Deck 16: Applying Social Psychology to the Classroom

Question 1

According to the social psychological concept of ______,people act in ways that may undermine their subsequent performances,thereby having anticipatory excuses for potential failures.

A) social learning
B) social categorization
C) self-handicapping
D) self-serving bias

Answer 1

self-handicapping

Question 2

According to the principle of ______,we tend to classify other people into groups on the basis of certain social characteristics.

A) social learning
B) social categorization
C) self-handicapping
D) self-serving bias

Answer 2

social categorization

Question 3

Linville,Fischer,and Salovey (1989)had both undergraduate students and people living in a retirement community rate both hypothetical elderly people and hypothetical college students on several personality attributes.This research was used,in particular,as a demonstration of ______.

A) belief perseverance
B) the out-group homogeneity bias
C) the fundamental attribution error
D) the self-serving bias

Answer 3

the out-group homogeneity bias

Question 4

The author of Chapter 16 ("Classroom")advises that if your instructor introduces evidence to support a position about an issue that conflicts with your own views on the issue,you should try to think of reasons why the position supported by the instructor might be correct and reasons why your position might be wrong.This advice is aimed,in particular,at minimizing problems associated with ______.

A) the fundamental attribution error
B) social categorization
C) the self-serving bias
D) belief perseverance

Question 5

Jones and Harris (1967)conducted an experiment in which participants read position essays that had been written by someone who had either chosen the particular position or had been assigned to take the position.This research was cited as demonstrating ______.

A) out-group bias
B) the fundamental attribution error
C) belief perseverance
D) self-serving bias

Question 6

Sometimes instructors play the devil's advocate by introducing ideas they do not personally endorse.When this occurs,students may be especially vulnerable to ______.

A) the self-serving bias
B) belief perseverance
C) the fundamental attribution error
D) out-group bias

Question 7

Lepper,Ross,and Lau (1986)conducted a study in which students solved math problems after viewing a films that provided effective or ineffective instructions on how to solve the problems.This study demonstrated

A) the value of instructional films in promoting educational goals
B) that students attributed their performance on math problems to themselves, not to the instructions they received
C) that the quality of the instructions does not matter when educating students
D) that students attributed their performance on math problems to the instructions they received, not to themselves

Question 8

Research on self-handicapping suggests that

A) students who tend to engage in self-handicapping also tend to have lower grade point averages
B) engaging in self-handicapping helps to create positive impressions in others but only in the short term
C) women (but not men) tend to self-handicap through strategies that will actually hamper their performance
D) only men tend to claim excuses ahead of time

Question 9

Wegner,Coulton,and Wenzlaff (1985)had participants read 25 pairs of suicide notes and try to figure out which note of each pair was actually written by a person considering committing suicide.The participants were given feedback about their accuracy,subsequently informed that the feedback was not genuine,and so forth.This research was cited as demonstrating ______.

A) belief perseverance
B) self-handicapping
C) depressive realism
D) the fundamental attribution error

Question 10

What effect does anger have on the in-group/out-group bias?

A) Anger produces negative attitudes toward the out-group.
B) Anger has no effect on attitudes toward the out-group.
C) Anger produces positive attitudes toward the out-group.
D) Anger produces positive attitudes toward the in-group.

Question 11

Suppose an instructor is unhappy with the performance of a student who has received Ds on the first two tests of the course and has missed several classes.The instructor is forming the impression that the student has low interest in the course but decides to speak with the student to ascertain if there are extenuating circumstances.In taking this last step,the instructor (wittingly or unwittingly)is guarding,in particular,against the influence of ______.

A) belief perseverance
B) the self-serving bias
C) out-group bias
D) the fundamental attribution error

Question 12

Lassiter's research in the legal system has shown that simulated jurors who watch videotaped confessions (either simulated or actual)that focused on the alleged perpetrator were more likely to

A) return "guilty" verdicts than jurors who watched taped confessions that focused only on the interrogator
B) return "guilty" verdicts than jurors who watched taped confessions that focused on the interrogator or on both the perpetrator and the interrogator equally
C) return "not guilty" verdicts than jurors who watched taped confessions that focused only on the interrogator
D) return "not guilty" verdicts than jurors who watched taped confessions that focused on the interrogator or on both the perpetrator and the interrogator equally

Question 13

As a means of reducing the negative classroom consequences of ______,students and instructors should be encouraged to recognize that they share common academic goals.

A) the overjustification effect
B) the fundamental attribution error
C) social categorization
D) the self-serving bias

Question 14

Which is NOT true of Coren's (1993)study of attributions and motivations for lecturing on a specific topic?

