Exam 4: Choices and Actions: The Self in Control

When making decisions, people often focus too much on the____________________aspects of the decision and too little on the____________________aspects of the decision.

Aimee is moving to a new state and has looked at numerous houses. She is avoiding making a decision on which one to purchase because she knows once she chooses, she may find a better house she would have loved even more. What best explains Aimee's decision avoidance?

Research on suicide notes shows that when people leave notes, the notes tend to ____.

Maureen thinks that her abilities are fluid and capable of changing and developing over time. She decides to try to learn to garden. Her first year of planting is a complete failure--nearly every plant dies. She only harvests a few tomatoes. Given what you know about Maureen, what can you predict about her interest in gardening?

Research indicates that when people are setting goals, they tend to think in a(n) ____ way, and when they are pursuing or striving for goals, they to think in a(n) ____ way.

Research on proximal goals, distal goals, and goal hierarchies suggests that MOST people ____.

Suppose that an annoying co-worker is always making passes at you and trying to ask you out on dates. Research on the panic button effect suggests that you would be less troubled by this person if ____.

When asked whether they have any current goals or personal projects, only about 50% of people indicate that they do; other people are unable to identify any current goals that they have.

Self-determination theory states that people have an innate need ____.

When pursuit of a goal has been interrupted, and people experience automatic, intrusive thoughts about that goal, they are said to be experiencing the ____________________ effect.

Research suggests that dieters are most successful in losing weight ____.

According to the research on goal setting and achievement, if all of the students below had similar track records, which of them should we expect to perform BEST in school in the coming month?

The common notion of willpower is known as ____________________ by psychologists who study self-regulation.

When is the best time for a person to try to quit a habit like smoking?

When people are making decisions among several different choices (e.g., choosing a car to purchase), there are several patterns of irrational thought to which they commonly fall prey. Please identify and discuss three of these.

Do people usually think in optimistic or overly ambitious ways when they are setting goals and/or striving to achieve goals?

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

Habits are largely controlled by the ____ system.

The tendency to give more weight to possible losses than to possible gains when making decisions that require trade-offs is known as ____.

Dr. Mischel is conducting an experiment with young children. He tells each child that they have a choice to make: They can have a cookie right now, OR they can wait ten minutes and get two cookies. Dr. Mischel appears to be measuring ____.