AP Psychology 4.2: Attitude Formation and Bias
Practice AP Psychology 4.2 questions on stereotypes, implicit attitudes, out-group bias, attribution errors, prejudice, and discrimination.
- Syllabus
- Effective Fall 2025
- Course
- AP Psychology
Exam points
- Explain how stereotypes, implicit attitudes and in-group or out-group bias shape prejudice and discrimination.
- Apply cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias and belief perseverance to explain persistent social judgments.
- Analyze ethnocentrism, out-group homogeneity and attribution errors in social attitudes and behavior.
Covered syllabus points
4.2 Attitude Formation and Attitude Change question 1
[Maximum number: 1]
Ruth is bored at home alone, so she decides to watch a scary movie. At the most tense part of the movie, when
a large, scary-looking creature is being chased through the village by an angry mob, Ruth's roommate Lynn
comes home unexpectedly and flips on the lights. Ruth is startled and spills her hot chocolate on herself.
Part B
As they are cleaning up, Ruth tells Lynn the plot of the movie she was watching. While the creature
was large and scary-looking, he was actually quite gentle and friendly. The villagers discussed the
situation and concluded that the creature was going to hurt them, so they grabbed their torches and
pitchforks and chased him out of town. As the creature tried to escape, he tripped over a rock and
knocked down a villager.
Explain how each of the following concepts relates to the villagers' perceptions during this scene in the
movie.
- Out-group homogeneity bias
- Fundamental attribution error
Out-group homogeneity bias
response must indicate that the villagers have the perception that creatures all share
the same characteristics OR that creatures are all the same.
Acceptable explanations include:
The villagers in the movies think that all creatures are mean and evil.
Unacceptable explanations include:
Responses that refer to the villagers and the creature as being within the same group.
- The creatures and the villagers live in an area that has a lot of bias towards others.
1 point
4.2 Attitude Formation and Attitude Change question 2
[Maximum number: 1]
Savannah is a junior in high school and is preparing for an exam in her beginning Japanese course. The exam
will consist of both written and spoken portions. Although it is her first course in Japanese, Savannah is
confident that she will do very well on the exam.
After the exam, Savannah tells her family and friends that she believes that she spoke fluently and did
extremely well on the exam. Describe how each of the following concepts may have influenced her opinion.
- Self-efficacy
Confirmation bias
Point 8: Confirmation bias
To earn this point students must accurately describe how confirmation bias may have influenced
Savannah's positive opinion of her test performance. They may explain that Savannah is:
A. Selectively attending to information that supports her preconceived beliefs, OR
B. Minimizing contradictory evidence, OR
C. Selectively recalling information to support her existing beliefs.
Example: "Savannah may only remember the questions she did well on."
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