A) Coren's research supports the notion that students do not believe that faculty members believe everything they teach.
B) Coren found that students made negative attributions about professors who lectured that genetic factors could explain some racial differences in IQ scores.
C) Coren found that sex differences could be due to genetic factors.
D) Coren's research supports the notion that students think that faculty members believe everything they teach.

Question 15

The major reason that people self-handicap seems to be to

A) motivate themselves to work harder
B) project a competent image to others
C) be able to assign the responsibility for failure to internal causes
D) protect their self-images

Question 16

Siegel,Scillitoe,and Parks-Yancy (2005)found that students who engaged in a high self-affirming task (writing about values important to them)were

A) more likely to engage in self-handicapping on a subsequent test than students who engaged in a low self-affirming task (writing about an unimportant value)
B) less likely to engage in self-handicapping on a subsequent test than students who engaged in a low self-affirming task (writing about an unimportant value)
C) more likely to think about the importance of school and academic achievement
D) less likely to engage in self-serving bias

Question 17

It is quite common for students with low grade point averages to predict they will receive considerably higher grades in the approaching term.The text cites this as an example of ______.

A) belief perseverance
B) self-handicapping
C) the fundamental attribution error
D) the self-serving bias

Question 18

Research on self-handicapping does NOT suggest that

A) men claim excuses for possible failure ahead of time
B) women claim excuses for possible failure ahead of time
C) men tend to engage in strategies that will impair their performance
D) women tend to engage in strategies that will impair their performance

Question 19

Which statement is true of the fundamental attribution error?

A) People believe that they are less prone to making the fundamental error than other people.
B) People believe that they are more prone to making the fundamental error than other people.
C) Our peers tend to take situational factors into account more than we do.
D) We tend to take environmental factors into account more than our peers do.

Question 20

Which of the following is true?

A) Depressed people tend to be more accurate than nondepressed people with respect to evaluating their abilities.
B) Research on the self-serving bias suggests that most of us view our abilities and talents through rose-colored glasses.
C) According to the principle of the self-serving bias, we have a tendency to attribute our negative outcomes to internal causes (e.g., our traits or characteristics) but to attribute our positive outcomes to external causes.
D) If people see an internal reason (e.g., reward or punishment) for their behavior, they may view the behavior as controlled by the external reason (i.e., the reward or punishment) rather than see it as extrinsically appealing.

Question 21

Suppose that you end up getting a very good grade on this test.Which pattern of attributions most clearly reflects the operation of the self-serving bias?

A) Both you and your instructor attribute the grade to your solid understanding of the material.
B) Both you and your instructor attribute the grade to effective teaching.
C) You attribute the grade to solid understanding of the material, and your instructor attributes the grade to effective teaching.
D) You attribute the grade to effective teaching, and your instructor attributes the grade to solid understanding of the material.

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT true regarding Elliot and Church's (2003)study of self-handicapping?

A) Self-handicapping was positively correlated with fear of failure.
B) Self-handicapping was negatively correlated with need for achievement.
C) Students who scored higher on self-handicapping tended to be more afraid of failing, but they had lower drive for accomplishment.
D) Self-handicapping was associated with lower exam scores but higher GPAs.

Question 23

Growing up in an individualistic culture predisposes people to look for personal internal explanations for behavior.

Question 24

Which of the following is true?

A) When making the fundamental attribution error, students may assume that faculty members are proponents for none of the positions they present in the classroom.
B) The error of belief perseverance may lead students to continue to hold beliefs that have been shown to be correct in a class.
C) The error of belief perseverance may lead students to continue to hold beliefs that have been shown to be incorrect in a class.
D) Social categorization makes it likely that students and faculty members will see each other as cooperating teammates rather than as opposing groups in the educational venture.

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT true?

A) Tang and Hall (1995) found that contingent reward can mitigate the overjustification effect.
B) Wimperis and Farr (1979) found that subjects who received a reward only if they performed well outperformed subjects in the noncontingent condition, thus avoiding the overjustification effect.
C) Being rewarded regardless of how well you perform may be the root cause behind the overjustification effect.
D) Research has found that lack of reward influences the overjustification effect.

Question 26

Self-handicapping and self-serving bias are two forms of self-perception errors.

Question 27

The author of Chapter 16 ("Classroom")and possibly your course instructor may find the focus of the chapter (i.e.,applying social psychology to the classroom)to be very interesting.On the other hand,as you read the chapter for your course,you may not find it all that interesting.Which cognitive process may,in particular,contribute to your lower interest level?

