ACTIVITY ASSIGNMENT 1: ANSWER SHEET
Student Name:
Directions: Read each scenario and answer the questions below in the boxes provided (they will expand to fit your answer). All information needed to answer these questions can be found in this week’s readings, along with the scenario details themselves. Try to be thorough in your answers, providing explanations and supporting evidence as necessary. Your answers should be more than one simple sentence. Aim for a few sentences or a short paragraph for maximum credit.
Scenario A: Pamela is busy studying in her high school’s library when she becomes distracted by the sound of increasingly loud snoring. She looks around and observes that one of her fellow classmates, Kevin, has fallen asleep at a desk nearby and has now gotten the attention of the librarian as well.
- What does your schema tell you about what to expect in a typical library setting? Include expectations about both the physical details of the setting itself (e.g., what do you expect to see when you look around a library?) as well as the expected behaviors of people within a library.
- Pamela struggles with insomnia. The librarian on duty just came from confronting a different student who was rude and disrespectful towards her when she told him to be more quiet. Contrast how Pamela and the librarian will each now be primed to think about/explain Kevin’s behavior and why.
- What does the theory of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy say about how the librarian will treat Kevin the next time she sees him in the library? How will that in turn affect Kevin’s behavior towards the librarian? According to this theory, will the librarian’s opinion of Kevin eventually be confirmed or not?
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Scenario B: Ever since Michael started attending his new school three months ago, his fellow classmate, Bruce, has called him names and shoved him into the wall several times a week. Michael has witnessed Bruce doing the same thing to several of his other classmates as well. Normally Michael gets along well with fellow classmates and is therefore particularly bothered by Bruce’s mean behavior. Use the covariation model to analyze this situation below.
- Analyze Bruce’s behavior using the consensus information available. Would Bruce’s behavior be considered high or low in consensus and why?
- Analyze Bruce’s behavior using the distinctiveness information available. Would Bruce’s behavior be considered high or low in distinctiveness and why?
- Analyze Bruce’s behavior using the consistency information available. Would Bruce’s behavior be considered high or low in consistency and why?
- Based on your above analyses, would you make an external or internal attribution for Bruce’s bullying and why?
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Scenario C: Angela just received her test paper back and she earned an A. She looked over at her classmate, Lucy, and noticed that Lucy had received a D on her test.
- According to the Fundamental Attribution Error, how will Angela explain Lucy’s poor performance on her test?
- According to the Two-Step Process of Attribution, how might Angela adjust her initial explanation for Lucy’s poor performance? Be sure to provide a specific example of an alternate explanation for the bad grade.
- Based on information in the textbook, provide at least three general factors that will influence whether a person will actually engage in step two of the Two-Step Process?
- Based on research on cultural differences in the Fundamental Attribution Error, explain how culture (i.e., collectivist versus individualist) influences the type of attributions people tend to make. In your answer, specify which type of culture would be more likely to make a dispositional vs. situational attribution for Lucy’s bad grade. Given your answer, which culture is more likely to make the Fundamental Attribution Error in this situation?
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Scenario D: Rosa is playing mini-golf with some friends and acquaintances. Paul has been making fun of her mini-golf skills all night. She tries to ignore him because she knows she is a great player, but his taunts are starting to annoy her.
- At the end of the night, Rosa earned the winning score of the game. If Rosa makes a self-serving attribution, how will she explain her win? Is she more likely to make an internal or external attribution?
- How would Rosa use a self-serving attribution to explain a losing score instead? Would she be more likely to make an internal or external attribution?
- At the end of the night, Paul trips and sprains his ankle. According to the Belief in a Just World theory, how will Rosa explain this situation?
