Question 1

When people in Western countries try to find reasons for someone else's behavior, they tend to:
A) ignore dispositional attributions in favor of situational attributions.
B) leap to the attribution that people's behaviors correspond to the context.
C) explore the personality traits and the environmental constraints to derive an explanation.
D) overestimate personality traits and underestimate the influence of the situation.

Accepted Answer

Western cultures tend to fall prey to the fundamental attribution error, which means they overestimate personality traits and underestimate the impact of the situation on a person's behavior. Therefore, D is the best answer.

Question 2

______________ refers to the tendency to overestimate dispositional influences (and underestimate situational influences) when explaining another person's behavior.
A) Cognitive dissonance
B) The fundamental attribution error
C) Diffusion of responsibility
D) Deindividuation

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency to overemphasize dispositional factors (personal traits or characteristics) and underestimate situational influences when explaining someone else's behavior. This means that people often assume that someone's behavior is consistent with their personality or traits, rather than looking at the context or situation that may have influenced their behavior.

Question 3

The tendency for people to take personal credit for their good actions, but blame the situation for their mistakes, is known as the:
A) fundamental attribution error.
B) just-world bias
C) validity effect.
D) self-serving bias.

Accepted Answer

The tendency for people to take credit for their good actions but blame the situation for their mistakes is known as the self-serving bias. This bias protects our self-esteem by attributing positive outcomes to our own abilities, but negative outcomes to external factors beyond our control.

Question 4

Which of the following is true about obedience?
A) Obedience is not always harmful or bad, and is necessary in many cases.
B) Most people follow orders because they secretly enjoy being told what to do.
C) Most people follow orders despite a strong desire to "rock the boat."
D) Entrapment is a process that helps people disobey.

Accepted Answer

Obedience can be necessary and beneficial in many situations, such as following traffic rules, obeying laws, or following safety procedures. It is not always harmful or bad.

Question 5

When we make situational attributions, we are identifying the cause of an action as something:
A) in the environment.
B) in the person's disposition.
C) that is a biological trait.
D) in the unconscious.

Accepted Answer

Situational attributions are about identifying external factors or environmental conditions as the cause of someone's behavior rather than their internal character or personality.

Question 6

In the Stanford prison study, male college students agreed to participate in a two-week experiment to discover what would happen when they took on the roles of prisoners and guards. The researchers found that:
A) within a short time the prisoners became distressed and felt helpless, developing emotional symptoms and physical ailments.
B) about five percent of the guards became tyrannical, giving the prisoners electric shocks when they were slow in obeying their orders.
C) 90 percent of the guards tried to be "tough but fair" and demanded that the tyrannical guards lighten up on the prisoners because it was only a simulation.
D) the study was conducted in an unused wing of a real prison; therefore, the realistic atmosphere enhanced the role behavior of prisoners and guards.

Accepted Answer

The Stanford prison study found that within a short time the prisoners became distressed and felt helpless, developing emotional symptoms and physical ailments. The study showed the negative effects of power dynamics and dehumanization within a simulated prison environment.

Question 7

Which of the following is an example of entrapment as it relates to obedience?
A) A friend who is moving asks you to bring over a few empty boxes; when you arrive, he asks you to fill the boxes with dishes, and before you realize, you've packed his entire kitchen.
B) A friend convinces you that it would be fun to stand backwards in the checkout line of the grocery store, and other customers gawk at you.
C) A friend invites you to her wedding, but then complains that the gift you brought wasn't expensive enough.
D) A friend encourages you to participate in a music competition and gives you tips to maintain poise and relax. When the competition commences, he nags you with more suggestions.

Accepted Answer

Entrapment refers to a situation where an individual is gradually drawn into a particular behavior without full awareness of the consequences, usually due to initial agreement for something that turns out to be more than expected. In this scenario, the friend starts with a simple request for empty boxes, but then surreptitiously turns it into a request to pack the entire kitchen, leading the individual to conform to the request without realizing they are under duress. The other options do not fit the definition of entrapment.

