Deck 4: Thinking About People and Events

Question 1

The tendency to see a causal relationship between an event and an outcome when they happen at the same time is referred to as _____.

A) the misinformation effect
B) correspondent inference
C) the fundamental attribution error
D) the covariation principle

Answer 1

the covariation principle

Question 2

The tendency to make internal attributions for the behavior of others and external attributions for our own behavior is referred to as _____.

A) the actor-observer effect
B) the fundamental attribution error
C) locus of causality
D) the misinformation effect

Answer 2

the actor-observer effect

Question 3

According to Kelley's covariation model of attributions, if we know that someone's opinion has high distinctiveness, what does that MOST CLEARLY tell us about their opinion?

A) that it is caused by an internal factor
B) that it is caused by an external factor
C) that it is stable
D) that it is unstable

Answer 3

that it is caused by an external factor

Question 4

If Jorge believes he performed poorly on a test because he is unintelligent, he is making a(n) _____ attribution about his behavior.

A) unstable external
B) stable internal
C) unstable internal
D) stable external

Question 5

The tendency to assume that information that comes easily to mind is more frequent or common is referred to as the _____; the tendency to judge how frequently an event occurs on the basis of how readily one can call to mind examples of that event is referred to as the _____.

A) representativeness heuristic; correspondent inference
B) correspondent inference; representativeness heuristic
C) availability heuristic; ease of retrieval effect
D) ease of retrieval effect; availability heuristic

Question 6

A(n) _____ theory sees a particular attribute as something malleable that can increase or decrease.

A) entity
B) incremental
C) external
D) internal

Question 7

Which of the following cultural variables is LESS likely to influence people to commit the fundamental attribution error?

A) individualism
B) Protestantism
C) lower SES
D) higher SES

Question 8

The misinformation effect is:

A) the tendency for people to believe an object belongs to a category if it clearly has features of that category.
B) the tendency for people to believe a behavior is common if they can easily recall past instances of that behavior.
C) the fact that individuals are more confident in the accuracy of their self-relevant memories than other individuals who were also present.
D) the process by which cues that are given after an event can plant false information into memory.

Question 9

People generally remember events as:

A) more positive than they actually were.
B) more negative than they actually were.
C) more self-relevant than they actually were.
D) more close in time than they actually were.

Question 10

Information that is currently activated is _____, while information from past experience that may or may not be currently activated is _____.

A) low distinctiveness; high consistency
B) high consistency; low distinctiveness
C) in short-term memory; in long-term memory
D) in long-term memory; in short-term memory

Question 11

When are we more likely to remember schema-inconsistent behaviors?

A) if we have a schema before we are presented with information
B) if we form a schema after we are presented with information
C) when we are fatigued
D) when the information is not highly salient

Question 12

Studies on the negativity bias suggest that:

A) we generally imagine that the future will be more negative.
B) we generally remember past events as more negative.
C) we are more likely to remember when someone whom we think is bad does something good.
D) we are more likely to remember when someone whom we think is good does something bad.

Question 13

Locus of causality refers to:

A) whether a behavior is either an aspect of the actor or the environment in which they are in.
B) the person in one's environment whom one sees as having the most control over one's life.
C) the dimension of an attribution that the individual perceives to be most central.
D) the extent to which a person thinks they are capable of performing a future action.

Question 14

Which of the following statements reflects a reason why people often experience the phenomenon of false consensus?

A) People typically expose themselves to diverse forms of news media.
B) People have a narcissistic tendency to believe that they are the only ones who have a certain opinion.
C) A person's own opinions are typically not very cognitively salient to them.
D) People tend to associate with others who share their opinions and lifestyle.

Question 15

Gita hears a description of a person who sounds very much like an engineer. Even if Gita knows that the person goes to a college where engineering is a very unpopular degree, he is still as likely to believe that the person is an engineer as he would be if he knew that person went to a college known for engineering. This is an example of _____.

A) the representativeness heuristic
B) the availability heuristic
C) the primacy effect
D) the ease of retrieval effect

Question 16

The tendency to attribute behavior to internal qualities of an actor and underestimate situational factors is referred to as _____.

