Download Chapter Seventeen Social Cognition

Chapter Seventeen
Social Cognition
Question
A baseball coach has the initial
impression, based on the performance of
his players in their first practice, that his
team is not very talented. In order to avoid
a long losing season, you may want to
inform him of the power of
a)
b)
c)
d)
attributions.
social influence.
self-fulfilling prophecies.
the outgroup homogeneity bias.
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Answer
Choice c is correct.
A self-fulfilling prophecy involves a
process in which an initial impression
causes us to bring out behavior in other
people that serves to confirm that initial
impression. (Chapter 17, First
Impressions section)
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Question
Harold Kelley’s model of the sources of
attributions suggests that people evaluate
three key variables. Which of the following
is NOT one of the variables in Kelley’s
model?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Consensus
Consistency
Distinctiveness
Culture
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Answer
Choice d is correct.
Kelley’s model highlights the role of
consensus, consistency, and
distinctiveness as variables that people
consider in making attributions for other
people’s behavior. (Chapter 17,
Explaining Behavior: Attribution section)
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Question
Your professor might be making the
fundamental attribution error if she came up
with which of the following explanations for the
poor performance of her class on the first
exam?
a) “My students are lazy. If they had studied, they
wouldn’t have done so poorly.”
b) “I’m a terrible teacher. I know I should have
sold Avon products instead.”
c) “The students were probably just distracted on
the first exam because I walked around the
room singing “Beat It.”
d) “If I had made an easier test, then they
would’ve done better.”
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Answer
Choice a is correct.
The fundamental attribution error involves a
bias towards making an internal attribution for
the behavior of others. In this instance, the
teacher is attributing her students’ poor
performance to their laziness (an internal
factor), rather than to a variety of other potential
external factors (e.g., family emergency,
blizzard, etc.). (Chapter 17, Biases in Attribution
section)
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Question
You have an annoying boss. Any time
things go wrong, he blames you and your
coworkers. Any time things go right, he
takes all of the credit. It sounds like he is
showing evidence of ____________.
a)
b)
c)
d)
being a great CEO
the fundamental attribution error
the bystander effect
the self-serving bias
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Answer
Choice d is correct.
The self-serving bias involves attributing
one’s successes to internal characteristics
while blaming one’s failures on external
causes. It occurs, in part, because people
are motivated to maintain their selfesteem. (Chapter 17, Biases in Attribution
section)
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Question
Cognitive dissonance, as described by Leon
Festinger, is most likely to occur for which of the
following individuals?
a) Joe, who loves dogs, but works at a pet shop
that sells only cats
b) Bob, who works in public health education, but
drinks and smokes heavily
c) Sue, who loves children and works at a day
care center
d) Eve, who has multiple personalities and four
different jobs
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Answer
Choice b is correct.
Cognitive dissonance occurs when there
is a discrepancy between a person’s
thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes and a
person’s behavior. In Bob’s case, his
drinking and smoking is at odds with what
he preaches to patients every day as a
public health educator. (Chapter 17,
Changing Attitudes section)
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Question
Pride in your own school and discrimination
towards students from a competing school
might be driven by your motivation to identify
with your school and a tendency to see it as
better than other schools. This scenario is
consistent with which of the following theories
attempting to explain prejudice, stereotyping,
and discrimination?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Social identity theory
Realistic conflict theory
Diminishing returns theory
Social facilitation theory
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Answer
Choice a is correct.
Social identity theory focuses on the role
of connections with one’s in-group and
how such identification with one’s ingroup can lead to seeing all members of
out-groups as less attractive in any of
various ways. (Chapter 17, Theories of
Prejudice and Stereotyping section)
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