Psych/Soc 8B: Social Thinking
Attribution drawn as a spotlight that moves between the person and the situation, and prejudice taken apart into a feeling, a belief, and an act.
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8B. Attributing Behavior to Persons or Situations
- How it worksHow does an attribution split the cause of a behavior between the person and the situation they were standing in?
- How it worksWalk me through consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus deciding which cause an observer lands on.
- Worked exampleFind the attribution Kelley's covariation model predicts when a student fails a course that nearly everyone else fails too.
- Going furtherWhat happens to an attribution when the observer is rushed and has no attention left to spend?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
A student fails an organic chemistry course. Records show 88 percent of the class also failed it, she passed 5 of her 8 other courses, and she has failed this one in both years she attempted it. What does Kelley's covariation model predict?8B. The Fundamental Attribution Error
- How it worksHow does the fundamental attribution error overweight personality whenever the actor is somebody else?
- How it worksWalk me through the actor-observer bias flipping the explanation the instant the actor becomes you.
- Worked exampleWalk me through the essay study where readers still judged a writer's true beliefs after learning the side was assigned.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the fundamental attribution error simply a shortage of information about the other person?
- Going furtherWhat happens to that error in a culture that reaches for context before it reaches for character?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Readers rated how strongly an essay writer personally held the position argued, on a scale whose midpoint is 5. Told the writer chose the side, they rated the true attitude 9 out of 10; told a coin flip assigned it, they rated it 7. What does the pattern show?8B. Self-Serving Bias
- How it worksHow does the self-serving bias route credit inward and blame outward to keep self-esteem intact?
- Worked exampleFind the self-serving pattern in a team that credits skill for 8 wins and bad calls for all 4 losses.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the self-serving bias equally strong in every culture that has been tested for it?
- Going furtherWhat happens to the self-serving bias in a person with depression?
Your turneasy1 of 3
After a season, a team's public statements credit preparation and skill for 12 of its wins and blame officiating or weather for 5 of its losses. What pattern is this?8B. The Role of Culture in Attribution
- How it worksHow does an individualist culture train attention on the actor while a collectivist one trains it on the setting?
- Worked exampleWalk me through one worker's mistake explained first by disposition and then by the situation around them.
- Going furtherWhat happens to attribution style in someone raised inside two cultures at once?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Newspaper accounts of the same kind of misdeed were coded in two countries. In sample A, 83 percent of the explanations named the actor's character; in sample B, 35 percent did, with the rest naming circumstances. Which reading fits?8B. How Self-Perceptions Shape Perceptions of Others
- How it worksHow does the false consensus effect stretch one person's own view across an entire population?
- Worked exampleFind the false consensus gap when a supporter guesses 75 percent agreement and the real figure is 40 percent.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't projecting your own view onto a crowd always an error, given that people really do cluster?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
A supporter estimates that p percent of voters agree with her, while the measured figure is 40 percent. Write an expression, in terms of p, for the size of her overestimate as a percentage of the true figure.8B. How Perceptions of the Environment Shape Perceptions of Others
- How it worksHow does the surrounding context prime which reading of a stranger wins before any behavior happens?
- Going furtherWhat happens to a first impression when the environment signals danger before the person even appears?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a first impression built mostly out of what the other person actually did?
Your turneasy1 of 3
The same photographed face is rated for threat by two groups. Shown against a dimly lit street it is rated 7 out of 10; shown against a cafe interior, 3 out of 10. What does the difference show?8B. Prejudice, Stereotype, and Discrimination as Three Different Things
- How it worksHow do the three line up as a feeling, a belief, and an action pointed at the same group?
- Worked exampleFind which of the three is at work when a landlord likes a group fine and still refuses to rent to them.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't every act of discrimination powered by a prejudiced feeling underneath it?
