Social Psychology Chapter 3

Behavioral confirmation is a form of ________ when individuals' social expectations lead them to behave in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations.

self-fulfilling prophecy

When we have acted badly, we are more likely to attribute our behavior to the

situation

When we see our behaviors as intentional and admirable we attribute this to our own good reasons, not to the _____

situation

_________ effect occurs when one incorporates wrong information into a memory after witnessing an event and attaining wrong, misleading information about it.

Misinformation

In recent months, national media spent a lot of time on stories about gays and lesbians. Yesterday, you conducted a poll asking people to estimate what percent of Americans are gay and lesbian. They results indicate that people estimated 23% are gay and lesbian but actually only about 4.1% identify as gay or lesbian. Why did people overestimate this percent?

availability heuristic

When the persistence of one's initial conceptions are discredited, but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives, this persistence is identified as

belief perseverance

We tend to see our worlds through _____ glasses

belief-tinted

A tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconception is identified as confirmation

bias

Joey placed second in the state wrestling meet. He spent some time thinking about what might have been if he had gotten one more take down. Joey is demonstrating ______ thinking.

counterfactual

You have an appointment with someone and they are late. You are more likely to use a _________ attribution to explain why they are late.

dispositional

According to Fritz Helder's attribution theory (1958), _____ attribution attributes behavior o the person's traits and parts of the personality, whereas _____ attribution attributes behavior to the environment

dispositional; situational

Jessica was told that "blonds have more fun" so she colored her hair blond and actually believed she was meeting more people and that her social life improved. Jessica is an example of ______ thinking.

illusory

The perception of a relationship where none exists or a perception of a stronger relationship than actually exists is the definition of an

illusory

Being the person who actually rolls the dice or spins the wheel while gambling have higher confidence than if they are just watching someone roll the dice or spin the wheel. What phenomena explains this?

illusory control

When Jason is seen yelling at Joan, people think Jason is an angry person. This is not necessarily true, but it happens with a phenomenon called spontaneous trait _______________.

inference

Dan had a feeling he should buy Apple stock, and it proved to be an excellent choice. His decision was based on a "gut feeling" instead of logic or reasoning. This feeling is an example of ______ judgment.

intuitive

Our immediate knowledge of something without reasoning or analysis is identified as _____ judgment

intuitive

Heuristics can be defined as ______ shortcuts

mental

Attributing a behavior to the wrong source is identified as

misattribution

Jack and Jill are having problems in their marriage. One night, Jack is actually working late, but Jill is sure he is out with another woman instead. Jill is demonstrating

misattribution

Repeated findings in experiments show that when witnessing an event and then repeatedly receiving misleading information about that event, an individual will incorporate the errors into his or her memory. This is referred to as the ______ effect

misinformation

Research in 1999 by Kruger and Dunning found that incompetence feeds __________.

overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct is identified as the __________ phenomenon.

overconfidence

Barb was home alone watching a scary movie. Barb had trouble sleeping as all of the house sounds kept her awake. Barb was affected through _____.

priming

Even when stimuli are presented unconsciously, their effects can become conscious due to

priming

The awakening or activating of certain associations is the definition of _______.

priming

Mitchell, Thompson, and colleagues report that people recall mildly pleasant events more favorably than they experienced them, a phenomenon called

rosy retrospection

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment is called

self-fulfilling prophecy

A student fails a test and the teacher tries to guess what happened. According to attribution theory, which potential causes below are dispositional (and not situational)?

- The student is not intelligent - the student did not care about the test and thus did not study

David prepares his cereal and accidentally puts the cereal away in the refrigerator and the milk in the cupboard. David's action is an example of ______ thinking.

- automatic - impulsive

Our system of heuristics allows us to use mental shortcuts to

- invent explanations - make judgments - form impressions

Using the belief perseverance policy, consider a person who has a risk-prone personality trait. He or she would be most suited in which of the following occupations? (Select all that apply)

- police officer - firefighter

Most students underestimate how long it will take to complete papers and other major assignments. Students are not alone. Which of the following also describe issues with estimating?

