Question 1

Lixue and Hayk are in an unhappy marriage. When Hayk brings home flowers, Lixue thinks "There must have been a sale at the grocery store" or "I suppose those are leftover from some party at work." Her attribution reflects the attribution of a ________ behavior to an ________ cause.

Accepted Answer

A)  negative; internal 
B)  negative; external 
C)  positive; internal 
D)  positive; external

Question 2

Manaka is from Japan, and just won a gold medal at the Olympics. When interviewed about what she thinks contributed to her success, she is most likely to answer

Accepted Answer

A)  "I've just got the right stuff!" 
B)  "My opponents had bad days." 
C)  "I've had so much support from my coach and family." 
D)  "I don't deserve this."

Question 3

Chapter 1 of the textbook introduced the idea that people often behave and think in ways to protect their self-esteem. Which of the following will help do that?

Accepted Answer

A)  self-serving attributions 
B)  representativeness heuristic 
C)  covariation model 
D)  implicit personality theory

Question 4

Western (United States) is to ________ as Eastern is to ________. All of the following pairs complete this analogy accurately except:

Accepted Answer

A)  individualist; collectivist 
B)  autonomy; interdependence 
C)  internal traits; situational context 
D)  conformity; independence

Question 5

The authors of your text present a study by Masuda and his colleagues (2008) that examined cultural differences in social perception. They compared how participants perceived a central character when the surrounding characters in a picture either matched or mismatched the central character's facial expression. When the central and peripheral characters' expressions do not match, Japanese participants were most likely to

Accepted Answer

A)  keep their judgments the same as it would be if the peripheral people's expressions matched. 
B)  think that the central character felt the opposite of the peripheral characters. 
C)  rate the central character more similarly to the peripheral characters. 
D)  rate all characters as being less emotional.

Question 6

When people make the fundamental attribution error, they tend to

Accepted Answer

A)  overestimate the situational constraints on people's behavior. 
B)  underestimate the direct causes of people's behavior. 
C)  underestimate the situational constraints on people's behavior. 
D)  overestimate the proximal causes of people's behavior.

Question 7

The tendency to assume that human behavior is caused by the kind of person who enacts it was labeled as the "fundamental attribution error" because it is

Accepted Answer

A)  so pervasive. 
B)  species specific. 
C)  culture specific. 
D)  acquired so early in life.

Question 8

Researchers have found that couples who are happy in their marriages make very different attributions for their partners' behaviors than couples who are unhappy. Specifically, couples in happy marriages make ________, while couples in unhappy marriages make ________.

Accepted Answer

A)  external attributions for their partners' behavior; internal attributions for their partners' behavior. 
B)  internal attributions for their partners' behavior; external attributions for their partners' behavior. 
C)  external attributions for negative behavior and internal attributions for positive behavior; internal attributions for negative behavior and external for positive. 
D)  internal attributions for negative behavior and external attributions for positive behavior; external attributions for negative behavior and internal for positive.

Question 9

The authors of your text report a story of a homeless man who spent his only quarter to find out why a couple (whose love letters he'd read) had broken up. This story demonstrates

Accepted Answer

A)  that homeless people make irrational decisions. 
B)  that people tend to be very nosey. 
C)  the idea that people are fascinated with the human condition. 
D)  the need people have for belonging.

Question 10

According to research presented in this chapter, there are two steps involved in the attribution process. When Emma makes an attributional error, it's because she neglects to

Accepted Answer

A)  adjust for situational factors. 
B)  switch to automatic processing. 
C)  control for emotional influences. 
D)  focus on dispositional factors.

Question 11

Harry is an American, and he just missed the lyrics in a karaoke contest at his local bar. Which of the following is he least likely to express?

Accepted Answer

A)  shame 
B)  pride 
C)  disgust 
D)  fear

Question 12

Making attributions about others' behaviors is a multi-step process. How many steps are involved? What attribution do people tend to initially make, and when would individuals proceed past the initial step?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Making attributions about others' behaviors is a...

Question 13

Recall that even when participants in an experiment conducted by Jones and Harris (1967) were told that people were assigned to write an essay sympathetic to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, they still were willing to assume that the essay reflected the writer's true "pro-Castro" attitudes. In this experiment, how could people have avoided the fundamental attribution error? They could have assumed

Accepted Answer

A)  that the essay writer's attitude was pro-Castro, and as extreme as that of the essay he or she wrote. 
B)  that the essay writer's attitude was pro-Castro, but probably less extreme than the essay he or she wrote. 
C)  that the essay writer's attitude was anti-Castro. 
D)  nothing, and rated the essay writer's attitude in the midpoint of the pro- and anti-Castro scale.

Question 14

Results from cross-cultural studies of impression formation indicate that

Accepted Answer

A)  the language we use influences the implicit personality theories we use and thus the impressions we form. 
B)  language has little impact on impression formation because nonverbal influences are so powerful. 
C)  implicit personality theories are surprisingly similar across cultures. 
D)  there is little relationship between language and implicit personality theories.

Question 15

According to research by Markus and colleagues (2006), American Olympic gold medal winners are more likely to attribute their win to ________ than Japanese gold medal winners.

Accepted Answer

A)  their own unique talents and abilities 
B)  their coach's support and training 
C)  their parents, friends, and God 
D)  the poor performance of their opponents

Question 16

In a study by Hedden and his colleagues (2008) examining brain activity, East Asians and European Americans underwent an fMRI while focusing on either a target or the context of a picture. When asked to focus on the context of a picture, European Americans' ________ regions of the brain were more active.

Accepted Answer

A)  occipital 
B)  limbic 
C)  frontal and parietal 
D)  temporal

Question 17

Judy forms a circle with her thumb and forefinger to communicate to her sister that everything is okay. Although in America this is a common gesture, it may be interpreted differently elsewhere in the world. What kind of gesture is this?

Accepted Answer

A)  display rule 
B)  emblem 
C)  hand-purse 
D)  universal

Question 18

Even if an observer has information about an actor's situation available, why might the observer still be likely to commit the fundamental attribution error?

Accepted Answer

A)  reliance on the base rate heuristic 
B)  People tend to rely on stereotypes. 
C)  It is difficult to know how an actor interprets a situation. 
D)  People tend to rely on the availability and adjustment heuristic.

Question 19

Emre has a baby face. Noam just met him. What is Noam likely to think about Emre?

Accepted Answer

A)  "He's a very warm and naïve person." 
B)  "He's a very outgoing and stubborn person." 
C)  "He's a very mature and responsible person." 
D)  "He's a very independent and talkative person."

Question 20

Ekman and his colleagues have identified ________ universal facial expressions in their research.

Accepted Answer

A)  three 
B)  six 
C)  nine 
D)  twelve

Exam 4: Social Perception: How We Come to Understand Other People

Lixue and Hayk are in an unhappy marriage. When Hayk brings home flowers, Lixue thinks "There must have been a sale at the grocery store" or "I suppose those are leftover from some party at work." Her attribution reflects the attribution of a behavior to an cause.