- Going furtherWhat happens when a prejudice exists in someone who has no power to act on it?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A landlord scores 8 out of 10 on a warmth measure toward a group, endorses 1 of 12 stereotype statements about them, and declines 14 of 18 rental applications from that group while accepting comparable ones from others. Which of the three does the pattern of refusals demonstrate?8B. Power, Prestige, and Class as Sources of Prejudice
- How it worksHow does competition over a scarce resource manufacture prejudice between groups that had none?
- Worked exampleWalk me through the summer camp study that turned two cabins of boys into rival tribes and then back again.
- Going furtherWhat happens to intergroup hostility once the two groups are handed a goal neither can reach alone?
- Ties togetherHow do power and prestige convert a prejudice held by individuals into an advantage held by a whole class?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Two randomly assigned cabins of boys compete for prizes for 6 days, and hostility between them is rated 8 out of 10. Staff then set tasks neither cabin can finish alone, and hostility falls to 4 out of 10. What does the sequence show?8B. The Role of Emotion and Cognition in Prejudice
- How it worksHow does automatic categorization save mental effort and leave a stereotype behind as a byproduct?
- How it worksWalk me through fear and disgust attaching themselves to a category that cognition has already carved out.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a stereotype erased by simply learning that it is statistically false?
- Going furtherWhat happens to an implicit association in a person who consciously rejects the stereotype?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
On an implicit association test, participants respond in 696 ms when a group category and pleasant words share a key and in 911 ms when the pairing is reversed. The same participants report a favourable attitude on an explicit scale. Which account fits?8B. Stigma
- How it worksHow does a stigmatized attribute become the master status that reorganizes an entire identity?
- How it worksWalk me through the difference between a discredited stigma and a discreditable one that can still be hidden.
- Going furtherWhat happens to a patient's care once a diagnosis like addiction becomes the first thing clinicians see?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't stigma dissolved by telling people the condition is nobody's fault?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
After a diagnosis is entered in her record, a patient finds that 77 percent of new clinicians raise it within the first 4 minutes of an appointment, ahead of the reason for her visit. Which concept names this?8B. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
- How it worksHow does ethnocentrism measure another culture with a yardstick borrowed from your own?
- How it worksHow does cultural relativism swap that yardstick for the one the practice was actually built with?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't cultural relativism the same thing as approving of everything a culture does?
Your turneasy1 of 3
An observer visits a community where a mourning practice runs for 51 days and reports that it is excessive, setting it against the 6-day norm at home. What does the report show?8B. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- How it worksWalk me through the loop where a belief changes behavior, which changes the other person, which confirms the belief.
- Worked exampleWalk me through the classroom study where randomly chosen late bloomers gained IQ points because teachers expected it.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a confirmed expectation proof that the expectation was accurate in the first place?
- Ties togetherHow does teacher expectancy in one classroom scale up into educational stratification across a district?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Teachers are told that 8 randomly chosen pupils are late bloomers. Over the year those pupils gain 13 IQ points on average and the rest of the class gains 6, with the tests scored by people who did not know the labels. What does this show?8B. Stereotype Threat
- How it worksHow does stereotype threat spend working memory on self-monitoring instead of on the problem?
- Worked exampleFind the score gap when one group is told a test diagnoses ability and a matched group is told nothing.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't stereotype threat the same as privately believing the stereotype about yourself?
- Going furtherWhat happens to stereotype threat when students write about their own values before the exam starts?
Your turnmedium1 of 3
Two matched groups take the same test, scored out of 30. One is told it diagnoses ability in a domain where their group is stereotyped as weaker and averages 16; the other is told it is a puzzle exercise and averages 25. Which account fits?AP®, SAT® and PSAT/NMSQT® are trademarks registered by the College Board (PSAT/NMSQT® jointly with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation). ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT Education Corp. GRE® is a registered trademark of ETS. LSAT® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admission Council. MCAT® is a registered trademark of the Association of American Medical Colleges. ISEE® and SSAT® are registered trademarks of their owners. None of these organizations is affiliated with, or endorses, Jentoo.