Question 8

________ occurs when a person chooses attributions for his or her own behavior that are favorable.
A) The fundamental attribution error
B) The just-world error
C) The self-serving bias
D) Entrapment

Accepted Answer

The self-serving bias occurs when a person believes that positive outcomes are a result of their own abilities or efforts, while negative outcomes are attributed to external factors. This bias allows for individuals to maintain their self-esteem and avoid feelings of incompetence or failure.

Question 9

According to attribution theory, the explanations we give for our behavior and the behavior of others generally fall into two categories:
A) dispositional and situational.
B) environmental and situational.
C) mental and physical
D) implicit and explicit.

Accepted Answer

Attribution theory suggests that people explain behavior in terms of either dispositional factors (internal, such as personality traits) or situational factors (external, such as environmental influences).

Question 10

________ is defined as a gradual process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort.
A) Motivation
B) Entrapment
C) Acculturation
D) Conformity

Accepted Answer

Entrapment is the gradual process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort. As the individual invests more in the course of action, the perceived cost of abandoning it increases, which leads to further investment and entrapment. This can happen in various contexts, such as gambling, business decisions, or military conflict.

Question 11

According to C. P. Snow, "more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of ________ than in the name of rebellion."
A) obedience
B) conformity
C) religion
D) the law

Accepted Answer

C. P. Snow is known for stating that more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than in the name of rebellion, highlighting the dangers of blindly following orders without ethical consideration.

Question 12

In which of the following countries would the fundamental attribution error be more prevalent?
A) India
B) Canada
C) China
D) Japan

Accepted Answer

The fundamental attribution error is more prevalent in individualistic cultures, such as Canada, where people tend to prioritize individual identity over group identity and are more likely to attribute behavior to individual personality traits rather than situational factors. India, China, and Japan are considered more collectivist societies, where the context and group dynamics are more often taken into account when explaining behavior.

Question 13

The Stanford prison study demonstrates how a person's ________ affect(s) behavior.
A) beliefs
B) values
C) role
D) past experience

Accepted Answer

The Stanford prison study was designed to investigate how an individual's assigned social roles affect their behavior. In this experiment, participants were randomly assigned to play the role of either a prisoner or a guard in a simulated prison environment, and the results showed that participants quickly adapted to their assigned roles, with the guards exhibiting abusive behavior and the prisoners becoming passive and submissive. This suggests that social roles and situational factors can have a powerful influence on human behavior.

Question 14

Janet, an administrative assistant at a London firm, is trying to find reasons for her boss's hostile behavior. She is likely to:
A) ignore her boss's dispositional attributions in favor of situational attributions.
B) leap to the attribution that her boss's behavior corresponds to work demands.
C) explore her boss's personality traits and the environmental constraints to derive an explanation.
D) overestimate her boss's personality traits and underestimate the influence of the situation.

Accepted Answer

Janet is likely to overestimate her boss's personality traits and underestimate the influence of the situation, a common tendency known as the fundamental attribution error. This error leads individuals to attribute others' behaviors more to their character and less to external factors.

Question 15

While stuck in a traffic jam, Yani notices a frustrated driver frequently honking his horn. Yani thinks to himself, "That driver is a real jerk!" This is an example of a _______________ attribution.
A) situational
B) dispositional
C) self-serving
D) prejudiced

Accepted Answer

Yani's attribution of the driver as a "real jerk" suggests a dispositional attribution, where Yani is making a negative judgment about the driver's character rather than considering situational factors that may be impacting the driver's behavior.

Question 16

Researchers in the area of ________ examine how people's perception of themselves and others affect their relationships.
A) psychoanalysis
B) sociobiology
C) social cognition
D) experimental psychology

Accepted Answer

Social cognition is a field of study that focuses on how people process, store, and use information about themselves and others in social situations. This includes examining how people's self-perception and perception of others affect their interactions and relationships with those individuals. Therefore, social cognition is the best choice for this question.

