Social Identity and Social Attribution

Question 1

Theories of attribution

Answer 1

are theories of causal inference

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT a major theory of attribution?

Answer 2

Rogers’ protection motivation theory

Question 3

In making a correspondent inference, when we attribute someone’s behaviour to internal
causes, we check that the behaviour

Answer 3

could not be explained as being socially desirable; affected us directly; was chosen freely

Question 4

Self-perception theory implies that we

Answer 4

infer what and how we are by observing what we do

Question 5

Tom thinks he has just failed an exam. However, he reasons that the class results will be scaled
up as the lecturer asked very difficult questions. What kind of attribution has Tom just made?

Answer 5

An external-unstable one

Question 6

Individuals who are fatalistic and do not believe that they have much control over what happens
to them are prone to

Answer 6

an external attributional style

Question 7

With respect to how attributions are made, a cognitive miser is a person who

Answer 7

habitually uses cognitive heuristics

Question 8

‘Other people are always fully responsible for what they do’, says Mary. Mary’s philosophy is an
example of the

Answer 8

fundamental attribution error

Question 9

According to the actor-observer effect, actors tend to attribute their actions to

Answer 9

situational factors

Question 10

Bill writes in the student newspaper ‘The main library needs a total cleanout; there are far too
many books and journals. I’m sure you all agree!’ Bill is probably a victim of

Answer 10

the false consensus effect

Question 11

Hugo claims ‘I am an A grade student! The only reason I get Cs is because the lecturer is boring.’
You smile wryly at Hugo’s

Answer 11

self-serving bias

Question 12

‘She had popped a party pill and she was really rocking, so of course the guy took advantage of
her!’ This explanation is a straightforward case of

Answer 12

belief in a just world

Question 13

Intergroup attributions include attributions for performance that are consistent with

Answer 13

both sex and racial stereotypes

Question 14

he ultimate attribution error refers to attributions made for

Answer 14

outgroup behaviour only

Question 15

Elaborated explanations of unfamiliar and complex phenomena that transform them into the
familiar and simple and are shared among group members are referred to as

Answer 15

social representations

Question 16

Self and identity are

Answer 16

cognitive constructs influencing how we perceive socially and interact with others

Question 17

According to self-discrepancy theory, how we think we should be refers to

Answer 17

the ‘ought’ self

Question 18

According to the overjustification effect, performance on a task may be improved by

Answer 18

setting performance goals, and rewarding for good performance

Question 19

Festinger’s theory of social comparison implies that people

Answer 19

check their perceptions and attitudes against others who are similar to them

Question 20

Millie is a member of a youth group. She is proud of this and feels she is a better person as a
result. She is a living example of

Answer 20

how self-categorisation theory works

Question 21

According to Brewer and Gardner (1996), part of our self-concept consists of dyadic relationships
that assimilate our self to significant others. This part is called the

Answer 21

relational self

Question 22

At a girls’ summer camp Maria has just been assigned to a group called the ‘Rosebuds’, one of six
separate groups that will interact from time to time at the camp. It is likely that if she needs to
make a decision about allocating rewards, she will

Answer 22

discriminate against children who are not Rosebuds

Question 23

Which motive is a simple desire to have accurate and valid information about oneself?

Answer 23

Self-assessment

Question 24

Sandra has just received a bad result in her language paper. After telling her parents, she points
to her achievement in a recent swimming competition. Steele (1988) calls this strategy

Answer 24

self-affirmation

Question 25

A friend describes you as ‘unusual’ to a new member of the bowling club. You would be
maintaining a positive self-image if you

Answer 25

defined ‘unusual’ as a cool thing to be

Question 26

Which of the strategies below is NOT associated with the psychology of impression
management?

Answer 26

Impressive self-description

Question 27

Studies suggest that people in Western cultures conceptualise the self as

Answer 27

independent

Question 28

People in Eastern cultures tend to conceptualise the self as

Answer 28

interdependent