Free MCAT-style practice, 8B
MCAT Attribution Theory and Attribution Bias Practice Questions
Ten free MCAT-style practice questions on Kelley's covariation model, the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer and self-serving bias, halo effect and just-world belief, full explanations.
Quick concept primer
Attribution theory, which began with Heider, asks how people explain behavior: by dispositional (internal) causes such as traits and effort, or situational (external) causes such as luck, task difficulty or other people. Kelley's covariation model uses three kinds of information. High consensus (others act the same way), high distinctiveness (the person acts this way only with this target) and high consistency point to the situation or stimulus; low consensus, low distinctiveness and high consistency point to the person. Weiner added stability and controllability, so effort is internal and unstable while luck is external and unstable.
Systematic errors follow. The fundamental attribution error overweights dispositions when explaining other people. The actor-observer bias is the contrast: situational explanations for one's own behavior, dispositional ones for others. The self-serving bias credits success to oneself and blames failure on circumstances. People in collectivist cultures tend to give more situational explanations. The halo effect spreads one positive trait to unrelated judgments, and belief in a just world leads observers to blame victims.
Traps: if the stem compares a person's view of herself with her view of someone else, think actor-observer, not only FAE. Effort is internal even though it can change.
10 practice questions
Question 1
Researchers describe a scenario, "Dana laughed at the comedian," and vary three kinds of information across four versions.
| Version | Consensus | Distinctiveness | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | low | low | high |
| 2 | low | high | low |
| 3 | high | high | high |
| 4 | high | low | low |
According to Kelley's covariation model, which version most strongly leads participants to attribute the laughter to the comedian rather than to Dana?
- Version 1
- Version 2
- Version 3
- Version 4
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Version 3
High consensus (everyone laughs), high distinctiveness (Dana rarely laughs at other comedians) and high consistency (Dana laughs at this comedian every time) point to the stimulus, an external cause. Version 1 is the classic pattern for a dispositional attribution to Dana, and versions with low consistency suggest a one-time circumstance.
Question 2
In a study modeled on Jones and Harris (1967), participants read an essay arguing for a controversial policy. Half are told the writer chose the position freely, and half are told an instructor assigned the position. Even in the assigned condition, participants rate the writer's private opinion as strongly favoring the policy. This result best illustrates:
- the fundamental attribution error.
- the self-serving bias.
- the just-world hypothesis.
- the false consensus effect.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. the fundamental attribution error.
Participants knew a strong situational cause existed (the position was assigned) yet still inferred a matching attitude, overweighting disposition when judging another person. That is the fundamental attribution error. The self-serving bias concerns explanations of one's own outcomes, the just-world hypothesis concerns deserved fates, and false consensus is overestimating agreement with oneself.
Question 3
A driver who cuts across two lanes tells her passenger, "I had to, I almost missed my exit." Ten minutes later another car cuts in front of her and she says, "That guy is a reckless jerk." Which concept best accounts for the difference between her two explanations?
- Self-serving bias
- Halo effect
- Actor-observer bias
- Fundamental attribution error
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Actor-observer bias
The actor-observer bias is the tendency to explain one's own behavior by the situation and the same behavior in others by disposition, which matches the contrast here. The fundamental attribution error describes only the judgment of the other driver, not the comparison. The self-serving bias could explain her own excuse alone, but it does not account for the self versus other contrast the question asks about, and the halo effect is the spread of one trait to others.
Question 4
After an exam, 100 students answered an open question about why they got their score. Coders classified each answer as internal (effort or ability) or external (unfair test or bad luck).
| Result | n | Internal answers | External answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scored above 80 | 60 | 48 | 12 |
| Scored below 60 | 40 | 10 | 30 |
What percentage of low scorers gave an internal explanation, and which bias does the overall pattern illustrate?
