Social Psychology Prpjet Quizes Flashcards
Your co-worker complains when the boss gives her a new task to complete. According to Kelley’s (1967) covariation model, you’re most likely to attribute your co-worker’s dissatisfaction with her new task assignment to external causes (e.g., to the difficulty or tediousness of the task) if you determine that:
A. consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness are all high.
B. consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness are all low.
C. consensus and distinctiveness are low but consistency is high.
D. consistency is low but consensus and distinctiveness are high.
Answer A is correct. According to the covariation model, people are most likely to attribute the behavior of another person to external causes when consensus, consistency and distinctiveness are all high. For the situation described in this question, this would occur if you conclude that other co-workers would also complain about the task (high consensus), the co-worker is likely to respond in the same way to similar tasks (high consistency), and the co-worker doesn’t respond this way to different types of tasks (high distinctiveness).
You are exhibiting the actor-observer effect when you:
A. overuse base rate information when determining the cause of the behaviors of other people and underuse that information when determining the cause of your own behaviors.
B. underuse base rate information when determining the cause of the behaviors of other people and overuse that information when determining the cause of your own behaviors.
C. attribute your successful behaviors to dispositional factors and your unsuccessful behaviors to situational factors.
D. attribute your own behaviors to situational factors and the behaviors of other people to dispositional factors.
Answer D is correct. The actor-observer effect addresses the attributions we make about ourselves and others and refers to the tendency to attribute our own behaviors to situational factors and the behaviors of others to dispositional factors.
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to:
A. overestimate the role of dispositional causes of desirable outcomes and underestimate the role of situational causes of undesirable outcomes.
B. overestimate the role of situational causes of desirable outcomes and underestimate the role of dispositional causes of undesirable outcomes.
C. overestimate the role of dispositional factors when determining the cause of the behaviors of other people.
D. overestimate the role of situational factors when determining the cause of the behaviors of other people.
Answer C is correct. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overestimate the role of dispositional factors and underestimate the role of situational factors when making attributions about the behaviors of other people.
A college sophomore has decided to drop out of college at the end of the semester “to see the world,” and she prefers talking to friends and family members who support her decision and avoids talking to those who think it’s a bad idea. This illustrates which of the following? A. contrast error B. self-serving bias C. confirmation bias D. false consensus effect
Answer C is correct. The confirmation bias is the tendency to seek and pay attention to information that confirms our attitudes and beliefs and avoid or ignore information that refutes them.
When relying on the representativeness heuristic to make judgments, we:
A. distort disconfirming information.
B. ignore base rates.
C. focus on previous errors.
D. focus on socially desirable alternatives.
Answer B is correct. When relying on the representativeness heuristic, people ignore base rates and other important information and base their judgments about the frequency or likelihood of an event on the extent to which the event resembles a prototype (typical case).
A customer who is in a long line behind you at the checkout counter says, “no matter what line I get into, it’s always the slowest one.” This is an example of which of the following? A. illusory correlation B. base rate fallacy C. sleeper effect D. counterfactual thinking
Answer A is correct. An illusory correlation occurs when we overestimate the correlation between two variables that are unrelated or only slightly related.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ are “mental shortcuts” that allow us to make quick judgments about people or events but can lead to inaccurate conclusions. A. Mnemonic devices B. Prototypes C. Cognitive schemas D. Heuristics
Answer D is correct. Heuristics are “mental shortcuts that provide quick estimates about the likelihood of uncertain events” (Baumeister & Bushman, 2013, p. 164). Although heuristics can be useful when it’s necessary to make quick judgments, they can produce inaccurate conclusions.
