Question

The need to preserve our self-esteem might cause us to attribute our good behavior to ________ and our bad behavior to _________.

• A. independent variables, dependent variables
• B. dependent variables, independent variables
• C. internal causes, external causes
• D. external causes, internal causes

Recently, a video went viral in which a man was shaving on the New Jersey transit. People reacted with disgust, blaming the man for being gross in public. Some days later, the man did an interview in which it was revealed that he was shaving on the train because he had just been released from a homeless shelter. Because people initially made the internal attribution, but later revised it to a more external attribution, this could be an example of:

• A. the two-step process
• B. self-serving bias
• C. analytic thinking
• D. just-world belief

Which of the following is a potential consequence of just-world beliefs?

• A. People may doubt whether there is free will.
• B. People may blame victims for their own tragedies.
• C. People may be more likey to believe unfounded accusations.
• D. People may be tempted to commit evil deeds.

Which of the following describes how most people understand the biases that influence causal attributions?

• A. People believe that most people make external, rather than internal, attributions
• B. People think that others are more likely to be biased than they themselves are.
• C. People refuse to believe that these biases are real
• D. People are able to accurately predict their own level of bias

Answer 1

Answer:

1. The correct answer is C.

In terms of psychoanalytic, it is a type of defense mechanism. People use defense mechanisms to protect their egos. This is also called fundamental attribution error. According to fundamental attribution error, to safeguard our self-esteem, we always attribute our good behavior to our internal causes, while bad behavior to external causes.