Question 1

Elaine watches a news program that covers several violent incidents as well as two murders.Later,when Elaine is asked to estimate the general rate of incidence of homicides in the United States,these examples quickly come to Elaine's mind,and she estimates the incidence rate to be higher than it actually is.This example illustrates the

Accepted Answer

Elaine is using the availability heuristic, which involves making judgments based on the ease with which examples come to mind. In this case, the news program has made the examples of homicides easily accessible in Elaine's memory, leading her to overestimate the incidence rate.

Question 2

According to the false consensus effect,we judge others' opinions

Accepted Answer

The false consensus effect states that people tend to overestimate the extent to which others share their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Therefore, when judging others' opinions, individuals are likely to assume that they are similar to their own.

Question 3

Noah is asked if there are more poodles or dalmatians in America.He can quickly think of more examples of poodles than dalmatians because there are lots of poodles in his neighborhood,but not many dalmatians.He estimates that there are more poodles.Noah has most likely used

Accepted Answer

Noah has used the availability heuristic, which involves making judgments based on the ease with which examples come to mind. Since Noah has more easily accessible examples of poodles than dalmatians, he assumes that there are more poodles.

Question 4

The false consensus effect occurs because people use ________ as an anchor and ________ this estimate.

Accepted Answer

The false consensus effect is a cognitive bias whereby people tend to overestimate the extent to which their beliefs, opinions, preferences, values, and habits are normal and typical of those of others. This occurs because individuals use their own views as an anchor (starting point) and then insufficiently adjust this estimate away from their own views, leading to an underestimation of the diversity of other people's experiences and views.

Question 5

Suppose that you are reading two books that try to explain the breaking up of the Soviet Union.One book,written by a Chinese historian,emphasizes the situational factors that contributed to the breakup,whereas the other book,written by an American historian,emphasizes the personalities involved,such as the political leaders.This difference reflects the notion that the fundamental attribution error

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overemphasize dispositional (internal/personality) explanations for others' behavior and underemphasize situational (external/environmental) explanations. The American historian's emphasis on the personalities of political leaders reflects a dispositional explanation, while the Chinese historian's emphasis on situational factors reflects an external explanation. This suggests that the American historian may be more prone to the fundamental attribution error, which is more common in individualistic cultures (such as the US) than collectivistic cultures (such as China). Therefore, the best choice is B.

Question 6

The strategy of basing a judgment on the felt ease with which one can bring to mind particular instances of an event is known as the

Accepted Answer

The strategy of basing a judgment on the felt ease with which one can bring to mind particular instances of an event is known as the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic involves using easily available or easily remembered information to make a judgment about a situation or event.

Question 7

Research on the fundamental attribution error shows that humans tend to overly emphasize the effect of ________ and underappreciate the effect of ________.

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to explain someone's behavior based on their personality traits, while underestimating the impact of the situational factors. Therefore, option B is the correct answer.

Question 8

Examination of an English-language newspaper's account and a Chinese-language newspaper's account of Dr.Gang Lu's shooting rampage found that

Accepted Answer

The article states that the English-language newspaper mainly blamed Dr. Lu for the shooting rampage whereas the Chinese-language newspaper mainly blamed the environment. This suggests that option A is the correct choice.

Question 9

Let's say that people overestimate the risks of getting HIV/AIDS and underestimate the risks of getting skin cancer.Given what we know about the availability heuristic,this is likely due to the fact that

Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic suggests that people estimate the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind. Since HIV/AIDS is more frequently discussed and publicized, people can more easily recall instances of it, leading to an overestimation of its risk compared to skin cancer.

Question 10

Suppose that you are trying to estimate how much your new employer is going to pay you.You start with an estimate of what others are paid,and then take into account your unique qualifications that are relevant.You have just used the

Accepted Answer

The scenario described involves starting with an estimate (anchoring) and adjusting it based on unique qualifications. This is the anchoring and adjustment heuristic, making option C the correct choice. The availability heuristic involves making judgments based on easily accessible information, the representativeness heuristic involves making judgments based on how well something fits into a certain category or prototype, and the actor-observer difference refers to the tendency for people to attribute their own behavior to external factors while attributing others' behavior to internal factors.