Question 17

Social _______________ refers to the effect of social influences on thought, memory, perception, and beliefs.
A) attribution
B) entrapment
C) dissonance
D) cognition

Accepted Answer

Social cognition refers to the impact of social factors on cognitive processes such as thinking, memory, perception, and beliefs. Attribution refers to the process of explaining the causes of behaviors, entrapment is a phenomenon where people feel stuck in a situation they can't escape, and cognitive dissonance is the discomfort people feel when their beliefs or behaviors conflict with each other.

Question 18

Critics of the Stanford prison study argue that:
A) the methodology was flawed, because participants were not randomly assigned to either the prisoner role or the guard role.
B) by stopping the study after six days, instead of letting it continue for the two-week experimental period, the researchers had not allowed enough time for dramatic change to occur.
C) a makeshift prison in the basement of a university building was not an effective setting to investigate the factors involved.
D) briefing the guards at the beginning of the study influenced their behavior, and the study merely showed how willingly people obey orders.

Accepted Answer

Critics argue that briefing the guards at the beginning of the study influenced their behavior, and the study merely showed how willingly people obey orders. This suggests that the study did not actually measure a particular aspect of human behavior or psychology, but rather demonstrated a situation where individuals willingly comply with authority figures.

Question 19

The basic asymmetry in social perception is due, in part, to the ________, which makes you feel good about yourself even when you shouldn't.
A) confidence quotient
B) fundamental attribution error
C) self-serving bias
D) familiarity effect

Accepted Answer

The self-serving bias is the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame external factors, such as other people or situational characteristics, for failure. This bias can lead to an overestimation of one's abilities and accomplishments, and an underestimation of the contributions of others. As a result, it creates a basic asymmetry in social perception, where individuals tend to see themselves in a more positive light than others.

Question 20

Attribution theory examines:
A) the explanations people make about the causes of their own behaviors and the behaviors of others.
B) the psychological traits or "attributes" that a person possesses.
C) the way in which attitudes affect our behavior.
D) the tension caused by holding two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent.

Accepted Answer

Attribution theory is concerned with the explanations people make about the causes of their own behaviors and the behaviors of others. It explores how people make judgments about the causes of behavior, based on internal or external factors, and how these judgments can influence attitudes and behaviors.

Quiz 8: Behavior in Social and Cultural Context

When people in Western countries try to find reasons for someone else's behavior, they tend to:

______________ refers to the tendency to overestimate dispositional influences (and underestimate situational influences) when explaining another person's behavior.

The tendency for people to take personal credit for their good actions, but blame the situation for their mistakes, is known as the:

Which of the following is true about obedience?

When we make situational attributions, we are identifying the cause of an action as something:

In the Stanford prison study, male college students agreed to participate in a two-week experiment to discover what would happen when they took on the roles of prisoners and guards. The researchers found that:

Which of the following is an example of entrapment as it relates to obedience?

________ occurs when a person chooses attributions for his or her own behavior that are favorable.

According to attribution theory, the explanations we give for our behavior and the behavior of others generally fall into two categories:

________ is defined as a gradual process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort.

According to C. P. Snow, "more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of ________ than in the name of rebellion."

In which of the following countries would the fundamental attribution error be more prevalent?

The Stanford prison study demonstrates how a person's ________ affect(s) behavior.

Janet, an administrative assistant at a London firm, is trying to find reasons for her boss's hostile behavior. She is likely to:

While stuck in a traffic jam, Yani notices a frustrated driver frequently honking his horn. Yani thinks to himself, "That driver is a real jerk!" This is an example of a _______________ attribution.

Researchers in the area of ________ examine how people's perception of themselves and others affect their relationships.

Social _______________ refers to the effect of social influences on thought, memory, perception, and beliefs.

Critics of the Stanford prison study argue that:

The basic asymmetry in social perception is due, in part, to the ________, which makes you feel good about yourself even when you shouldn't.

Attribution theory examines: