Social Psychology: Why Good People Go Along
How other people quietly shape what we notice, believe, choose and do, from conformity and persuasion to helping and aggression.
Social Psychology · 50 questions
Try 3 questions
1. Students read an essay praising a policy and are told the writer was assigned that side. What do they typically conclude about the writer?
- The writer somewhat agrees with the policy
- The essay reveals nothing about the writer
- The writer secretly opposes the policy
Show the answer
Answer: The writer somewhat agrees with the policy
Even when behavior is clearly forced by the situation, people still infer a matching attitude: the fundamental attribution error.
2. You blame your own lateness on traffic but a colleague's lateness on carelessness. What is this pattern called?
- The actor-observer bias
- The halo effect
- The false consensus effect
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Answer: The actor-observer bias
As actors we see the situation pressing on us; as observers we see the person, so we explain others' behavior by their traits.
3. After a win, players credit their skill; after a loss, they blame the referee. Which bias does this illustrate?
- Self-serving bias
- Group polarization
- Hindsight bias
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Answer: Self-serving bias
People tend to attribute success to themselves and failure to outside factors, which protects self-esteem.
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