- political overconfidence in which overconfident decision makers can wreak havoc - stockbroker confidence that experts are overconfident they can beat the stock market average - planning fallacy that individuals overestimate how much we will get done and how much free time we will have

Studies have shown that teachers who know students are in the gifted range will

- set higher standards for them - smile at them - call on them more often

Within attribution theory, people explain others' behaviors by trying to find a cause for those behaviors. Which of the following are possible causes?

- traits - motives - attitudes

In one study where teachers were videotaped talking to, or about, unseen students, it took a _____ clip to determine if the teachers viewed the student as a good or poor.

10-second

Which of the following is NOT an aspect of controlled thinking?

Impulsive

To avoid the camera perspective bias, upon whom or what should a confession videotape be focused?

It should focus equally on the suspect and the law enforcement officer.

In lab studies in which two participants play a game against each other, if one participant is told that the other person is going to be competitive and non-cooperative, this usually results in the first participant

acting in a hostile, aggressive manner

In an experiment, people anticipated interacting with another person of a different race. When led to believe that the other person disliked interacting with someone from their race, they felt more

anger

The theory of how people explain another's behavior by attributing it to either internal or external situations is identified as _____

attribution

In most trials, evidence of a confession is videotaped from an earlier police interview. The view in the tape usually focuses exclusively on the confessor, not other people in the room (such as police). This fact is sometimes called the _____ bias.

camera perspective

Jonas was certain his computer program for grading classes was the best system to use. When others tried to offer feedback, Jonas did not really listen. Jonas is displaying ______ bias.

confirmation

We respond not to reality but to reality as we ______ it.

construe

Colton was told to eat his cereal and he would grow big muscles. Colton ate his cereal and checked his "growing" muscles in the mirror daily. Colton is experiencing an illusory _____

correlation

Imagining an alternative scenario or outcome that might have happened but did not is known as ______ thinking.

counterfactual

Psychologists Nisbett and Ross (1980) recommended four ways that education can reduce people's vulnerability to cognitive error. Which of the recommendations below is NOT one of their suggestions?

distract people while they make decisions, so they rely on emotions

Eyewitness testimony is based on the concept that our construction of memory is

exact

Sally met Samuel at a party and really enjoyed his company. When Sally learned Samuel lived in a poor neighborhood, she began to develop ______ impressions of him.

false

On the first day of class you are the second person to enter the classroom. The other person does not acknowledge that you came in the door and you think, "how rude." The next few times you enter the classroom the other person says hello, smiles, and engages you in conversation and you find this person quite pleasant. Your initial impression was a(n)

false impression

Joey believes he can make the varsity team as a freshman and he does it. Joey is demonstrating self-______ prophecy.

fulfilling

Eastern Asian cultures are more sensitive than Westerners are to the importance of situations, and are therefore less likely to commit to the _______attribution error.

fundamental

When observers underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences of another's behavior, they are committing the __________ attribution error.

fundamental

A cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory is identified as availability

heuristic

When estimating chances for success on some future task, people's confidence is highest when the moment of truth is

near

John is a leader in his career; he speaks as an expert in all areas of the company. John's impression of expertise is an example of the ______ phenomena.

overconfidence

According to research presented the book, students who score the lowest on tests of grammar, humor, and logic are the most prone to _______ their abilities.

overestimating

In collectivist cultures, people less often perceive others in terms of ______ dispositions.

personal

Activating particular associations in memory is ______.

priming

In the construction of memories, research shows that

recall is often biased by current knowledge and beliefs

Don and Dana were married for 20 years before they divorced. Prior to the divorce, Dana said she was happy in her marriage; following the divorce, Dana felt they should have divorced much sooner. This is an example of ______ past attitudes.

reconstructing

John is a 23-year-old male who is an atheist and a drug user. You are asked to guess what kind of music he likes. You guess heavy metal music. Your guess is based on the _____ heuristic.

representativeness

The tendency to presume that someone or something belongs to a particular group if it resembles a typical member is a description of ________ heuristics.

representativeness

Research has shown through behavioral confirmation that people who are more lonely behave less

socially

Robyn Dawes, Richard Nisbett, and Lee Ross all agree that what is needed to reduce errors in our social thinking is, at heart, to

teach

When we assume that other people's actions are the same as their intentions and dispositions, we are inferring

traits

Gamblers continue to gamble and feel more in control when they have picked their own lottery numbers (compared with picking random numbers). These actions are an example of

the illusion of control