PS 101 final exam questions with
complete verified accurate answers
(Boston University spring23)
Tendency for an individual to feel a diminished sense of responsibility to assist in an emergency
when other bystanders are present (not helping when there is other people present) - answer
✔✔-diffusion of responsibility or bystander apathy
The way in which we perceive, evaluate, categorize, and form judgments about the qualities of
other people. Three factors that influence our social perceptions are first impressions, schemas,
and implicit personality theories - answer ✔✔-Social Perception
First impression.
negative first impressions are often quickly formed and hard to overcome. In contrast, the
opposite tends to be true of positive first impressions - answer ✔✔-primacy effect.
Generalized assumptions about certain groups or classes of people
you might have schemas of lawyers as aggressive and verbal, and of professors as studious and
somewhat distracted.
if our first impression of a new neighbor is that she is unfriendly, we are likely to evaluate her
failure to comment on our shiny new car as further evidence of her unfriendliness. - answer
✔✔-Person Schemas
,Assumptions people make about how traits usually occur together in other people's
personalities
if we meet a person whom we perceive as intelligent, we may expect that person also to be
skillful and imaginative - answer ✔✔-Implicit Personality Theories
One personality trait that is associated with others such as not honest can be associated with
being mean, rude, and disrespectful
presented two groups of subjects with a list of seven traits, describing a hypothetical person.
The list for each group differed on only one central trait dimension—warm versus cold—yet this
difference influenced significantly the subjects' predictions about other traits of the
hypothetical person. - answer ✔✔-central traits
For example, in a recent study examining the halo effect, researchers found that thinner men
were rated as more attractive, enthusiastic, and more likely to be successful than heavier men.
Heavier men, on the other hand, were rated as more friendly and trustworthy than thinner men
- answer ✔✔-halo effect
Tendency to believe that good-looking people are also funnier, smarter, more likeable than less
good-looking people - answer ✔✔-Physical Attractiveness Stereotype
True, The first information we receive about a person has the greatest influence on our
perception of that person. This is called the primacy effect, and it makes first impressions
invaluable. - answer ✔✔-Since Stew's first impression of Valerie came from a meeting for
students eligible for an academic honor society, he perceives her as intelligent and CANNOT
understand how she could be flunking her math class.
,FALSE, implicit personality theory - answer ✔✔-If we meet a person who we perceive as being
warm and friendly, we will probably expect that person to also be generous and to have a good
sense of humor based on explicit personality theories
Theory that we attempt to make sense out of other people's behavior by attributing it to either
dispositional (internal) causes or situational (external) causes
For example, suppose you have recently begun dating someone you like very much, and the two
of you spend a weekend visiting your date's parents. Much to your dismay, your friend acts like
a different person—restrained, impersonal, and physically unresponsive. What has caused the
change? If you attribute it to external factors (that your date is ill at ease around his or her
parents) you are unlikely to feel that the relationship is seriously threatened. However, if you
attribute the change to an internal cause (that your partner no longer feels responsive to you),
you may seriously reevaluate the relationship. - answer ✔✔-Attribution Theories
theory that the attributions we make about other people's behavior are influenced by a variety
of conditions, such as the social desirability of that behavior or whether the behavior results
from free choice
why people do what they do (hard course elective or required)
(For instance, if someone donates money to a charity at a fundraising event, we might attribute
their behavior to the situation rather than their individual traits.)
SEVERAL experiments have demonstrated that we are more likely to make correspondent
inferences from socially undesirable or norm-deviant behaviors than from socially desirable
behaviors. - answer ✔✔-The Correspondent Inference Theory
Theory that our attributions about people's behavior are influenced by the situations in which
the behavior occurs, the persons involved, and the stimuli or objects toward which the behavior
is directed
, measure in three levels:
1) Distinctiveness is the degree to which other stimuli are capable of eliciting the same behavior
from the young man.
2) Consistency is the degree to which the young man exhibits the same behavior in response to
the same stimulus on other occasions.
3) Consensus is the degree to which other people exhibit the same response to the stimulus as
the actor - answer ✔✔-Covariation Principle
overestimate dispositional(internal) causes and to underestimate situational(external) causes
when accounting for the behavior of others.
Some researchers have found that attribution biases depend upon whether one is male or
female. For instance, males tend to attribute their failures to situations ("I prepared poorly" or
"It was a tricky exam") and their successes to dispositions ("I'm talented" or "smart"). On the
other hand, many females do just the opposite: They attribute success to situations ("I studied
hard" or "I was lucky") and failure to dispositions ("I'm not very smart"). - answer ✔✔-
Fundamental Attribution Error
Dispositional causes refer to explanations of behavior that focus on INTERNAL, enduring
characteristics or traits of an individual.
