Chapter Seventeen Social Cognition

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 2 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)attributions. b)social influence. c)self-fulfilling prophecies. d)the outgroup homogeneity bias.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 3 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)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 4 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)Consensus b)Consistency c)Distinctiveness d)Culture

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 5 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)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 6 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.”

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 7 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)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 8 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)being a great CEO b)the fundamental attribution error c)the bystander effect d)the self-serving bias

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 9 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 self- esteem. (Chapter 17, Biases in Attribution section)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 10 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

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 11 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)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 12 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)Social identity theory b)Realistic conflict theory c)Diminishing returns theory d)Social facilitation theory

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 13 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 in- group 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)