Download Social Psychology Answer 2 of the following 3 questions: 1

Social Psychology
Answer 2 of the following 3 questions:
1. Hva er den fundamentale attribusjonsfeilen (også kjent som samsvarsfeilen/
correspondence bias)? Hvordan kan denne forklares?
What is the fundamental attribution error (or the similar correspondence bias)? How
can it be explained?
2. Hva er selvfølelse og på hvilke måter kan selvfølelse opprettholdes eller styrkes?
What is self-esteem? In what ways can it be maintained or strengthened?
3. Hva betyr det å si at en kultur har regler for å uttrykke følelser i ansiktet (facial display
rules)? Forklar hvordan slike regler påvirker følelsesuttrykk.
What does it mean that facial display rules exist in a culture? Explain how such rules
influence emotion expression.
Personality Psychology:
Answer 1 of the following 2 questions:
1. Om person-situasjon interaksjoner. Beskriv forskjellige mekanismer om hvordan
personlighetstrek interagerer med situasjoner.
Explain what is meant by person by situation interaction. Describe different ways in
which personality traits interact with the situation.
2. Drøft teori og forskning vedrørende femfaktormodellens gyldighet over kulturer.
Discuss the theory and research concerning the validity of the five-factor model across
cultures.
Evaluation guide:
Below, I describe the ideal answer and the minimal answer for each question.
The ideal answer is really an ideal, and it is also not complete – more points could be added in
a very good answer.
It is not expected that any student would completely answer in the ideal way, and the
maximum score should be given if most points of the ideal answers are present.
The minimal answer describes what needs to be present for the student to PASS on this
question.
What is the fundamental attribution error (or the similar correspondence bias)? How can it
be explained?
The ideal answer
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defines the process of attribution in general: Attribution is the process of assigning
causes to events and behaviour – either behaviour of others, or our own behaviour.
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gives an example for an attribution process
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notes that the attribution process can have errors due to its heuristic nature, and
biases due to motivational implications of the attribution outcome
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defines the fundamental attribution error as the tendency to attribute behaviour more
to internal reasons (ie., stable underlying personality dispositions) rather than
situational causes
-
Mentions that the FAE varies, e.g. that it depends on
o culture: FAE is less strong in non-Western cultures
o age: young children display less FAE
o whether the implications are positive for the ingroup (ie., relation to so-called
ultimate attribution error)
o whether a person makes attributions about own behaviour or that of others –
attributions for own behaviour are less affected by the fundamental
attribution error, leading to the actor-observer difference effect
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Regarding explanations, the following explanations of the fundamental attribution
error are given by the textbook, and the first one is emphasized and should be
mentioned
o primary focus of attention on the actor rather than the situation
o differential forgetting: possibly quicker forgetting of situational causes
o linguistic factors: in most languages it is easier to characterize an individual
than a situation as causing a behaviour
o social norms (explaining cultural differences and learning, and possibly
working through changing attention)
The minimal answer
-
defines the FAE correctly, lists at least one explanation from the list above, and does
not confuse the FAE with the actor-observer difference
What is self-esteem? In what ways can it be maintained or strengthened?
The ideal answer
Notes that we humans are capable of thinking about ourselves (reflexive thought), and
therefore we have concepts of ourselves (self-concept) and evaluate ourselves.
Definition: The evaluation of ourselves, and the resulting feeling (affect) is what we call selfesteem.
Note: Self-esteem can a) be described both as different from the self-concept in that selfesteem results from evaluation, while self-concept refers to knowledge structures, and b) also
as part of the self-concept in a more general sense.
Just as the self can be conceptualised as a unique individual or part of a collective, so can the
self-esteem be our individual self-esteem, or our social self-esteem (evaluation of our social
identity).
The pursuit of positive self-esteem may be universal, but how it is pursued may differ between
cultures.
Negative self-esteem goes along with low well-being and tendencies to depression.
Maintenance and strengthening of self-esteem can occur through
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favourable social comparisons, either interindividual or intergroup
joining groups with high social status
emphasizing of positive aspects of the individual or social self over negative ones
attributional biases, e.g. taking credit for success but blaiming failure on others
selective forgetting of negative aspects (past failures)
differential believing or scrutiny of positive vs. negative information about the self
(e.g., praise vs. criticism: attributing criticism to prejudice and bias)
seeing negative aspects of the self as shared with others, but positive aspects as
unique for the self
The ideal answer could also mention Terror Management Theory, which claims that selfesteem acts as a buffer against fear of death, and the Sociometer Theory, which claims that
self-esteem is an index of one’s connectedness to the group.
The minimal answer
Defines self-esteem as our evaluation of ourselves, and mentions at least two distinct ways to
maintain or strengthen it (from the above list, or additional ones that make sense). The
minimal answer should clearly not confuse self-concept (knowledge) and self-esteem
(evaluation).
What does it mean that facial display rules exist in a culture? Explain how such rules
influence emotion expression.
The ideal answer
-
notes that
o facial expressions of emotion are a form of non-verbal communication, and
have several functions.
o One of the functions (or effects) of facial expressions of emotion is the
communication of social information about the relation between the person
expressing the and the observer.
o There are several emotions that are thought to have facial expressions that are
(rather) universally recognized (fear, anger, surprise, happiness, sadness,
disgust). However, they are not actually produced in the same way and to the
same extent in all cultures
o Facial display rules (are proposed to) explain cultural differences in the
production of facial expressions for basic emotions.
-
Defines facial display rules as cultural and situational rules about how appropriate it is
to express a specific emotion in a specific context.
Would also note that the reason for the rule to exist are the social relations for which
the emotional expression would be relevant.
Gives an example – This can refer to the usual focus of facial display rules, intercultural differences, but it is also possible to described as differences in a culture
regarding situation, gender, or more specific social roles.
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The second part of the question asks to explain how the rules influence expression.
The ideal answer would note the rules usually assumed to interfere after the emotional
expression is caused by an emotion; it is thus likely that a brief and weak version of the
emotional expression “leaks” – however, this is not clearly stated in the textbook, and should
not be required.
The textbooks focuses on the fact that facial display rules can both prevent emotions from
being expressed and cause facial expressions (e.g., smiles) in the absence of actually felt
emotions. The ideal answer would mention this difference.
The minimal answer
The minimal answer defines facial display rules as above, and notes that they prevent
emotions from being actually being spontaneously expressed if that would violate the so social
norm in that culture.
Explain what is meant by person by situation interaction. Describe different ways in which
personality traits interact with the situation.
The ideal answer
-
-
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would note that personality is generally defined as the set of psychological traits and
mechanisms within the individual that cause behaviour that is consistent over time
and across situations. Inconsistency across situations is thus a challenge to a simplified
view of personality, and this challenge is the topic of the person x situation interaction
question.
Would note that in a simplified way, behaviour can be seen as either caused by
personality characteristics (B=f(P)), or by the situation (B=f(S)), and that person x
situation interaction means that behaviour is caused by the interaction of personality
with situation (B=f(PxS)).
Person by situation interaction thus means that behaviour is a function of the
interaction of personality traits and situational forces, that means that a personality
trait results in different behaviour depending on the situation.
There are several versions of person x situation interaction discussed in the textbook:
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Situational specificity: an individual shows a specific behaviour only in a specific
situation
Weak vs. strong situation: Strong situations cause the same behaviour in almost
everybody, while weak situations allow personality traits to determine behaviour
Situational selection: Personality determines which situations individuals seek out in
the first place.
Evocation: Individuals with certain personality traits may create or evoke situations of
a particular kind (e.g., less agreeable persons may cause hostility by others)
Manipulation: Individuals with certain personality traits may influence the behaviour
of others in certain ways
The ideal answer would also note that because of person x situation interaction, personality
psychology has to use aggregation of observations across situations.
The minimal answer
Defines person x situation interaction as above, and mentions and explains at least 2 of the 5
interaction ways.
Discuss the theory and research concerning the validity of the five-factor model across
cultures.
The ideal answer
-
Lists and explains the 5 factors of the five-factor model (conscientiousness,
extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness)
Notes that it was developed with Western samples, and the question is whether it is
valid across cultures
Notes that the strategies behind the development of the five-factor model are based
on collecting trait terms in a language, collecting data on trait judgments, and then
aggregating the traits further in factor analyses
The ideal answer defines cross-cultural validity in some way, e.g., as universality or
generalizability across cultures.
Regarding validity, the ideal answer notes that there are two basic questions possible:
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First, do other cultures even have the same notion of a personality trait that is
relatively consistent across time and situations? The answer seems to be yes.
If yes, do those traits group in the same way to 5 factors?
For the second question, researchers can use two different strategies: Translate
existent scales from Western cultures to other languages and cultures, and test them
there, or repeat the complete scale development process in the indigenous culture,
and see whether the same factors are found
Overall, various lines of evidence suggest that 4 of the 5 factors are quite consistent across
cultures: all except openness. This fifth factor seems to take on different meanings even in
various Western cultures, or to split up in two separate factors. For instance, in the HEXACO
model, which is based on a cross-cultural comparison to begin with, a sixth factor is added
(honesty-humility).
The minimal answer
Lists the 5 factors
Notes that the question is whether the same 5 factors would be found in other cultures or
languages
Describes that this is largely true except for openness.