A) causal attribution
B) the fundamental attribution error
C) the availability heuristic
D) the representativeness heuristic

Question 17

According to the three-stage model of dispositional attribution, under which circumstances is a person LEAST likely to commit the fundamental attribution error?

A) when they are rushed to make a decision
B) when they are under cognitive load
C) when they are distracted or too tired to pay close attention to the situation
D) when they are highly motivated to make an accurate attribution

Question 18

When an event is likely to reoccur, and will be under our control in the future, what is the most helpful response to a current negative outcome?

A) Do not engage in any counterfactuals.
B) Engage in the strongest possible counterfactual.
C) Engage in an upward counterfactual.
D) Engage in a downward counterfactual.

Question 19

Shalom sees a man helping another man carry his groceries across the street. Shalom decides that this man must be generous. Shalom has just made a(n) _____.

A) correspondent inference
B) external attribution
C) availability heuristic
D) mood-congruent memory

Question 20

Research suggests that girls in school tend to attribute their poor performance in math to _____ factors.

A) stable internal
B) unstable external
C) stable external
D) unstable internal

Question 21

What is the misinformation effect? How was this effect demonstrated in a classic study?

Question 22

What is theory of mind? When do individuals develop theory of mind? Do certain individuals have less theory of mind compared to others?

Question 23

What are the three steps of the model of dispositional attribution proposed by Gilbert and colleagues?

Question 24

What are the two basic dimensions of causal attribution identified by Fritz Heider?

Question 25

What are the availability heuristic and the ease-of-retrieval effect? Give an example of each, either from research or from everyday life.

Question 26

What is the relationship between schemas and memory formation? How does the sequence in which we form a schema and receive information relate to the likelihood that we will remember schema-consistent versus schema-inconsistent information?

Question 27

What is "mood-congruent memory"? Give examples of this phenomenon from research or hypothetical situations.

Question 28

Are people able to make accurate impressions of others based on brief encounters, or does accuracy require more extended interactions? Support your answer with examples from research.

Question 29

What is the relationship between personal control and counterfactuals? In what kinds of life situations is it better to generate upward versus downward counterfactuals?

Question 30

According to Kelley, what are the three sources of information that people focus on when trying to make an accurate causal attribution? Briefly describe each source.

Question 31

What is the negativity bias? How has it been demonstrated in research? What is an explanation for why people have a negativity bias?

Question 32

Describe the fundamental attribution error and the actor-observer effect.

Question 33

What are upward counterfactuals, and what are downward counterfactuals?

Question 34

What is the false consensus phenomenon? Name at least two reasons why false consensus is so common.

Question 35

What is the difference between incremental and entity theories of an ability? What are some of the positive benefits, demonstrated by research, of students having an incremental theory of intelligence?

Question 36

Consider Kelley's three sources of information which people use to make a causal attribution. Which specific combination of sources of information is most likely to lead to an external attribution? Give a hypothetical example of an external attribution and how it would be high or low on each source of information.

Question 37

What is magical thinking? Describe an example of magical thinking that has been demonstrated in psychological research.

Question 38

What is the representativeness heuristic? Describe a classic demonstration of this phenomenon in research.

Question 39

What do studies suggest about the relationship between counterfactuals and emotional reactions? Give an example to support this point.

Question 40

What is the phenomenon of correspondent inference? Name at least two of the three conditions that make a correspondent inference more likely to occur.

Question 41

At the beginning of a romantic relationship, Reema feels like she may or may not be in love with her new partner. Half a year later, Reema feels very much in love and is contemplating getting married to her partner. What does research suggest Reema's memory will be of the beginning of her relationship?

A) She will remember that she wasn't sure if she was in love at first.
B) She will remember that she didn't love her partner at all.
C) She will remember being in love with her partner from the beginning.
D) She will not be able to remember the beginning of the relationship.

Question 42

Which of the following is an example of an availability heuristic?

A) being more afraid of flying than driving because of heavy media coverage of airplane crashes
B) believing that a friend failed a test due to lack of intelligence, whereas you failed the test because you were unable to study due to various factors
C) being more afraid of bees than sharks because more people are stung by bees than hurt by sharks each year
D) being more upset about missing an important flight by a few minutes than about missing it by several hours

Question 43

The process by which cues that are given after an event can plant false information into memory is referred to as _____.

