AP Psychology · Topic 4.1
Attribution Theory and Person Perception Practice
Part of Social Psychology and Personality.
Practice questions
14
Sample questions
5 of 14 — sign in to practice the rest with adaptive difficulty and mastery tracking.
Sample 1difficulty 2/5
In a Rosenthal-style study, teachers are told (falsely, at random) that certain students are "academic late bloomers" likely to surge in achievement. Eight months later, these randomly chosen students show greater IQ gains than classmates, and teachers rate them as more curious. Observers note teachers smiled more, called on them sooner, and gave longer feedback.
The students' improved performance best demonstrates:
- A
Just-world bias
- B
Group polarization
- Ccheck_circle
A self-fulfilling prophecy mediated by teacher behavior
- D
Stereotype threat suppressing performance
Why
Rosenthal's Pygmalion effect is a self-fulfilling prophecy: teacher expectations alter behavior toward students, which elicits the expected outcomes.
- A
Sample 2difficulty 3/5
Replicating Festinger and Carlsmith, students performed a tedious peg-turning task and were paid either 20 to tell a waiting student the task was enjoyable. Students paid 20. Both groups initially reported the task as boring.
An observer who concludes that the $1 students "really must have liked the task" without considering the manipulation is committing:
- A
Confirmation bias
- B
The actor-observer effect favoring the situation
- Ccheck_circle
The fundamental attribution error
- D
The self-serving bias
Why
Attributing the students' positive ratings to internal preference, while ignoring the situational pressure to justify their lie, exemplifies the fundamental attribution error.
- A
Sample 3difficulty 3/5
Prejudice is
- Acheck_circle
A negative attitude (often emotional) toward a group
- B
An unequal behavior directed toward members of a group
- C
An accurate evaluation of a group based on direct contact
- D
A generalized factual belief about members of a group
Why
Attitude (cognitive + emotional + behavioral); discrimination is the behavior.
- A
Sample 4difficulty 3/5
Self-serving bias is
- A
Comparing ourselves only to people who are doing worse than we are
- B
Evaluating our outcomes by averaging credit equally between self and situation
- Ccheck_circle
Crediting our successes to internal factors and our failures to external factors
- D
Crediting our successes to external factors and our failures to internal factors
Why
"I aced the test" (smart!) vs "I failed because the teacher was unfair."
- A
Sample 5difficulty 3/5
In Zimbardo's Stanford prison study, college men were randomly assigned to be guards or prisoners in a simulated prison. Within a few days, many guards adopted authoritarian roles and prisoners showed signs of stress. The study was ended early. Later analyses noted that some guard behavior was shaped by explicit instructions and selection effects.
Observers who explained guard behavior solely as evidence that "those guards must be cruel people" would be committing the:
- Acheck_circle
Fundamental attribution error
- B
Self-serving bias
- C
Hindsight bias
- D
Actor-observer asymmetry favoring situations
Why
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overattribute others' behavior to dispositions and underweight situational forces, exactly what Zimbardo's study sought to dramatize.
- A