When discussing some of the topics that were covered in yesterday’s social psychology class, Robert tells Renee that he thinks it’s true that people learn about their own attitudes and emotions in the same way they draw conclusions about the attitudes and emotions of other people – that is, by observing outward behaviors and the situations in which those behaviors occur. Robert’s statement is consistent with which of the following? A. self-perception theory B. social judgment theory C. cognitive dissonance theory D. balance theory
Answer A is correct. Self-perception theory (Bem, 1972) proposes that people infer how they’re feeling and thinking by observing their own behaviors and the circumstances in which those behaviors occur.
The elaboration likelihood model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981) distinguishes between:
A. central and peripheral processing routes.
B. latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and noncommitment.
C. alpha and omega strategies.
D. congruent and incongruent states.
Answer A is correct. According to the elaboration likelihood model, a persuasive message can be processed through the central route or the peripheral route.
Social judgment theory (Sherif & Hovland, 1961) distinguishes between:
A. central and peripheral processing routes.
B. latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and noncommitment.
C. alpha and omega strategies.
D. congruent and incongruent states
Answer B is correct. Social judgment theory distinguishes between latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and noncommitment, which represent different degrees of similarity between a person’s current position and the position advocated by a persuasive message.
According to Heider’s (1958) balance theory, the relationships among which of the following can be either balanced or unbalanced?
A. attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions
B. a person, another person, and an attitude object
C. behavior intention, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control
D. a person, place, and thing
Answer B is correct. Heider’s balance theory is also known as P-O-X theory because it focuses on the relationships among three elements: the person (P), another person (O), and an attitude object or event (X).
Ajzen and Fishbein’s (2005) theory of planned behavior predicts that which of the following is affected by a person’s attitude toward a behavior, what the person thinks others believe he/she should do, and the person’s confidence in his/her ability to perform the behavior? A. resistance to persuasion B. level of cognitive dissonance C. freedom of choice D. behavior intention
Answer D is correct. According to the theory of planned behavior, the three conditions listed in this question are the major contributors to a person’s behavior intention which, in turn, determines whether or not the person will actually perform the behavior.
Lola has just received text messages from both Alfred and Alphonse, asking her to the junior prom. Lola likes both of them very much and has a hard time deciding which one to choose. After choosing Alphonse, Lola decides that she really doesn’t like Alfred all that much. The change in Lola’s feelings toward Alfred is best explained by which of the following? A. elaboration likelihood model B. self-serving bias C. attitude inoculation D. cognitive dissonance theory
Answer D is correct. Festinger’s (1954) cognitive dissonance theory proposes that, when people have inconsistencies between two attitudes or between an attitude and behavior, they experience a state of mental discomfort (“cognitive dissonance”) that they’re motivated to relieve by changing an attitude or behavior. To reduce the dissonance Lola experienced by not choosing Alfred, she changed her attitude toward him.
The meta-analysis conducted by Dittmar, Bond, Hurst, and Kasser (2014) found that materialism is most strongly related to which of the following? A. risky health behaviors B. compulsive buying behaviors C. positive self-appraisal D. negative affect
Answer B is correct. Dittmar and colleagues found that prioritization of materialistic values and goals strongly correlated with, in order of strength, compulsive buying behavior, engaging in risky health behaviors, negative self-appraisal, and negative affect. Note that, even if you’re unfamiliar with this meta-analysis, it makes sense that materialism would be strongly correlated with compulsive buying. On the EPPP, you’re likely to encounter a few questions on unfamiliar topics or familiar topics that are asked about in an unfamiliar way, and a good test-taking strategy for those questions is to choose the most plausible or obvious answer.
As described by McGuire (1973), attitude inoculation is useful for:
A. changing a person’s attitudes.
B. strengthening the link between a person’s attitudes and behaviors.
C. helping people evaluate their own attitudes and behaviors.
D. reducing a person’s susceptibility to persuasion.
Answer D is correct. The attitude inoculation hypothesis proposes that an effective way to increase resistance to persuasion is to “immunize” people against attempts to change their attitudes by providing them with weak arguments against their current attitudes along with counterarguments that refute those arguments before they’re exposed to a persuasive message.
