8B: Social Thinking Flashcards
Attribution Theory
Holds that people attempt to understand behaviors of other people by attributing feelings, beliefs, and intentions to them
What is dispositional attribution?
When behavior is attributed to internal causes, such as qualities of person being observed
What is situational attribution?
When behavior is attributed to external causes, such as situations causing a person’s behavior
Describe influences on whether attribution is dispositional or situational
Consensus cues: Related to how common a person’s behavior is, or how much it differs from acceptable
Consistency cues: How consistent a person’s behavior is over time
Distinctiveness cues: How comparable a person behaves in different scenarios
Correspondent Interference Theory
Focuses on intentionality of a person’s behavior
Consensus Cue: When someone’s behavior is more abnormal, how is it attributed?
More likely to be dispositional
Consistency Cue: When someone’s behavior is more consistent with past behavior, how is it attributed?
More likely to be dispositional
Distinctiveness Cue: When someone’s behavior is more varied, how is it attributed?
More likely to be situational
If behavior is with consensus, how is it attributed?
More likely to be situational
If behavior is inconsistent with past behavior, how is it attributed?
More likely to be situational
If behavior is less distinctive from normal behavior, how is it attributed?
More likely to be dispositional
Describe Fundamental Attribution Error
Our tendency to place less importance on the import or situation or context of a behavior, and instead place undue emphasis on dispositional or internal qualities in order to explain behavior
We tend to think people are how they act
Actor Observer Bias
Important for self-perception in creating attribution
We blame our own actions on situations, but the actions of others on personality
Self-Serving Bias
Our tendency to credit ourselves with successes and our failures to the actions of others or our situation
Optimism Bias
Belief that we are somehow exempt from bad things happening to us
Halo Effect
Also halo and horns effect, seeing other people in black white as either good or bad
For example, your obnoxious co-worker becomes a bad parent in your mind when she talks about her family
Describe Cultural Effect on Attribution
Difference in Western and Easter culture on how successes and failures are viewed
Americans place emphasis on internal qualities, inverse for Eastern
Prejudice
Preconceived notion about a person, group, or thing that are either irrationally positive or negative and are made before knowing the people
Social Factors of Prejudice
Class: One’s socioeconomic status
Power: One’s ability to achieve goals and control resources despite obstacles
Prestige: The level of respect given to a a person by others
Explain the role of emotion in prejudice
Prejudices often come from a place of frustration or fear, and from a desire to create a scapegoat
Explain role of cognition in prejudice
Our brains seek to organize data into categories, using shortcuts to classify things in ways that are often simpler than they are in reality
Distinctive people stick out in our minds and can be made to represent whole groups of people
Stereotype
Widely held but oversimplified image or understanding of a group of people or things based on outwardly obvious characteristics
Describe the Stereotype Content Model
Varying levels of competence and warmth categorize dominant views of groups held by society
Paternalistic Stereotype (pity)
Marked by low competence and high warmth (housewives, elderly, disabled)