A) self-serving bias
B) overjustification effect
C) belief perseverance
D) out-group bias

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT true?

A) Students tend to remember their academic successes more than their failures.
B) Students tend to compare themselves with weaker students.
C) Students tend to believe that their positive academic behaviors are rare compared with peers.
D) Students tend to believe that they are worse students than they might actually be.

Question 29

Suppose (a)you didn't study enough for this test,(b)you think you are going to do very well on this test,even though many times in the past you have done poorly on tests that involve multiple-choice questions,and (c)you eventually get a poor grade on the test and attribute the grade to an unfair test.The above three events (a,b,and c)reflect the likely operation of which concepts (in this order): ______,______,and ______.

A) self-serving bias; belief perseverance; overjustification effect
B) belief perseverance; overjustification effect; fundamental attribution error
C) self-handicapping; belief perseverance; self-serving bias
D) self-handicapping; fundamental attribution error; overjustification effect

Question 30

According to the principle of the self-serving bias,we have a tendency to attribute our positive outcomes to internal causes (e.g.,our traits or characteristics)but to attribute our negative outcomes to external causes (e.g.,chance or difficulty of a task).

Question 31

In-group homogeneity bias refers to tendency to perceive less variability among members of an out-group than among members of the in-group.

Question 32

In collectivistic cultures,community cooperation is valued more than individual distinction,and people from those countries tend to favor external rather than internal attributions.

Question 33

Streufert and Streufert (1969)had pairs of participants play a tactical economics game against another "team" (actually a computer).Teams were given either success or failure feedback and then rated how much their performance was the result of their team or of the other team.This research was cited as a demonstration of ______.

A) in-group/out-group bias
B) self-handicapping
C) the self-serving bias
D) belief perseverance

Question 34

With the fundamental attribution error,people tend to focus on the influence of situational causes and downplay personal causes of other people's behavior.

Question 35

Out-group bias occurs when people,such as students,rate other groups more positively on favorable qualities such as intelligence than they rate their own group.

Question 36

Out-group homogeneity bias refers to the tendency to perceive more variability among members of an out-group than among members of the in-group.

Question 37

In an experiment by Lepper,Greene,and Nisbett (1973),children drew pictures with markers.Some were given an expected award after they drew their pictures,some were given an unexpected award after they drew their pictures,and some received no award.In follow-up sessions 1 to 2 weeks later,which group(s)spent the lowest amount of time drawing pictures?

A) those who got the expected award
B) those who got the unexpected award
C) those who got no award
D) all groups spent an equal amount of time drawing pictures

Question 38

Self-handicapping is the term that refers to when people act in ways that may undermine their subsequent performances,thereby having anticipatory excuses for potential failures.

Question 39

Which of the following is true with respect to the overjustification effect?

A) Fortunately, most parents intuitively recognize circumstances involving their children in which the overjustification effect is apt to occur.
B) Helping students to focus on the importance of achieving good grades tends to undermine the overjustification effect.
C) Hennessey and Zbikowski (1993) effectively immunized fourth graders against the overjustification effect by having older role models come to their classes to speak with them about the joy of learning.
D) Tang and Hall (1995) found that contingent reward (reward given only for good performance) can mitigate the overjustification effect.

Question 40

Which of the following is true?

A) Baumeister and Cairns (1992) found that people paid less attention to unfavorable information about themselves.
B) Baumeister and Cairns (1992) found that people remembered less favorable information about themselves than favorable information.
C) Baumeister and Cairns (1992) found that people paid more attention to and remembered more favorable information about themselves than unfavorable information.
D) Campbell (1986) found that people tend to convince themselves that their bad traits are unusual and their good traits are common in others.

Question 41

Differentiate between individualism and collectivism.

Question 42

Explain social categorization,and identify two forms of bias associated with this cognitive error.

Question 43

Explain what is meant by self-handicapping,and describe Berglas and Jones's classic study in which they used analogies to help them study self-handicapping.

Question 44

Chapter 16 ("Classroom")discusses three forms of self-perception.Explain how two of the three self-perceptions may affect students in the classroom environment.

Question 45

The overjustification effect is an example of a cognitive error.

Question 46

Identify three types of errors that result from self-perception.

Question 47

Explain what is meant by cognitive errors,and list two types.

Question 48

Chapter 16 ("Classroom")discusses three cognitive errors.Explain how two of the three cognitive errors may affect students in the classroom environment.

Question 49

Define belief perseverance.

Question 50

Describe Smith and Whitehead's (1984)study of how individualism and collectivism influence the fundamental attribution error.

Question 51

Explain what is meant by the overjustification effect.