Chapter 12 Study Guide

Johan watches Belle slip in the stairs outside their apartment building. If Johan concludes that Belle is an uncoordinated "klutz" who wasn't paying attention, he has made:

An internal attribution

Inga is running for president of the student body of her university. The night before the election, she and her opponent have a debate in front of thousands of people. In reviewing the tape of the debate, Inga is most likely to attribute her own errors to _____ and to attribute her opponent's errors to _____.

confusing questions from the panel; his lack of preparation

Diego is telling his roommate about his lab partner in chemistry. Because his lab partner is a straight A premed student, Diego believes he is quiet and spends most of his time studying rather than having fun. Since Diego is drawing conclusions from a stereotype, his roommate should _____ Diego's description because stereotypes _____

be cautious about; may or may not be accurate

stereotypes consists of

beliefs about the personal traits and behaviors of individuals who belong to specific groups

Benton is trying to decide which color to paint his house, so he looks at 10 other houses in his neighborhood. Every one of those houses is light brown or beige, so Benton decides to paint his house light brown as well. The process that would best explain Benton's behavior in this instance is:

conformity

Evaluating someone in a negative way, simply because of his or her membership in a particular group, would constitute:

prejudice

George attributed his success in chemistry to his great intelligence, but when he failed physics, it was because the teacher was impossible to understand. George's behavior best demonstrates:

. a self-serving bias

In Milgram's obedience studies, about _____ of the participants administered the maximum shock, and _____ of them tried to quit the study

66% percent; all most all

Deindividuation

Feeling anonymous, less self conscious, possibly depersonalized, and being willing to do things you normally wouldnt do are characteristic of:

The management at NASA had clear evidence that freezing launch temperatures might pose a problem for the space shuttle launch, but the managers chose to ignore that evidence and proceeded with the launch. The process that would best explain what happened in this case is:

Group think

White participants in psychology study were asked to decide, as rapidly as possible, whether an object that they had been briefly shown was a gun or a tool. Before seeing the picture, they were briefly shown a picture a either a black face or a white face. When the subjects saw a black face, they:

Identified the gun more quickly and incorrectly identified tools as guns

A self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when an individual

Is induced to act in ways that are consistent with expectations held by others

Groupthink involves a tendency for

Members of a group to seek consensus and ignore or suppress dissenting opinions

The major factor that determines whether the presence of other people produces social facilitation or social loafing is

Personal responsibility

Stereotypes can cause people to:

Place too much emphasis on the differences that exist between groups

In light of the results of the Milgram studies, which of the following soldiers would you expect to have the least trouble carrying out his orders?

a pilot dropping a bomb on an enemy airbase

Ivan earns an "A" on his biology exam and proudly tells his girlfriend how good he is in biology. However, on the next exam, he only earns a "C" and he explains to her that he couldn't study as much for that test because he had to work overtime at his job. Ivan's attributions for his performance on biology exams are consistent with:

a self-serving bias

Benito believes that all airline pilots are calm, cool individuals who never get excited or show any strong emotional responses. In this case, Benito's beliefs about the traits and behaviors of airline pilots are one example of:

a stereotype

Ed believes that all computer majors are "nerds" who only think about computers. He believes they lack social skills and that they have a weird sense of humor. In this case, Ed's beliefs about the traits and behaviors of computer majors are one example of

a stereotype

Attributions are our attempts to explain:

all of the above

Annabel is working on a very difficult paper for her psychology class. Given what you know about the effect of the mere presence of others on performance, where should Annabel work on the paper to make the best progress?

alone in her room or in a private library carrel

When Phil wrecked his motorcycle last month, you decided that he probably crashed because the streets were wet that day. Your decision is an example of:

an external attribution

Just like all the other people in her neighborhood, Evangelica is afraid of the Doberman that lives next door to her. When she is out for her morning walk, she will cross the street to avoid that particular dog. However, Evangelica often stops to pet a different dog that lives two blocks away. In this case, most people should make:

an external attribution for Evangelica's fear of the Doberman

Conformity occurs when:

an individual's opinions, feelings, or behaviors start to move toward the group norm

When people show the actor-observer effect, they:

attribute their own behavior to external factors but the behavior of others to internal factors