- 25 percent; self-serving bias
- 75 percent; self-serving bias
- 25 percent; actor-observer bias
- 80 percent; just-world hypothesis
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. 25 percent; self-serving bias
10 of 40 low scorers is 25 percent internal, while 48 of 60 high scorers is 80 percent internal. Taking credit for success and pointing to outside causes for failure is the self-serving bias. 75 percent is the external share for low scorers, and 80 percent is the internal share for high scorers. No comparison with judgments of others is involved, so actor-observer bias does not fit.
Question 5
A researcher compares newspaper coverage of the same workplace crime in a strongly individualist country and a strongly collectivist country. Based on cross-cultural attribution research, which prediction is most reasonable?
- Articles from the collectivist country will place more emphasis on situational and social context, such as the offender's relationships and pressures.
- Articles from the individualist country will place more emphasis on situational causes.
- Coverage will not differ, because attribution biases are the same across cultures.
- Articles from the collectivist country will focus mainly on the offender's personality traits.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Articles from the collectivist country will place more emphasis on situational and social context, such as the offender's relationships and pressures.
Research comparing cultures, including analyses of news reports by Morris and Peng, found that people in collectivist cultures more often explain behavior through context and relationships, while people in individualist cultures lean toward dispositional explanations. The fundamental attribution error is therefore weaker, though not absent, in collectivist settings, which rules out the other choices.
Question 6
In a hypothetical study, graders scored the same essay. Half saw it with a photo of a conventionally attractive author and half with a photo of a less attractive author. The attractive-author version received higher ratings for logic and clarity, qualities unrelated to appearance. This pattern best demonstrates:
- the just-world hypothesis.
- the actor-observer bias.
- a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- the halo effect.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. the halo effect.
The halo effect occurs when one positive characteristic, here physical attractiveness, spreads to judgments of unrelated qualities such as reasoning. A self-fulfilling prophecy would require the expectation to change the author's actual behavior, which is impossible with a fixed essay. The other choices concern deserved outcomes and self versus other explanations.
Question 7
In a hypothetical experiment, participants read that a coworker lost her job when a company cut staff by drawing names at random. Participants who scored high on a scale measuring the view that the world is fair rated the laid-off coworker as lazier and less competent than low scorers did, even though the layoff was explicitly random. Which concept best accounts for this result?
- Halo effect
- Just-world hypothesis
- Out-group homogeneity
- Stereotype threat
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Just-world hypothesis
Belief in a just world (Lerner) holds that outcomes are deserved; when someone suffers through no fault of her own, believers may restore that view by finding fault in the victim, here by judging her lazy. The halo effect involves trait spillover, out-group homogeneity is seeing other groups as all alike, and stereotype threat is a target's fear of confirming a stereotype about their own group.
Question 8
Each of the following statements makes a dispositional (internal) attribution EXCEPT:
- "She aced the final because she is brilliant."
- "He failed because he never studies."
- "Our team lost because the referee made terrible calls."
- "She volunteers every weekend because she is a caring person."
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. "Our team lost because the referee made terrible calls."
Blaming the referee locates the cause outside the team, so it is a situational (external) attribution. Ability (brilliant), effort (never studies) and character (caring) are all internal causes. In Weiner's model effort is internal but unstable, which is why choice B still counts as dispositional.
Question 9
In an impression-formation study, two groups read the same six adjectives about a job candidate. One group read them from most positive to most negative, the other from most negative to most positive. The first group rated the candidate more favorably. Which effect best explains this?
- Recency effect
- Primacy effect
- Halo effect
- Actor-observer bias
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Primacy effect
Only the order changed, and the information presented first had more influence on the overall impression, which is the primacy effect described in Asch's impression-formation work. A recency effect would favor the group that read the positive traits last. The halo effect involves one trait coloring unrelated judgments, not order.
Question 10
A student says she failed a quiz because the instructor happened to choose the few topics she had not reviewed. In Weiner's attribution model, how is this explanation classified?
- Internal and stable
- Internal and unstable
- External and stable
- External and unstable
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. External and unstable
She attributes the outcome to chance in which topics appeared, which is luck: outside herself and likely to differ next time, so external and unstable. Ability is internal and stable, effort is internal and unstable, and task difficulty is usually classed as external and stable.