Exam 4: Behavior Control: the Self in Action

When you are deciding between two apartments, assuming you can afford both of them and they are both adequate for your needs, what feature should you pay most attention to if you want to maximize your satisfaction with the apartment a year after you have moved in?

Of the following people, who is at greatest risk for suicide?

Artie and his wife are making some important financial decisions and cannot seem to agree on what they should or should not do. The preference for avoiding certain types of risks is consistent with ____ theory.

How are habits related to the different processing systems humans use?

Habits are largely controlled by the ____ system.

The status quo bias is one form of ____ in decision-making.

Ursula believes that traits and abilities as fixed at birth and remain the same no matter what. By contrast, Yuri believes that people develop their traits and abilities across time, and that they can become better and better with practice. Social psychologists would say that Ursula is a(n)____ while Yuri is a(n)____.

Dierdre smokes a pack of Marlboro Reds every day. Social psychologists would say that this is a self-defeating behavior ____.

William James, the father of American psychology, once wrote: "Thinking is for doing." What did he mean by this?

According to ________________ theory, most people need to feel at least some degree of autonomy and internal motivation.

According to error management theory, when it comes to making decisions about dating members of the opposite sex, men will be relatively more prone to ____, while women will be relatively more prone to ____.

Social psychologists use the term ____ to self's capacity to alter its own responses.

According to the text, many of the problems that afflict people in modern society -such as drug addictions, anger management problems, obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, and crime-involve some component of inadequate ____.

Even though she knows that most people take much longer than they anticipate in finishing their dissertations (sometimes even years longer), Tyra is certain that she will be able to conduct her dissertation research, write up her dissertation, and defend it to her dissertation committee, all within nine months. She is sure that if she works hard she will be able to successfully finish on schedule. Tyra appears to be ____.

As discussed in the text, when purchasing a car, people end up paying a bit more attention than intended to choices such as color and engine size, and a bit less attention than intended on information such as the chances of fatalities should there be an accident with the car. This pattern can be taken as evidence for ____.

Reactance theory and self-determination theory both suggest that a sense of freedom and autonomy is important to people.

Error management theory suggests that, when it comes to dating and mating members of the opposite sex, men will be more prone to ____ than women.

Participants in a study of decision making were asked to rate a particular financial solution for solving a dispute with a neighbor. Half of the participants rated the favorability of a solution in which they would receive $600 and their neighbor would receive $800; the other half of participants rated a solution in which each received $500. Which option was most favorably rated?

According to the text, one key reason that people engage in self-defeating behaviors is because of ____.

Carefully controlled research testing the idea that many people have a "fear of success," and therefore sabotage their careers, has shown that ____.