Question 11

Researchers who investigated cultural aspects of the fundamental attribution error found that ________ as a primary cause of behavior.

Accepted Answer

Research on the fundamental attribution error has shown cultural differences in attribution styles. Chinese writers (reflecting a more collectivist culture) tend to emphasize situational factors as the primary cause of behavior, whereas American writers (reflecting a more individualistic culture) tend to emphasize personality traits.

Question 12

In Western societies,people tend to perceive the behaviors of others as largely driven by ________ factors;in Eastern societies,people tend to perceive the behaviors of others as stemming largely from ________ factors.

Accepted Answer

In Western societies, there is a tendency to attribute people's behavior to their personal traits or dispositions (a perspective known as the fundamental attribution error), whereas in Eastern societies, there's a greater emphasis on situational or contextual factors influencing behavior.

Question 13

According to fundamental attribution error,not only do we have a tendency to see others' behavior as arising from their personality,but this tendency sometimes leads us to underappreciate the role of situational influences.Why?

Accepted Answer

Situational influences on others' behavior are often less apparent or "invisible" to observers, leading to an underestimation of their impact compared to personality traits.

Question 14

Participants in an experiment judged a woman as unfriendly,even though they were told her unfriendliness was part of her trained role in the experiment.This tendency to overemphasize personal factors and underemphasize situational factors is called

Accepted Answer

The described tendency is known as the fundamental attribution error, which refers to the tendency to overemphasize dispositional or personal factors as explanations for behavior, while underemphasizing situational factors.

Question 15

Even though there are relatively few professors of Chinese literature and many postal workers in the U.S.,students guessed that a man who spoke Chinese and reads a lot was probably a Chinese literature professor rather than a postal worker.This is an example of using

Accepted Answer

This is an example of using the representativeness heuristic, which involves categorizing objects, people, or events based on how well they seem to match our existing mental prototype or schema of the category. In this case, the mental schema for a Chinese literature professor includes speaking Chinese and reading a lot, whereas the mental schema for a postal worker might not include those characteristics. This leads the students to assume that the man is more likely to be a Chinese literature professor based on how well he matches that mental schema, even though there are fewer Chinese literature professors than postal workers in the U.S.

Question 16

In contrast to individualistic cultures,collectivistic cultures emphasize

Accepted Answer

Collectivistic cultures emphasize interdependence with the group and prioritize the goals and needs of the group over individual goals and needs. The self is defined in relation to the group or community, rather than as an independent entity.

Question 17

A cross-cultural examination of the fundamental attribution error suggests that the fundamental attribution error

Accepted Answer

Research suggests that the fundamental attribution error is more common in individualistic cultures where people tend to focus on individual characteristics rather than situational factors. In collectivistic cultures, where group affiliation and context are prioritized, the fundamental attribution error is less common.

Question 18

Jim is 6'8" tall and spends hours reading sports magazines.Given the choice that Jim is either a professional basketball player or an accountant,most people would guess that he is ________ based on their application of the ________.

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is B) a basketball player; representativeness heuristic. This is because people are likely to categorize Jim as a basketball player due to his height and interest in sports, which fits the stereotype of a basketball player more closely than that of an accountant. The representativeness heuristic is a mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgment by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event.

Question 19

The fundamental attribution error may occur because humans ________ the impact of the situation because ________.

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error occurs because humans tend to underrepresent the impact of situational factors on others' behavior, often because these situational factors are less visible or apparent to the observer.

Question 20

The false consensus effect results from the

Accepted Answer

The answer of The false consensus effect results from the
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Quiz 3: Social Cognition: Understanding Ourselves and Others