A) mood-congruent memory
B) dialecticism
C) the misinformation effect
D) the availability heuristic

Question 44

The ease of retrieval effect refers to the fact that:

A) people are more likely to judge personal rather than situational factors as having an influence in others' behavior.
B) it's easier to retrieve long-term memories than to form new ones.
C) people judge how frequently an event occurs on the basis of how easily they can retrieve examples of that event.
D) people with better memories find it easier to retrieve events from long-term memory than those who have worse memories.

Question 45

Which of the following reasons is NOT a likely reason why repressed memories may actually be false?

A) A person who claims to have such a memory is usually seeking help from a therapist, and is therefore motivated to find a cause for their suffering.
B) The person with the memory may be working with a therapist who believes in repressed memories, and could be encouraging this interpretation with leading questions.
C) A person who could believe that the events that are supposedly repressed happened is probably susceptible to influence, and thus might develop a memory of them.
D) Research suggests that it is impossible for any memory to be outside of conscious awareness.

Question 46

Hae Min is trying to remember the day that her friend Carlos went missing. The police are asking her to recall everything about that day as part of their investigation of Carlos's disappearance. Which of the following statements BEST characterizes what Hae Min's process of remembering the day will be like?

A) Hae Min will not be able to remember everything that happened that day, but the memories that she does have will be accurate reflections of reality.
B) Hae Min's recollection of the day will be a mixture of short-term and long-term memories.
C) Her memory of the day will be a fragmentary and reconstructive process, biased by her schemas, and she will only be able to remember some pieces of information, subjectively interpreted.
D) Because an important event in her life happened on that day, Hae Min will be able to remember most of the details of the day with almost photographic accuracy.

Question 47

The term "mood-congruent memory" refers to the fact that:

A) people are more likely to remember negative information when in a negative mood, and positive information in a positive mood.
B) memory tends to be driven by the mood we are feeling at the time that we are forming a memory.
C) our mood at any point in time is primarily determined by our memories .
D) overall, people are more likely to remember events as more negative than they actually were.

Question 48

The tendency to assume that information that comes easily to mind is more frequent or common is referred to as the _____.

A) fundamental attribution error
B) availability heuristic
C) correspondent inference
D) misinformation effect

Question 49

Which of the following conditions does NOT increase the likelihood that people will remember schema-inconsistent information?

A) if the information is highly salient
B) if the schema being violated is highly important to the person
C) if people have the cognitive resources to notice and process the information
D) if people are motivated to make sense of the information

Question 50

If we are given a schema for thinking about a person before observing their behaviors, we are more likely to remember _____; but if we are given a schema for thinking about a person after observing their behaviors, we are more likely to remember _____.

A) negative behaviors; positive behaviors
B) positive behaviors; negative behaviors
C) schema-consistent behaviors; schema-inconsistent behaviors
D) schema-inconsistent behaviors; schema-consistent behaviors

Question 51

Which of the following statements is an accurate description of the relationship between schemas and memory?

A) Schemas are more important than memories for processing information.
B) Memories are more important than schemas for processing information.
C) We often remember information that matches our schemas, and ignore information that conflicts with our schemas.
D) "Schema" and "memory" are the same concept.

Question 52

In the context of social cognition, what does the concept of dialecticism refer to?

A) a tendency to oscillate back and forth between positive and negative moods when trying to recall memories
B) a tolerance for inconsistency and change in thinking about the world and others
C) a branch of philosophy that investigates the interplay between memory and emotion
D) a tendency to recall memories in schema-consistent ways

Question 53

Which of the following statements about the relationship between schema consistency and memory is MOST accurate?

A) People are equally capable of remembering schema-consistent and schema-inconsistent information in almost all contexts.
B) People are only able to remember information that is consistent with their prior schemas.
C) People are rarely ever able to remember information that is inconsistent with their schemas.
D) Sometimes people are very good at remembering highly schema-inconsistent events.

Question 54

Which of the following statements is true about the relationship between feelings and memory?

