Exam 4: Choices and Actions: The Self in Control

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 ____.

People who have suicidal tendencies tend to be ____.

Capacity for change is one of the key ingredients for successful self-regulation, and is essentially the same thing as ____.

When people make short-range decisions (e.g., what they are going to do that week) rather than long-range decisions (e.g., decisions about things that are far off in the future), they tend to focus more on ____.

When experimental manipulations have induced people to reject their free will, they tend to ____.

The ability to make immediate sacrifices for later rewards is known as ____.

The so-called panic button effect refers to the tendency for people ____.

Monitoring is one of the key components of self-regulation.

Rachel has taken French for years and is very good at it. Nonetheless, she just enrolled in Intermediate French (which will be easy for her) rather than Advanced French (which will be slightly challenging but not impossible). It is probably safe to assume that Rachel ____.

Research on entity and incremental theorists has shown that they tend to make different kinds of attributions for other people's behaviors. Specifically, compared to entity theorists, incremental theorists tend to make more ____, for example suggesting that others' behaviors are the result of ____.

Research findings suggesting that people become less prosocial when induced to reject their belief in free will most likely indicate that ____.

Suicidal people tend to focus a lot on the future and how miserable it appears to be.

The idea that at least some of our activities must be motivated by their inner drives and choices, rather than by external factors, reflects ____.

Suppose that you went out on two dates with someone from one of your classes. You were not crazy about the person, but you did not dislike the person either. You thought that you would just wait and see how things turned out. Surprisingly, however, the person sent you an e-mail after your second date and wrote: "I just don't think we have good chemistry, but it was nice meeting you! Sayonara!" All of a sudden, the person becomes much more attractive to you. You wonder what you did wrong, and you strategize about how to get another chance. You are most likely experiencing ____.

Among humans, greater freedom is associated with ____.

Suppose that Peter hates his job as a medical assistant. Research on the panic button effect would suggest that Peter would hate his job less if ____.

Research on habits shows that if you want to break a habit it helps to

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. It appears that Dr. Mischel is measuring the children's capacity to ____________________.

Even though Mildred knows that her relationship with her boyfriend is in trouble, she decides not to do anything about it (i.e., she will simply neglect the relationship and let it slowly fall to pieces). Social psychologists would say that her decision to do nothing most reflects ____.

Research on entity and incremental theorists has shown that, compared to Japanese athletes, American athletes are more likely to be ____ theorists, and thus more likely to view their athletic skills as ____.