3- Attributions Flashcards
What does the Heider-Simmel illusion test for?
The hypothesis that people see shapes moving around as having personalities and intentions
What do we want to do according to the Heider-Simmel illusion?
To come up with adequate explanations for ours and others’ behaviours
What do people have a strong natural tendency to do?
See random shapes moving as rational beings with feelings and intentions
What is an attribution?
Action of making inferences about behaviour
Who proposed the naive psychologist theory?
Heider, 1958
What does the naive psychologist theory believe about people?
People are intuitive psychologists
What do people want to come up with according to the naive scientist theory?
Theories that are causal
What do we want to use? (Naive psychologist theory)
Stable and enduring properties
Why do we want to use stable and enduring properties? (naive psychologist theory)
To make it easier to control and predict
What do people stick to? (naive psychologist theory)
Internal explanations in spite of evidence for external
What are the three principles of the naive psychologist theory?
- Behaviour is motivated- we look for causes of people’s behaviours
- We search for stable and enduring properties
- Two explanations- internal (dispositional) or external (situational)
What is involved in internal (dispositional) explanations?
Personality and ability
What is involved in external (situational) explanations?
Situations and social pressure
Who came up with the correspondent inference theory?
Jones and Davis, 1965
What is the key question investigated by the correspondent inference theory?
When do we infer internal causes from people’s behaviour?
What do we like doing according to the correspondent inference theory?
Making correspondent inferences
What do we attribute behaviour to according to the correspondent inference theory?
Underlying disposition
What style is the dispositional cause in the correspondent inference theory?
Stable
What five sources of information/cues are needed to make a correspondent inference?
- Freely chosen behaviour
- Behaviour with few non-common effects
- Socially undesirable behaviour
- Important direct consequences for self
- Intention to benefit/harm us
What do non-common effects provide?
Inferences about someone’s disposition
What is the problem when there is none or a few non-common effects?
It is difficult for us to make a correspondent inference when there are none/few non-common effects
Why is socially undesirable behaviour more useful than socially desirable behaviour?
Socially undesirable behaviour gives us a better basis to make a correspondent inference