A) If an event made you feel positively or negatively, you will remember that feeling accurately.
B) People generally remember events as being more positive than they actually were.
C) People generally remember events as being more negative than they actually were.
D) People remember events as more negative than they were, but only if they feel positively about their current situation.

Question 55

Which of the following statements provides a description of the process through which information sometimes becomes a part of long-term memory?

A) Some of the information present in our current array of sensory input is encoded.
B) Information that is actively rehearsed or is otherwise distinctive, goal-relevant, or emotionally salient gets consolidated for later retrieval.
C) Information that we decide to remember becomes attached to a particular schema.
D) Information that we encounter three or more times becomes a part of our long-term memory.

Question 56

Hakeem is being asked to complete a psychology study about his childhood. At the beginning of the study, he is given a piece of candy in exchange for participating - and Hakeem loves candy. What does research suggest he will remember about his childhood?

A) He will remember a mix of positive and negative details.
B) He will primarily focus on the positive details of his childhood.
C) He will primarily focus on the negative details of his childhood.
D) He will first discuss the negative, and then secondly the positive details of his childhood.

Question 57

How does the phenomenon of mood-congruent memory explain why depressed individuals have trouble recalling past positive events?

A) Tthe same regions of the brain that cause depression are also responsible for encoding memories.
B) Since depressed people experience fewer positive events, their memories typically cause them to be in a negative mood.
C) When depressed individuals remember positive events, they usually think about them negatively.
D) Because depressed people are usually in a negative mood, it is easier for them to recall negative events.

Question 58

The process of information being stored in short-term memory is called _____, while the process of information being stored in long-term memory is called _____.

A) inference; discounting
B) consolidation; encoding
C) encoding; consolidation
D) discounting; inference

Question 59

A classic study investigated people's memory for a car accident they had watched on film. Compared to people who were asked "How fast was the car going when it hit the other car?" people who were asked "How fast was the car going when it smashed into the other car":

A) Underestimated the speed of the car.
B) Recalled that the driver of the offending car was a bad person.
C) Recalled that there was broken glass at the scene of the accident.
D) Did not recall that there was broken glass at the scene of the accident.

Question 60

Short-term memory is _____, while long-term memory is _____.

A) information that is currently activated; information from past experience that may or may not be currently activated
B) information from past experience that may or may not be currently activated; information that is currently activated
C) information that is only active for a short period of time; information that is chronically active
D) information that is chronically active; information that is only active for a short period of time

Question 61

In classic research, Dweck (1975) found that boys tend to attribute their poor performance in math to _____ factors, whereas girls tend to attribute their poor performance in math to _____ factors.

A) stable internal; stable external
B) stable internal; unstable external
C) unstable internal; stable external
D) unstable internal; stable internal

Question 62

What does research suggest is a variable that lessens the tendency of the ease of retrieval effect to influence self-perceptions?

A) whether a person is able to easily recall past instances of a behavior or not
B) the extent to which the person has a good versus a poor general working memory capacity
C) the extent to which the person connects their sense of self to their memories
D) the personal relevance of the domain in which the individual is trying to recall past behaviors

Question 63

A causal attribution is:

A) the explanation that people use for what caused a particular event or behavior.
B) a tendency to explain events in terms of the results, rather than effects.
C) the tendency to explain other people's behavior in terms of dispositional, rather than situational, factors.
D) the tendency to explain other people's behavior in terms of situational, rather than dispositional, factors.

Question 64

An _____ theory sees a particular attribute as something fixed that a person can't control or change, whereas an _____ theory sees a particular attribute as something malleable that can increase or decrease.

A) incremental; entity
B) entity; incremental
C) internal; external
D) external; internal

Question 65

A(n) _____ locus of causality refers to behavior being caused by an aspect of the actor, while a(n) _____ locus of causality refers to behavior being caused by an aspect of the situation.

A) internal; external
B) external; internal
C) short-term; long-term
D) long-term; short-term

Question 66

According to Dweck's (1975) work on attributions and academic performance, what is the most productive form of causal attribution in a learning environment?

A) unstable external
B) stable internal
C) unstable internal
D) stable external

Question 67

When we attribute to an actor the attitude, desire, or trait that corresponds to an action they have committed, this is called a(n) _____.

