9.1

Question 1

What do social psychologists focus on?

Answer 1

How different environments, social perceptions, interactions, and situations impact people and their behaviors

Question 2

Describe the attribution theory

Answer 2

This theory explains how a person justifies their own behaviors and the behaviors of others, whether it is situational or internal motives

Question 3

What is the difference between situational and dispositional attribution?

Answer 3

Situational attribution is when a person blames the situation for causing a behavior. While dispositional attribution is when a person blames another person’s internal characteristics for the behavior.

Question 4

Provide an example for situational attribution

Answer 4

The desk I sat in during the test was unbalanced, causing me to lose focus during the test

Question 5

Provide an example for a dispositional attribution

Answer 5

At work you never let your coworkers complete your tasks because you do not believe they will do a good job. Your boss later asks you why you do not delegate, and you respond by telling her it is because the other workers are lazy, it is just how they are

Question 6

Explain fundamental attribution error

Answer 6

This is when a person incorrectly attributes a person’s actions. Oftentimes the observer underestimates the significance of a situation and overestimates the impact of personal disposition

Question 7

Self-serving bias

Answer 7

This is when a person reflects back on events that they have experienced and only focus on the positive outcomes, and blame negative outcomes on other factors. (Main focus is positive elements of ourselves)

Question 8

False consensus effect

Answer 8

When a person overestimates how others think and act (Person thinks more people think like them)

Question 9

Confirmation bias

Answer 9

The tendency to focus on information that confirms a person’s pre-existing view

Question 10

Just world-hypothesis

Answer 10

The tendency for people to believe that the world is fair and that things are the way they are for a reason

Question 11

Halo effect

Answer 11

When a person has a positive first impression of someone they will interpret other information about that person in a positive way

Question 12

Explain how a confirmation bias can support a self-serving bias

Answer 12

When a person focuses on information that confirms their worldview they often focus on information that makes them look good. (Confirmation bias is a person finding information and self serving bias is a person thinking about the information)

Question 13

Explain how the just-world hypothesis can lead to victim blaming

Answer 13

When something bad happens to another person an individual will justify the negative outcome by saying the person brought it on themselves (This can be especially true if the person is not in the individual’s ingroup)

Question 14

What is the difference between ingroup and outgroup?

Answer 14

Ingroup is people who a person shares a common identity with. While outgroup refers to people who are perceived to be part of a different group of people(Individual is not part of the outgroup)

Question 15

What is outgroup homogeneity?

Answer 15

This is when a person views an outgroup of people as the same

Question 16

Explain how social and cultural categories created for outgroups can impact a person’s view on gender, race, and ethnicity.

Answer 16

Individuals will often use heuristics, mental shortcuts, to view different people in different out groups as one. This leads to generalizations, stereotypes, and the fundamental attribution error

Question 17

Describe the self-fulling prophecy

Answer 17

This when a person’s belief leads to its fulfillment

Question 18

Provide an example of the self-fulling prophecy.

Answer 18

A person is not good at taking tests so there is no reason to try. Which results in the person doing poorly on the test (Blame is on situational factors