about climate change. Which of the following, if true, weakens Brenda's statement?

Accepted Answer

Brenda's statement that Johanna failed to reach out to 25,000 people through Internet media is weakened if it is true that Brenda did not provide Johanna with the necessary information and guidance to carry out the media strategy effectively. Option A and E do not weaken Brenda's statement as they are not directly related to Johanna's performance in the current campaign. Option C is irrelevant to the situation at hand. Option D might strengthen Brenda's statement, implying that Johanna lacked the necessary skills to carry out the media strategy effectively. Thus, option B is the best choice as it provides a possible explanation for Johanna's poor performance in the specific task mentioned by Brenda.

Question 8

Naomi Fisher, a sales manager at Pure, a water purifier company, had a new member, Leah Marshall join her team. Though during Leah's interview, Naomi felt she would be a productive sales executive, her performance has often been below the mark. Consistently in the past three months, Leah has been unable to reach her targets and is falling substantially behind on her annual targets. Naomi assumes that Leah is not determined and motivated enough to do what it takes. Which of the following, if true, weakens Naomi's assumption?

Accepted Answer

Leah's poor performance could be due to the challenging sales territory rather than a lack of determination or motivation.

Question 9

According to the attribution theory, if everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way, we can say the behavior shows ________.

Accepted Answer

Consensus refers to whether other people in the same situation would respond in the same way. If everyone responds in a similar way, then there is high consensus, which helps us attribute the behavior to external factors, rather than internal ones.

Question 10

According to the attribution theory, which of the following behaviors is most likely to be attributed to an external cause?

Accepted Answer

According to the attribution theory, consensus refers to the extent to which other people behave similarly in a given situation. A behavior that scores high on consensus is most likely to be attributed to an external cause because it suggests that the behavior is influenced by factors outside of the individual's control, such as the situation or social norms. Choices A, D, and E are not related to external or internal causes, and Choice B refers to a behavior that is low in distinctiveness, which does not provide enough information to make an attribution about the cause.

Question 11

Individuals engage in ________ because it is impossible for them to assimilate everything they see and can take in only certain stimuli.

Accepted Answer

Selective perception is the process of filtering out information that is irrelevant or uncomfortable, and focusing on information that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or attitudes. This allows individuals to manage the overwhelming amount of information they are exposed to on a daily basis.

Question 12

Amanda Winter used to work as a public engagement coordinator at Safe Food Alliance, until three months ago when her manager, Laura Morris, promoted her to the position of a sustainable food campaigner. However, soon after this, Laura noticed that Amanda was facing major difficulties in achieving campaign milestones and the project was falling behind schedule due to her lack of performance. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument that Laura was influenced by the halo effect in her decision to promote Amanda?

Accepted Answer

The halo effect occurs when a positive impression of a person in one area influences one's opinion or feelings in other areas. In this scenario, Laura's positive impression of Amanda as a public engagement coordinator may have influenced her decision to promote her to a sustainable food campaigner, despite her lack of skills in that area. Option D strengthens this argument by indicating that Laura sat in on only one of Amanda's presentations before promoting her, implying a lack of thorough evaluation of Amanda's suitability for the new role. None of the other options directly address the halo effect.

Question 13

Janice is late for work each day by about ten minutes. How would attribution theory describe this behavior?

Accepted Answer

Attribution theory would describe Janice's behavior as showing consistency, as she is consistently late for work by about ten minutes each day.

Question 14

Laura Simpson, a campaign manager at a child rights organization in Jakarta, planned a marathon for celebrities to raise money for underprivileged children. Though all arrangements for the event had been made, a few days before the event she realized that on the same day there was a political rally happening in the city which will block access to the route on which the marathon was supposed to be undertaken. In such a situation, what is Simpson, who suffers from a self-serving bias, most likely to say?

Accepted Answer

Simpson, suffering from a self-serving bias, is likely to blame external factors or others (like her colleagues) for the oversight, rather than taking personal responsibility.

Question 15

Harriet Kirby, a fund raising manager at a women's rights organization, experienced a bad incident last year with the public relations manager of a banking company who had committed to sponsor a charity event. The bank backed out at the last minute. This year, when a renowned international bank executive showed interest in sponsoring the organization's upcoming annual event, Kirby rejected their participation. She felt that banks have a casual approach toward charity events, and it is risky to involve them in the event. Which of the following is Kirby most likely to be characterized by?

Accepted Answer

Kirby is likely characterized by selective perception, as she is basing her decision on her previous negative experience with one bank and generalizing it to all banks, ignoring any positive aspects or differences in the new situation.

Question 16

Johanna Springer, who works as a sales executive at Pascal's Bank, is upset at the way her manager, Emma Womack, always calls her in for one-on-one meetings to discuss her underperformance. Though Springer makes a higher number of sales calls and works longer hours than last year, her sales figures are still low. She knows that the main reason behind her underperformance is the recent economic meltdown in the country. However, her manager feels that Springer's underperformance is the result of her laid back attitude and has nothing to do with external factors. In this situation, Womack's behavior is characterized by a(n) ________.

Accepted Answer

The situation described is an example of fundamental attribution error, which occurs when an observer underestimates the impact of situational factors and overemphasizes dispositional or personal factors in explaining someone else's behavior. In this case, the manager is attributing Johanna Springer's underperformance to her "laid back attitude" instead of considering the external factors that could be affecting Springer's performance.

Question 17

Which of the following is referred to as a halo effect?

Accepted Answer

The halo effect occurs when a single characteristic of a person influences the overall perception of them, leading to a biased judgment.

Question 18

________ refers to the tendency of people to draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic.

Accepted Answer

The halo effect refers to the bias where people form an overall impression of someone based on one trait or characteristic. This can be either positive or negative and can impact subsequent judgments or evaluations of the person.

Question 19

Jane Allen, a campaign manager at a non-profit organization, often takes full credit for project successes even when her team members' contributions play a big role in achieving milestones. However, when projects receive setbacks, she blames her team members and sometimes states that the situation was beyond her control. Allen's behavior is an example of a(n) ________ bias.

Accepted Answer

Jane Allen's behavior is an example of a self-serving bias, as she takes credit for successes and blames others for failures, without acknowledging their contributions or considering external factors that may have contributed to the outcomes.

Question 20

According to the attribution theory, if a behavior scores ________, we tend to attribute it to internal causes.

Accepted Answer

According to the attribution theory, distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus are three factors that influence whether we attribute behavior to internal or external causes. If a behavior scores low on distinctiveness, meaning it is not unique to the situation or context, we tend to attribute it to internal causes. This is because, if the behavior is not specific to the situation, it suggests that the behavior is more likely due to the person's stable traits or personality rather than external factors.

Quiz 6: Perception and Individual Decision Making