8B: Social Thinking Flashcards
What is Attribution Theory?
It describes how we attach meanings to our own and others behavior; explains how we interpret events around us
What are the two types of attribution?
Dispositional (Internal)
Situational (External)
Dispositional Attribution
The attitude, characteristics, motivation, emotions, personality, beliefs about a person explain why that person behaves a certain way
Situational Attribution
The way that a person behaves is because of a particular situation
Fundamental Attribution Error
[aka Correspondence Bias or Attribution Effect]
When we underestimate the impact of a situation AND overestimate the impact of a persons character or personality
What does Fundamental Attribution Error describe?
It essentially describes that people tend to judge others based on their dispositional factors rather than situational factors
How does culture affect attribution?
Certain cultures have a high value on certain things; some value uniqueness and independence while others value conformity and interdependence.
Cues
Things used to understand the behavior of others
Consistency Cues
“Typical or Random?”
The more regular behavior, the more we associate that behavior with the motives of the person
Distinctiveness Cues
“Everyone or Just Me?”
If a persons behavior varies in different scenarios, we are more likely to form a situational attribution to explain it
Consensus Cues
“Majority or Singular?”
If a person deviates from socially expected behavior, we are likely for form a dispositional attribution about the persons behavior
Actor-Observer Bias
The tendency to blame our actions on the situation and blame the actions of others on their personalities
Self-Serving Bias
The tendency to attribute successes to ourselves and our failures to others or the external environment
Individuals who view their own success based on internal factors and failures based on external factors are exhibiting
Self Serving Bias
Self-Enhancement
Focuses on the need to maintain self-worth and can be done through internal attribution of successes and external attribution of failure.
Optimism Bias
The belief that bad things happen to other people and not to us
Just World Phenomenon
A tendency to believe that the world is fair and people get what they deserve
Halo Effect
The tendency to believe that people have inherently good or bad natures, rather than looking at individual characteristics
Impression Bias
A model of social perception that focuses on our selection of cues to form interpretations of others that are consistent over time.
Primacy Effect
First impressions are often more important than subsequent impressions
Recency Effect
Most recent information we have about an individual that is the most important in forming our impressions
Social Perception
Involves the understanding of others in our social world; the initial information we process about other people in order to try to understand their mindsets and intentions
Social Cognition
The ability of the brain to store and process information regarding social perception
Projection Bias
We assume others have the same beliefs as we do & since people have a tendency to look for similarities between themselves and others
False Consensus
We assume that everyone else agrees with what we do
Prejudice
Thoughts, attitudes and feelings someone holds about a group that are not based on actual experience; prejudgment of members of a group
Types of Prejudice
Racism, Classism, Sexism, Nationalism, Agism, Homophobia
What influences prejudice?
Power, Prestige and Class
Power
Ability to control other peoples behavior
Prestige
Good reputation, high position in society
Class
Upper, middle, lower
Role of Emotion in Prejudice
Aroused by expression or thoughts
Role of Cognition in Prejudice
What people believe is true
Stereotype
Oversimplified ideas about groups of people based on characteristics (such as race, gender, sexuality, religion or disability); they can be positive or negative
Paternalistic Stereotypes
The group is looked down upon as inferior, dismissed or ignored
Contemptuous Stereotypes
The group is viewed with resentment, annoyance or anger
Envious Stereotypes
The group is viewed with jealousy, bitterness or distrust
Admiration Stereotypes
The group is viewed with pride and other positive feelings
Ethnocentrism
The tendency to judge people from another culture by the standards of ones own culture especially when it comes to language, customs and religion.
Where does ethnocentrism manifest?
It can manifest in innocent displays of ethnic pride to violent supremacy groups
In-Group
Social group that one identifies his or herself as a member
Out-Group
Social group that one does not identify as a member
Cultural Relativism
The idea that no culture is superior than the other
Stigma
Extreme disapproval from society, groups, culture etc.; Labeling leads to stigma
Types of Stigma
Character Traits
Physical
Group Identity
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (Pygmalion Effect)
Occurs when stereotypes lead to behaviors that affirm the original stereotypes; something that occurs that validates a stereotype
Stereotype Threat
One feeling at risk of confirming negative stereotypes; people are concerned or anxious about confirming a negative stereotype about their social group
