4.2 Social Percelption Flashcards
attribution theory
a description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behaviour.
Why study attributions?
- Because our attitudes towards people are often based on our explanations for their behaviour
•Political views (attribution for poverty)
•Relationships (attribution for new house mate’s grumpiness) - And other people’s attitudes towards us are often based on their explanations for our behaviour.
Attributions and Reactions 5
Negative behaviour (A man is rude to his colleague) --> Dispositional Attribution (The man is a hostile person) --> Unfavourable Reaction (I don’t like this man)
Negative behaviour (A man is rude to his colleague) --> Situational Attribution (The man was given an unfair evaluation) --> Symptomatic Reaction (I can understand)
If you see a homless what do you think? Internal vs. external attributions
make judgment about mental or addiction state, oh why don’t they get a job, their just lazy (these are internal attribution, most about the perosn). Oh that person must have had a hard life/tought go (external attribution, more about the situation)
2 Attributions (2 names for each)
internal = Dispositional Attribution (or traits) —> Unfavourable Reaction
external = Situational Attribution —> Symptomatic Reaction
• we don’t make both at once, pick one and go with that
Fundamental Attribution Error
–Tendency to underestimate situational influences on behaviour, and overestimate dispositional influences.
–AKA Correspondence Bias
Study:
Participants viewed a student giving a speech that was either pro or anti Castro
DV: Asked participants how much the speechwriter supported Castro
If we make good attributions, it should depend on if the student choose their position or if they were assigned to it
FAE if they assume the student think their pro wheather they choose it or not
Results: students make internal attribution and still think the people are pro even when they didn’t choose it
Alex Tribeck effect (host of Jepordy)
- when asked how smart he is they rate him very high becuase he’s holding the cards and ‘knows all the answers’ so of cource he’s smart
- Questioner was deemed smarter then the contestent evey time
Internal attribution
an inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about him or her, such as his/her attitude, character, or personality.
External attribution,
an inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in; the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation.
covariation model
- an attribution theory in which a person tries to explain others’ or her certain behavior through multiple observations. It deals with both social perception and self-perception of the person
- In order to form an attribution about what caused a person’s behaviour, we systematically note the pattern between the presence (or absence) of possible causal factors and whether or not the behaviour occurs.
when forming an attribution, we examine three types of information:
- Consensus Information
- Distinctiveness information
- Consistency information
Consensus Information
is information about the extent to which other people behave the same way as the actor does toward the same stimulus
-This is when people ask themselves “do other people act this way at towards the target?”
Distinctiveness information
is information about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli.
-Do the actor and target always act this way together?
Consistency information
is information about the extent to which the behaviour between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances.
-Does this person always act this way? Or is this how the actor usually behaves?