Situational causes, on the other hand, refer to explanations of behavior that emphasize
EXTERNAL factors or the circumstances in which the behavior occurs. - answer ✔✔-
Dispositional Causes and Situational Causes:
Attribution bias caused by the assumption that most people share our own attitudes and
behaviors
For example, suppose you note that someone living in your apartment complex never laughs or
even cracks a smile while listening to a certain television comedian you find hilarious.
complete verified accurate answers
(Boston University spring23)
Tendency for an individual to feel a diminished sense of responsibility to assist in an emergency
when other bystanders are present (not helping when there is other people present) - answer
✔✔-diffusion of responsibility or bystander apathy
The way in which we perceive, evaluate, categorize, and form judgments about the qualities of
other people. Three factors that influence our social perceptions are first impressions, schemas,
and implicit personality theories - answer ✔✔-Social Perception
First impression.
negative first impressions are often quickly formed and hard to overcome. In contrast, the
opposite tends to be true of positive first impressions - answer ✔✔-primacy effect.
Generalized assumptions about certain groups or classes of people
you might have schemas of lawyers as aggressive and verbal, and of professors as studious and
somewhat distracted.
if our first impression of a new neighbor is that she is unfriendly, we are likely to evaluate her
failure to comment on our shiny new car as further evidence of her unfriendliness. - answer
✔✔-Person Schemas
,Assumptions people make about how traits usually occur together in other people's
personalities
if we meet a person whom we perceive as intelligent, we may expect that person also to be
skillful and imaginative - answer ✔✔-Implicit Personality Theories
One personality trait that is associated with others such as not honest can be associated with
being mean, rude, and disrespectful
presented two groups of subjects with a list of seven traits, describing a hypothetical person.
The list for each group differed on only one central trait dimension—warm versus cold—yet this
difference influenced significantly the subjects' predictions about other traits of the
hypothetical person. - answer ✔✔-central traits
For example, in a recent study examining the halo effect, researchers found that thinner men
were rated as more attractive, enthusiastic, and more likely to be successful than heavier men.
Heavier men, on the other hand, were rated as more friendly and trustworthy than thinner men
- answer ✔✔-halo effect
Tendency to believe that good-looking people are also funnier, smarter, more likeable than less
good-looking people - answer ✔✔-Physical Attractiveness Stereotype
True, The first information we receive about a person has the greatest influence on our
perception of that person. This is called the primacy effect, and it makes first impressions
invaluable. - answer ✔✔-Since Stew's first impression of Valerie came from a meeting for
students eligible for an academic honor society, he perceives her as intelligent and CANNOT
understand how she could be flunking her math class.
,FALSE, implicit personality theory - answer ✔✔-If we meet a person who we perceive as being
warm and friendly, we will probably expect that person to also be generous and to have a good
sense of humor based on explicit personality theories
Theory that we attempt to make sense out of other people's behavior by attributing it to either
dispositional (internal) causes or situational (external) causes
For example, suppose you have recently begun dating someone you like very much, and the two
of you spend a weekend visiting your date's parents. Much to your dismay, your friend acts like
a different person—restrained, impersonal, and physically unresponsive. What has caused the
change? If you attribute it to external factors (that your date is ill at ease around his or her
parents) you are unlikely to feel that the relationship is seriously threatened. However, if you
attribute the change to an internal cause (that your partner no longer feels responsive to you),
you may seriously reevaluate the relationship. - answer ✔✔-Attribution Theories
theory that the attributions we make about other people's behavior are influenced by a variety
of conditions, such as the social desirability of that behavior or whether the behavior results
from free choice
why people do what they do (hard course elective or required)
(For instance, if someone donates money to a charity at a fundraising event, we might attribute
their behavior to the situation rather than their individual traits.)
SEVERAL experiments have demonstrated that we are more likely to make correspondent
inferences from socially undesirable or norm-deviant behaviors than from socially desirable
behaviors. - answer ✔✔-The Correspondent Inference Theory
Theory that our attributions about people's behavior are influenced by the situations in which
the behavior occurs, the persons involved, and the stimuli or objects toward which the behavior
is directed
, measure in three levels:
1) Distinctiveness is the degree to which other stimuli are capable of eliciting the same behavior
from the young man.
2) Consistency is the degree to which the young man exhibits the same behavior in response to
the same stimulus on other occasions.
3) Consensus is the degree to which other people exhibit the same response to the stimulus as
the actor - answer ✔✔-Covariation Principle
overestimate dispositional(internal) causes and to underestimate situational(external) causes
when accounting for the behavior of others.
Some researchers have found that attribution biases depend upon whether one is male or
female. For instance, males tend to attribute their failures to situations ("I prepared poorly" or
"It was a tricky exam") and their successes to dispositions ("I'm talented" or "smart"). On the
other hand, many females do just the opposite: They attribute success to situations ("I studied
hard" or "I was lucky") and failure to dispositions ("I'm not very smart"). - answer ✔✔-
Fundamental Attribution Error
Dispositional causes refer to explanations of behavior that focus on INTERNAL, enduring
characteristics or traits of an individual.
Situational causes, on the other hand, refer to explanations of behavior that emphasize
EXTERNAL factors or the circumstances in which the behavior occurs. - answer ✔✔-
Dispositional Causes and Situational Causes:
Attribution bias caused by the assumption that most people share our own attitudes and
behaviors
For example, suppose you note that someone living in your apartment complex never laughs or
even cracks a smile while listening to a certain television comedian you find hilarious.
