Deck 7: Self-Protection Techniques

Question 1

The general purpose of self-protection techniques in impression management is to

A) create a stronger positive impression than the competition.
B) avoid being perceived negatively by others.
C) ingratiate oneself to others.
D) make others feel good before they attack you.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The purpose of self-handicapping is to prevent performance itself from

A) being perceived as the cause of the person's failure.
B) being perceived as the cause of the person's success.
C) getting so high that the person's expectations are raised.
D) getting so low that the person's expectations are lowered.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Luke is playing golf today, and he engages in self-handicapping by telling the three other people in the foursome,

A) "I've been playing at my peak lately."
B) "Did you know that golf was first played in Scotland?"
C) "The course conditions today are a little better for your types of game."
D) "I've had an eye infection that could hurt my game a little today."

Answer 3

D

Question 4

With self-handicapping, a person's failures are discounted because

A) external factors appear to have created the problem.
B) the person appears weak internally.
C) the person has ingratiated himself or herself to the target.
D) the person appears to be highly self-confident.

Question 5

Self-handicapping will often protect the self-esteem because it results in a situation characterized as

A) hopeless.
B) performance enhancing.
C) no-lose.
D) win-win.

Question 6

A serious problem noted with self-handicapping is that the self-handicapper

A) may wind up repeating pathological behavior.
B) will often elevate his or her self-esteem to unrealistic levels.
C) often encourages other people to self-handicap.
D) may become discouraged if the first attempt at self-handicapping does not work.

Question 7

According to theory and research, high status individuals are

A) quite often repelled by prospects of self-handicapping.
B) poorly equipped to self-handicap.
C) less likely to self-handicap.
D) more likely to self-handicap.

Question 8

Ashley has an MBA from Harvard Business School, so according to status characteristics theory, members of her work group will expect her to

A) make a small contribution to attaining the goals of the group.
B) contribute heavily to attaining the goals of the group.
C) be too much of a snob to care about goals of the group.
D) be responsible for setting goals for the group.

Question 9

Derek attains non-contingent success when he receives an award yet he feels that

A) he has not done anything in particular to merit that reward.
B) his reward should have been bigger because of all of his hard work.
C) the reward should have been shared with the group.
D) he should have self-handicapped to a greater extent.

Question 10

Procrastination might be used as a form of self-handicapping when the person contends that some other important tasks

A) changed his or her life goals.
B) elevated his or her status.
C) prevented him or her from accomplishing one more task.
D) were performed in a superior manner.

Question 11

Kaitlin is a perfectionist, thereby being able to self-handicap by getting so bogged down in the details of a project that

A) her excellence in measuring details will be evident.
B) she will receive sympathy for all the work she is doing.
C) she will avoid being assigned similar responsibility in the future.
D) her true talents in relation to the project are not visible.

Question 12

A gender difference often observed in self-handicapping is that

A) women are more likely to self-handicap than men.
B) men are more likely to self-handicap than women.
C) men think self-handicapping is funnier than women think.
D) women think self-handicapping is funnier than men think.

Question 13

A study about test taking and self-handicapping found that women

A) have low tolerance for self-handicapping for both men and women.
B) have high tolerance for self-handicapping for both men and women.
C) tend to tolerate self-handicapping for women but not for men.
D) tend to tolerate self-handicapping for men but not for women.

Question 14

Damage control is terms of impression management is a form of

A) enhancing the image of others.
B) self-sabotage.
C) procrastination.
D) self-protection.

Question 15

An important part of admitting mistakes as part of damage control is to

A) blame the mistake on low self-esteem.
B) be honest about what you did wrong.
C) create an excuse that blames somebody else.
D) ask someone else to solve the problem you created.

Question 16

A person who admits mistakes will often

A) gain in credibility.
B) be regarded as untrustworthy.
C) lose in credibility.
D) be regarded as a self-handicapper.

Question 17

Excusing making in terms of impression management usually involves

A) enhancing the status of another person.
B) making a self-presentation of one's strengths.
C) a person explaining why a problem was not his or her fault.
D) explaining that the problem in question is exaggerated.

Question 18

Darryl crashes a company car while on a business trip to Los Angeles. According to the self-serving bias, Darryl is likely to explain the accident in these terms:

A) "With all the excitement of visiting Los Angeles, I didn't get enough sleep."
B) "Sorry about the accident, but you know how crazy the Los Angeles drivers are."
C) "My driving was a little distracted because I was sending a text message to my girlfriend."
D) "I guess you could say that I need a refresher in my driver education."

Question 19

Which one of the following behaviors is recommended in the error-recovery procedure for dealing with having made a major error?

A) Place responsibility on someone else for the error.
B) Get over it.
C) Beat yourself up as a form of punishment.
D) Keep the problem a secret rather than talking it over with an outsider.

Question 20

Natasha is overwhelmed with anger after her boss gave her a quite negative performance review. Natasha doesn't want to ruin her image because of her anger, so she should avoid which one of the following actions:

A) Go for a walk outside the office building.
B) Dive into a task to convert negative energy into positive.
C) Defuse by counting up to 10.
D) Send her boss an e-mail immediately, explaining how she feels.

Question 21

The purpose of identity protection techniques is to prevent damage or harm to the actor's social identity as perceived by the target or targets.

Question 22

Billy engages in self-handicapping just before taking the same test you are taking now by telling the instructor, "I have a migraine headache today, so I doubt I can show you what I really know."

Question 23

The general purpose of self-handicapping is to assure that a person's poor performance was the cause of failure rather than an external factor.

Question 24

Self-handicapping is often used to help the person preserve an image of competence while at the same time drawing sympathy.

Question 25

The results of an experiment suggested that people of low status are more likely to engage in self-handicapping because they usually suffer from low self-esteem.

Question 26

Self-handicapping is more likely to take place when the results of a performance will be publicly known, such as the safety performance of a supervisor's group.

Question 27

Sam attains high status from having been a key designer of Google's website. So when Sam joins a new Internet search firm the group will not expect too much good performance from him during his first year with the company.

Question 28

Individuals with high status within the group are often treated in such a way to facilitate their success, such as being given more opportunities to perform for the group.

Question 29

Kristina, who has high status based on her education and work history, experiences non- contingent success when she receives a promotion without having done much to deserve it.

Question 30

Procrastination can be used for self-handicapping because when the person gets bogged down in small tasks that block attaining a key goal, the person can say, "I would have gotten the job done on time if I hadn't gotten sidetracked."

Question 31

Perfectionism often backfires as a method of self-handicapping because perfectionists may appear obsessed over details, and they often miss deadlines.

Question 32

A gender difference noted in self-handicapping is that women engage more frequently in self-handicapping than men.

Question 33

A series of three studies found that women have less tolerance than men for self- handicapping on test performance by both men and women.

Question 34

Damage control is an officially prescribed set of activities for managers and professionals to overcome embarrassing mistakes they have made in dealing with employees and customers.

Question 35

The simple statement, "I goofed" can be an effective form of damage control.

Question 36

Apologizing is a weak approach to impression management by self-protection because the person who apologizes is likely to lose credibility.

Question 37

According to the self-protection method of accounts, the actor will explain how an inner weakness led him or her to making a mistake or creating another problem.

Question 38

The perceived sincerity of an excuse contributes to whether or not the excuse will be accepted by others.

Question 39

When recovering from a major error on the job, one of the recommended approaches is to find somebody else to blame for what went wrong.

Question 40

Learning how to manage anger is important in the workplace because outbursts will often damage a person's social identity.