A) correspondent inference
B) fundamental attribution error
C) entity theory
D) incremental theory

Question 68

Chuan decides to go to a bar on a Friday night. Initially, Chuan is very happy to spend a night out. However, at the bar, he accidentally bumps into another man and spills his drink. This man becomes very angry, because he infers that Chuan intentionally knocked into him in order to spill his drink. In this scenario, what is the best example of a causal attribution?

A) Chuan's act of bumping into the man
B) Chuan's decision to go out for the night
C) the other man's inference that Chuan deliberately knocked him over
D) the happiness Chuan feels at the beginning of the night

Question 69

What does research suggest about foreign-exchange students who have strong entity theories of achievement and intelligence?

A) They are more likely to be highly proficient in their native language.
B) They are less likely to be highly proficient in their native language.
C) They are more likely to attend remedial English courses.
D) They are less likely to attend remedial English courses.

Question 70

If Tyrell believes he failed his math test because he has no mathematical intelligence, than he is making a(n) _____ attribution about his behavior.

A) external
B) internal
C) noncausal
D) fundamental

Question 71

What are the two fundamental dimensions along which Heider believed causal attributions vary?

A) externality; internality
B) stability; externality
C) locus of causality; internality
D) locus of causality; stability

Question 72

In a classic study, Heider and Simmel (1944) showed people a film clip of a large triangle and small triangle moving around and out of a larger square. When the researchers asked people what was going on in the clip, what were the findings?

A) People explained the events in terms of intentional actions committed by the shapes.
B) People simply listed the shapes that they had seen in the video.
C) People suspected that the experimenters were doing something suspicious while distracting them with the shapes.
D) The majority of the participants were completely unable to make sense of what they had seen.

Question 73

Which of the following consequences does research suggest will NOT result from convincing a person to adopt an incremental theory of intelligence?

A) They will be more persistent in response to failure.
B) They will tend not to pursue opportunities to improve their intelligence.
C) They will make fewer ability-based attributions for failure.
D) They will adopt more learning-oriented goals.

Question 74

Braden believes that if he works hard in school, he can make himself more intelligent. This suggests that Braden has an _____ theory of intelligence.

A) internal
B) external
C) incremental
D) entity

Question 75

If Saulo believes he performed poorly on a literature test because he failed to study the night before, he is making a(n) _____ attribution about his behavior.

A) unstable external
B) stable internal
C) unstable internal
D) stable external

Question 76

In which of the following cases is a person MOST likely to engage in an elaborate, thoughtful process of causal attribution to understand an event?

A) if the event clearly fits a schema from personal experience
B) if the event clearly fits a schema from the broader culture
C) if the event is something that has happened many times before
D) if the event is completely unexpected

Question 77

The dimension of attribution which refers to whether a behavior is either an aspect of the actor or the environment in which they are in is called _____.

A) fixed vs. incremental attribution
B) correspondent inference
C) causal attribution
D) locus of causality

Question 78

Ligiea believes that she failed her first test in college because she is attending a very difficult and prominent University. She is making a(n) _____ attribution about her behavior.

A) unstable external
B) stable internal
C) unstable internal
D) stable external

Question 79

Ricardo and Monique are in couple's therapy because they often argue with each other. On one day, their therapist asks each of them to think of 5 times in which they provoked the other person into an argument. On another day, their therapist asks them to think of 10 times when they did the same thing. According to research, what will the effect of the therapist's technique be on making Ricardo and Monique think of themselves as argumentative?

A) On both days, Ricardo and Monique will be equally likely to think of themselves as argumentative.
B) Due to gender differences, Ricardo is more likely to see himself as an argumentative person on both occasions.
C) Both Ricardo and Monique will probably see themselves as more argumentative on the day when they are asked to recall 5 incidents.
D) Both Ricardo and Monique will probably see themselves as more argumentative on the day when they are asked to recall 10 incidents.

Question 80

What was the major contribution of Fritz Heider to social psychology?

A) psychoanalysis and recognition of the role of unconscious drives in behavior
B) common sense psychology and recognition of the importance of how people make sense of the everyday world
C) behaviorism and recognition of the role of learned associations in behavior
D) identifying the misinformation and ease of retrieval effects