The reason that stereotypes are adaptive is that they

evade cognitive limitations

The loss of individuality that comes from being in a group, and increases the chances of a person's engaging in deviant or destructive behavior, is known as:

deindividuation

Treating a person in an unfair way, simply because of his or her membership in a particular group, would constitute:

discrimination

Marjorie is the human resource manager for a large company. She actually has a favorable attitude toward the handicapped in general. However, she hasn't hired anyone who has a visible disability for any position that has come open in the company because her boss told her not to consider applicants who are handicapped. In this case, Marjorie shows evidence of:

discrimination, but not prejudice

Cat wants to buy a new laptop. She knows that her husband will think that it is not a necessary expense. She initially proposes buying a $2,500 laptop. When her husband gets upset, she suggests that she could get by with a use laptop for $700. Cat is using the ____________ approach, and it is likely that her husband ___________ agree.

door in the face; will

which of the following factors is NOT a cause of deindividuation?

group identification

When the jury entered the jury room, most of the jurors believed the defendant in the case was probably guilty of the crime. After discussing the case for 2 hours, all the jurors are now firmly convinced that the defendant is definitely guilty of the crime. The strengthening of the jurors' opinion following a group discussion is consistent with the process known as:

group polarization

When Sinead meets Perry, she really likes him. When he tells her that he is on the university basketball team, she decides that he must not have many intellectual or academic interests. Sinead's views are based on:

group stereotypes

When Jeffrey was in Iraq, the colonel who was in command of his unit told the troops to destroy all the homes in the towns they passed through. Jeffrey didn't think that this was the right thing to do, but he followed the colonel's orders. The process that best explains Jeffrey's actions in this instance is:

obedience

Trey, a teaching assistant, is recording grades for a large introductory psychology class. Where would social facilitation theory suggest he ought to work, to make the best progress?

in his office, with other teaching assistants who are also recording grades

The manipulations in Milgram's studies that decreased obedience all involved:

increased personal responsibility

According to Zajonc, the presence of other people affects performances because it ________________, which _________________.

increases arousal; enhances the dominant response

Professor Marcus believes that student athletes are lazy and academically incompetent. Every time she has an athlete in one of her classes who is a poor student, she takes note of and remembers it. Every time she has an athlete in her class who is an excellent student, she ignores it. Through this mechanism, Professor Marcus _____ her stereotype of student athletes.

maintains

When a group experiences group polarization, a group's dominant point of view becomes:

more extreme over time

Stanley Milgram's experiment illustrated the phenomenon of:

obedience

When people make the fundamental attribution error, they:

overestimate the influence of internal, personal factors and underestimate the role of external, situational factors

Obedience occurs whenever:

people respond to the orders of an authority figure

Gamiel takes Aliyah out to dinner for the first time. She is very surprised when he does not leave a tip for the waiter. If Aliyah decides that Gamiel did not leave a tip because he is stingy, she is making a _____ attribution. If Aliyah decides that Gamiel did not leave a tip because the service was terrible, she is making a _____ attribution.

personal; situational

Since Charles was young, he has believed that Canadians are arrogant, smug people. He only has to find out that a person is from Canada and he draws the conclusion that that person is arrogant and smug. Charles is displaying:

prejudice

Some people believe that people living in West Virginia are backward people who are inbred and dumb. When such people find out that a person is from West Virginia, they draw the conclusion that that person is weird and not very intelligent. This would be an example of:

prejudice

When Angela is reading on her own, she is able to follow the material in her textbook without any problems. However, when her boyfriend is over, he watches her while she is reading. Under these circumstances, Angela finds she reads much more slowly and has a harder time understanding the material. The decrease in Angela's reading speed and comprehension when she is watched by her boyfriend is consistent with the concept of:

social interference

Judy tells you that she failed her last math exam because she had to work late the night before the exam and she didn't get a chance to study. However, she is convinced the reason her roommate failed the same math exam is because her roommate is not good at math. Judy's attributions for the math exam failures are consistent with:

the actor observer effect

Jonathon failed to stop at a stop sign and hit another car. When the policeman asked Jonathon what happened, he told the officer that the sun blinded him and prevented him from seeing the stop sign. When the other driver was questioned about the accident, he claimed that Jonathon was an inattentive driver who should have his license revoked. The attributions these two individuals have made for the traffic accident are consistent with:

the actor-observer effect

Caleb saw an elderly lady struggling with a number of packages in a crowded shopping center, but he didn't offer any help. His actions in this case are consistent with:

the bystander effect

Erik just heard that his neighbor, Alexis, was involved in an accident, and Erik decides that Alexis' reckless driving habits were the cause of the accident. His attribution for the cause of the accident is consistent with:

the fundamental attribution error

In trying to understand why some ethnic neighbors are dominated by poverty, people often infer that the residents are lazy and unmotivated. This type of inference illustrates

the fundamental attribution error

Lucia has just declared a major in engineering. You could predict that she will now see other engineering students as _____ and see liberal arts students as _____.

unique individuals; very similar to each other