Psychology 1000 exam test
questions and answers graded A+
Social Psychology - ANS✅✅studies how we think about and perceive our social world (social
thinking and social perception), how other people influence our behaviour (social influence), and
how we behave toward other people (social relations)
Attributions (2 types) - ANS✅✅judgements about the causes of our own and other people's
behaviour and outcomes
They influence our subsequent behaviour and emotions
Personal (internal) attributions infer that people's behaviour is caused by their characteristics
Bill insulted Carl because Bill is a rude person
Situational (external) attributions infer that aspects of the situation cause a behaviour
Bill was provoked into insulting Carl
What types of information lead us to form a situational rather than a personal attribution? -
ANS✅✅There are three types of information to determine the attribution we make: Consistency,
distinctiveness and consensus
When people take situational information into consideration, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is
involved, indicating a more thoughtful top-down processing of the information. Dispositional
attributions are more closely linked to the medial prefrontal cortex
Fundamental attribution error - ANS✅✅we underestimate that impact of the situation and
overestimate the role of personal factors when explaining other people's behaviour
When people have time to reflect on their judgements or are highly motivated to be careful the
fundemental attribution error is reduced
Attribution error
Individualistic societies- the tendency to attribute other people's behaviour to personal factors
Collective societies- make more situational attributions
Self-Serving Bias, When it comes to explaining our own behaviour, we tend to protect our self-
esteem by displaying a self-serving bias- making relatively more personal attributions for successes
and more situational attributions for failures
The strength of the self-serving bias depends on various factors ranging from one's psychological
state to cultural norms
, Depressed people often display the opposite attributional pattern- taking too little credit for
successes and too much credit for failures- a pattern that helps to keep them depressed
Self-serving
Collective societies (China)- modesty is valued, and students take less credit for successful social
interactions than in America (individualism)
Holistic thinking and beliefs about causality seem to account for differences between cultures as well
and among individuals within each culture
Primacy effect and recency - ANS✅✅primacy effect refers to our tendency to attach more
importance to the initial information that we learn about a person
New information can change our opinion, but it has to "work harder" to overcome that initial
impression for two reasons
We tend to be most alert to information we receive first
Initial information may shape how we perceive subsequent information
Primacy is a general rule of thumb in impression formation, especially for people who dislike
ambiguity and uncertainty. We seem to have a remarkable capacity for forming snap judgements on
small amounts of initial information and some evolutionary psychologists propose that evaluating
stimuli quickly was adaptive for our survival
Primacy effects decrease- and recency effects (giving greater weight to the most recent information)
may occur- when we are asked to avoid making snap judgements are reminded to carefully consider
the evidence and are made to feel accountable for our judgements
In addition recency may the rule when making judgements from facial expressions
Mental sets-schemas-stereotypes - ANS✅✅Whether perceiving objects or people the same
stimulus can be "seen" in different ways. Our mental set- which is a readiness to perceive the world
in a particular way powerfully shapes how we interpret stimulus
What creates our mental sets?
One important factor that we have encountered throughout that book is schemas- mental
frameworks that help us organize and interpret information. By telling you that a host of a party is
"cold, shy or distracted", Ihave activated a set of concepts and expectations (your schema) for how
such a person is likely to behave. Although that host's behaviour can be interpreted in multiple ways
you "fit" his behaviour into the particular schema that is already activated.
A stereotype- which is a generalized belief about a groups of category of people represents a
powerful type of schema.
Stereotypes influence our perceptions and beliefs about many social groups such as believing that
members of certain ethnicities are more likely to be criminals and thinking that women should not
be taken seriously as video gamers.
questions and answers graded A+
Social Psychology - ANS✅✅studies how we think about and perceive our social world (social
thinking and social perception), how other people influence our behaviour (social influence), and
how we behave toward other people (social relations)
Attributions (2 types) - ANS✅✅judgements about the causes of our own and other people's
behaviour and outcomes
They influence our subsequent behaviour and emotions
Personal (internal) attributions infer that people's behaviour is caused by their characteristics
Bill insulted Carl because Bill is a rude person
Situational (external) attributions infer that aspects of the situation cause a behaviour
Bill was provoked into insulting Carl
What types of information lead us to form a situational rather than a personal attribution? -
ANS✅✅There are three types of information to determine the attribution we make: Consistency,
distinctiveness and consensus
When people take situational information into consideration, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is
involved, indicating a more thoughtful top-down processing of the information. Dispositional
attributions are more closely linked to the medial prefrontal cortex
Fundamental attribution error - ANS✅✅we underestimate that impact of the situation and
overestimate the role of personal factors when explaining other people's behaviour
When people have time to reflect on their judgements or are highly motivated to be careful the
fundemental attribution error is reduced
Attribution error
Individualistic societies- the tendency to attribute other people's behaviour to personal factors
Collective societies- make more situational attributions
Self-Serving Bias, When it comes to explaining our own behaviour, we tend to protect our self-
esteem by displaying a self-serving bias- making relatively more personal attributions for successes
and more situational attributions for failures
The strength of the self-serving bias depends on various factors ranging from one's psychological
state to cultural norms
, Depressed people often display the opposite attributional pattern- taking too little credit for
successes and too much credit for failures- a pattern that helps to keep them depressed
Self-serving
Collective societies (China)- modesty is valued, and students take less credit for successful social
interactions than in America (individualism)
Holistic thinking and beliefs about causality seem to account for differences between cultures as well
and among individuals within each culture
Primacy effect and recency - ANS✅✅primacy effect refers to our tendency to attach more
importance to the initial information that we learn about a person
New information can change our opinion, but it has to "work harder" to overcome that initial
impression for two reasons
We tend to be most alert to information we receive first
Initial information may shape how we perceive subsequent information
Primacy is a general rule of thumb in impression formation, especially for people who dislike
ambiguity and uncertainty. We seem to have a remarkable capacity for forming snap judgements on
small amounts of initial information and some evolutionary psychologists propose that evaluating
stimuli quickly was adaptive for our survival
Primacy effects decrease- and recency effects (giving greater weight to the most recent information)
may occur- when we are asked to avoid making snap judgements are reminded to carefully consider
the evidence and are made to feel accountable for our judgements
In addition recency may the rule when making judgements from facial expressions
Mental sets-schemas-stereotypes - ANS✅✅Whether perceiving objects or people the same
stimulus can be "seen" in different ways. Our mental set- which is a readiness to perceive the world
in a particular way powerfully shapes how we interpret stimulus
What creates our mental sets?
One important factor that we have encountered throughout that book is schemas- mental
frameworks that help us organize and interpret information. By telling you that a host of a party is
"cold, shy or distracted", Ihave activated a set of concepts and expectations (your schema) for how
such a person is likely to behave. Although that host's behaviour can be interpreted in multiple ways
you "fit" his behaviour into the particular schema that is already activated.
A stereotype- which is a generalized belief about a groups of category of people represents a
powerful type of schema.
Stereotypes influence our perceptions and beliefs about many social groups such as believing that
members of certain ethnicities are more likely to be criminals and thinking that women should not
be taken seriously as video gamers.
