Which term refers to the tendency to attribute your own actions to external causes

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__________ refers to our tendency to attribute our own behavior to external factors, but attribute the behavior of others to internal factors. 

Possible Answers:

Fundamental social discrimination

Self-serving bias

Fundamental attribution error

Attribution hypothesis

Correct answer:

Fundamental attribution error

Explanation:

Fundamental attribution error is a social psychology term coined by Lee Ross to describe the inclination to explain others' behavior in terms of internal, stable factors (like personality) while describing our own behavior in terms of external, changeable factors. The self-serving bias is a facet of attribution theory, and refers to our tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors and our failures to external ones.

Who coined the famous sociological term "self-fulfilling prophecy"? 

Possible Answers:

Carl Jung 

Noam Chomsky 

Sigmund Freud 

Howard Zinn 

Robert K. Merton 

Correct answer:

Robert K. Merton 

Explanation:

Although the concept of "self-fulfilling prophecy" has existed for centuries and was a popular one in Ancient Greece, it was officially coined by the famous sociologist Robert K. Merton in the 20th century. 

What is the appropriate definition for dispositional attribution? 

Possible Answers:

We attribute one's behavior to nature and nurture 

We attribute one's behavior to how their family behaves 

We attribute one's behavior to someone's internal state or personality

We attribute one's behavior to the situation they're in and how people are influencing them 

We attribute one's behavior to genetics

Correct answer:

We attribute one's behavior to someone's internal state or personality

Explanation:

Dispositional attribution is when we attribute a person's actions to their internal dispositions, such as personality, talents, emotional state, etc. We see the behavior as being caused by something internal to that person as opposed to attributing it to their environment. 

Which of the following is an illustrative example of the self-fulfilling prophecy? 

Possible Answers:

Someone believes they'll never exceed academically. 

Someone believes they'll never exceed academically and therefore becomes cynical, doesn't put in any effort, and fulfills their initial expectation. 

None of these. 

Someone believes they'll never exceed academically but puts in a good attempt, and accidentally succeeds. 

Someone believes they'll never exceed academically, overcomes this belief and adopts a positive outlook, and ends up getting very good grades. 

Correct answer:

Someone believes they'll never exceed academically and therefore becomes cynical, doesn't put in any effort, and fulfills their initial expectation. 

Explanation:

The self-fulfilling prophecy stems from the Thomas theorem, which posits that situations are not merely situations in the human eye, but are rather warped according to our perceptions and the meaning we ascribe to them. Accordingly, we may have a belief about ourselves or the world that we carry with us in each situation. This belief may warp our perception of the situation and may influence to act in ways that reinforce this belief. So for example, if one believes one will always fail academically one may never try. These actions, influenced by this belief, serve to then reinforce this belief. 

This can influence how we behave towards other people as well. The self-fulfilling prophecy may reinforce stereotypes and beliefs we have about other people. 

Which of the following is an appropriate definition for the just-world bias?

Possible Answers:

None of these answers is accurate.

People tend to believe that other people fight for justice

People tend to believe that people ensure that people get what they deserve

People tend to believe people get what they deserve

People tend to believe the world is a wicked place where justice doesn't exist

Correct answer:

People tend to believe people get what they deserve

Explanation:

The just-world bias is a common bias in which we believe people get what they deserve. We might believe poor people didn't work hard enough or an ill person didn't take care of themselves enough instead of looking at circumstances that were out of their control.

What is the appropriate definition for the false-consensus effect?

Possible Answers:

People tend to believe what other people do, even if these beliefs are false

People tend to overestimate the amount of people that disagree with them

People tend to underestimate the amount of people that agree with them

People tend to overestimate the amount of people that agree with them

None of these answers is accurate.

Correct answer:

People tend to overestimate the amount of people that agree with them

Explanation:

The false-consensus effect is when we overestimate the amount of people that agree with us. A person may, for instance, believe that healthcare should be a universal right and expect that almost everyone really feels that way, and be surprised to find he or she is in the minority according to a poll.

What is the actor-observer bias?

Possible Answers:

When we are in a situation, we focus more on how our disposition is influencing us. When we are observing it, we focus on how the situation influences the people in it.

When we are in a situation, we focus more on how we behave. When we are observing it, we focus on how other people behave. 

None of these answers is accurate.

When we are in a situation, our feelings are much more invested. When we are observing it, we feel more detached even if we understand.

When we are in a situation, we focus more on how the situation is influencing us. When we are observing it, we focus on how our disposition influences the people in that situation.

Correct answer:

When we are in a situation, we focus more on how the situation is influencing us. When we are observing it, we focus on how our disposition influences the people in that situation.

Explanation:

The actor-observer bias is the curious phenomena in which we focus more on how the situation is influencing us when we involved in a situation, but more focused on our influence on a situation when we are not involved, but rather observing. When we are observing a situation, we focus on how our disposition influences the people in that situation. For whatever reason, we are much more aware of context when we are in it and more likely to focus on the individual and disregard context when we are observing. One might think that one would lose context when directly involved in a situation, rather than coolly observing from outside, but the opposite is often the case.

Which of the following is an example of the self-serving bias?

Possible Answers:

I wasn't responsible for making this mess, my sisters did it because they're jealous of me and wanted to get me in trouble.

I was mainly responsible for erecting this huge statue, and even though slaves were employed to make it, that's just a product of the times.

Everyone should cater to me because I am wonderful.

Even though I didn't finish my homework, I still deserve to get dessert because I had a very long day at school.

None of these answers is accurate.

Correct answer:

I was mainly responsible for erecting this huge statue, and even though slaves were employed to make it, that's just a product of the times.

Explanation:

The self-serving bias is the tendency we have to hold ourselves responsible for good outcomes, such as mounting a glorious statue, and blame the circumstances for negative ones, such as employing slaves to do it. Self-serving bias applies both to outcomes and justifying the methods by which those outcomes were achieved.

Which of the following are not ways to guide adolescents' gender development?

Possible Answers:

All of these

Encourage girls to be more self-assertive

Encourage boys to be less physically aggressive

Encourage boys to be more sensitive in relationships

Correct answer:

All of these

Explanation:

In order to guide adolescents' gender development, one should encourage girls to be more self-assertive, encourage boys to be less physically aggressive, and encourage boys to be more sensitive in relationships. This is because children and adolescents are usually taught to do things within their gender roles, which means they are also taught to not do things that are not in their gender roles. So, instead of teaching boys to be insensitive, they should be taught to be more sensitive and less aggressive. Girls are usually assumed to be passive, so they should be taught to be a little more self-assertive.

Trivializing our own failures is an example of which of the following choices?

Possible Answers:

Social comparison

Self-immunization

Self-consistency

Self-attribution

Correct answer:

Self-immunization

Explanation:

We all encounter some little areas of insecurity where we feel as if we do not quite measure up. Self-immunization is a strategy that we employ to defend ourselves against feeling like we are inadequate or that we are failures. By trivializing our mistakes we say to ourselves things like, "Oh, that test really wasn't that important. It doesn't matter." Or, "I don't think anyone saw me trip in the hallway, so it isn't a big deal." We immunize ourselves from thinking ourselves worse than we are by accepting our failures, but in a more diminutive form.

All AP Psychology Resources

Which term refers to the tendency to attribute our own actions to external causes while attribute the actions of others to internal causes?

What term refers to our tendency to attribute our success?

Why is it called actor

What is the actor