Question 1

People who believe that their successful completion of a project is due to their skill and hard work are making an internal attribution.

Accepted Answer

Internal attributions refer to explanations based on personal factors such as skills or efforts, while external attributions refer to factors beyond personal control such as luck or circumstance. Therefore, people who believe that their successful completion of a project is due to their skill and hard work are making an internal attribution.

Question 2

Homogenization and differentiation are two activities in the process of social identity and self-enhancement.

Accepted Answer

Homogenization refers to the process of individuals within a group becoming more similar to one another in terms of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, while differentiation refers to the process of individuals emphasizing their distinctiveness from others within the group in order to enhance their self-identity and self-esteem. Both of these activities contribute to the development and maintenance of social identity and self-enhancement.

Question 3

The easiest way to minimize stereotyping is by preventing the activation of stereotypes in our heads.

Accepted Answer

Stereotyping is a complex cognitive process, and while preventing the activation of stereotypes can help, it's not the easiest way to minimize them. More effective methods include increasing contact with diverse groups, engaging in perspective-taking, and challenging and replacing stereotypical thoughts with accurate information.

Question 4

Self-fulfilling prophecy may result in either better or worse performance than if the employee is not exposed to the self-fulfilling prophecy effect.

Accepted Answer

Self-fulfilling prophecy can lead to better performance if the expectation is positive and can lead to worse performance if the expectation is negative.

Question 5

Fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency to attribute the behaviour of other people to internal factors more than external factors.

Accepted Answer

Fundamental attribution error is a well-established social psychology concept that explains people's tendency to overemphasize internal factors such as personality and character while underemphasizing external factors such as the situation and context when explaining the behaviour of others.

Question 6

You are more likely to make an internal attribution about someone's poor performance if you have also observed the person performing that task poorly in the past and have observed other employees performing the task well.

Accepted Answer

This is because if we have observed the person performing poorly in the past, it creates a consistent pattern of behavior that leads us to make an internal attribution (i.e. attributing their poor performance to their own traits or abilities). Additionally, if we have seen other employees perform the task well, it creates a clear comparison that highlights the poor performance of the individual in question.

Question 7

People tend to make an internal attribution about someone's behaviour if that person has rarely acted like this either in the past or in other situations.

Accepted Answer

People tend to make an external attribution about someone's behavior if the behavior is rare or unusual for that person, attributing the behavior to situational factors rather than internal characteristics.

Question 8

The combination of social identity and self-enhancement occurs through categorization and attribution activities.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The combination of social identity and self-enhancement...

Question 9

When making an internal or external attribution about a person's behaviour,we tend to look at whether the person has acted this way in the past and other situations,and whether other people act similarly in this situation.

Accepted Answer

This is known as the attribution theory, which suggests that we make attributions about a person's behaviour based on their past behaviour and the behaviour of others in similar situations.

Question 10

Self-fulfilling prophecy occurs whenever supervisors accurately predict the future performance of recently hired employees.

Accepted Answer

Self-fulfilling prophecy refers to a situation where a prediction or expectation influences behavior in a way that makes the prediction or expectation come true. In the context of hiring, if a supervisor has a preconceived notion about an employee's performance based on factors like race or gender, they may unfairly treat the employee, leading to the predicted or expected poor performance. However, if a supervisor accurately predicts an employee's future performance based on valid factors like qualifications and past experience, it is not an example of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 11

Self-serving bias is the tendency to take credit for our successes and blame others or the situation for our mistakes.

Accepted Answer

This is the definition of self-serving bias, and numerous studies have shown its existence.

Question 12

Stereotyping helps up in several valuable ways.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Stereotyping helps up in several valuable ways....

Question 13

For the most part the stereotyping process is hardwired in our brain cells.

Accepted Answer

Stereotyping is a cognitive shortcut that our brain uses to quickly categorize people or objects based on their perceived characteristics. This process is a result of our brain's natural tendency to simplify complex information and make quick judgments. Therefore, it is hardwired in our brain cells.

Question 14

Attribution theory mainly explains the selective attention process.

Accepted Answer

Attribution theory primarily explains how people make judgments about the causes of behavior, rather than the selective attention process.

Question 15

Fundamental attribution error would cause a supervisor to believe that an employee's lateness is due to factors beyond the employee's control rather than to a lack of motivation to attend work.

Accepted Answer

Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to attribute a person's behavior to their internal characteristics (such as personality, traits or abilities) rather than to situational factors. In this case, a supervisor is more likely to assume that the employee's lateness is due to a lack of motivation or poor work ethic, rather than considering other factors that may be causing the lateness, such as transportation issues or family responsibilities. Therefore, the correct answer is B – the supervisor would be more likely to attribute the employee's lateness to the employee's personal qualities, rather than considering situational factors that may be influencing their behavior.

Question 16

The first step in a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when the observer acts differently towards people with whom he or she has high expectations than towards those with whom he or she has low expectations.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The first step in a self-fulfilling prophecy...

Question 17

We can eliminate the activation of stereotyping by choosing to ignore stereotypic information.

Accepted Answer

Ignoring stereotypic information does not eliminate the activation of stereotypes because they are often activated automatically and unconsciously, making them difficult to control simply through the act of ignoring.

Question 18

Stereotyping is partly responsible for prejudice and discrimination.

Accepted Answer

Stereotyping involves making assumptions and generalizations about a group of people based on limited information, which can lead to negative attitudes and behaviors towards them. This can result in prejudice and discrimination against individuals who belong to that stereotyped group.

Question 19

One problem with stereotyping is that few traits assigned to a particular social category accurately describe every person identified with that group.

Accepted Answer

Stereotyping involves generalizing traits to a particular group without considering individual differences. As a result, it is unlikely that every person identified with that group will possess all those traits.

Question 20

Systemic discrimination is often unintentional.

Accepted Answer

Systemic discrimination can be a result of policies, practices, or structures that may have been created without the intention of discriminating against certain groups but end up disproportionately affecting them.

Quiz 3: Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations