Attribution Flashcards
b) Two general types of attributes (Fritz Heifer)
situational and dispositional
Fundamental attribution error (correspondence bias)
i. Definition: The tendency to make dispositional attributions
1. We overestimate the power of the person.
2. We underestimate the power of the situation.
Study of fundamental Attribution Error (Jones & Harris)
ii. Study of fundamental Attribution Error (Jones & Harris)
1. Hypothesis: Across situations, we tend to make dispositional attributions
2. Task: Ss read pro- and anti- Castro essays.
a) Half Ss were told that writer freely wrote the essay
b) Half Ss were told that writer had to write the essay due to a coin toss (were made to write this essay)
3. Question: In which situation would Ss make more dispositional attributions?
4. Result
a) Fig 4.7—when people knew that the author’s choice of an essay topic was externally caused (i.e., in the no-choice condition), they assumed that what he wrote reflected how he really felt about Castro. i.e., they mad an internal attribution from his behaviour
i. Even anti-Castro, people still tend to assume that writer is pro-Castro
The actor-observer effect
ii. Actor-observer effect:
1. Making attribution for our own behaviour
a) People do not make objective situational/ personal attributions for their own behaviour, though.
b) People tend to attribute their successes to dispositional factors,
i. E.g., I did well on the test because I am smart
c) People tend to attribute their failures to situational factors.
i. E.g., I did poor on the test because I didn’t get enough sleep.
2. Making attribution for others’ behaviour
a) People tend to attribute other’s failure to distributional factors
i. E.g., He did poorly in the test because he is lazy
b) People tend to attribute other’s success to situational factors
i. E.g., He succeed because he had more time
Social comparison theory
Social comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954)
i. Upward social comparison – compare to someone better than you
ii. Downward social comparison – compare to someone who is worse than you
why do we Self-enhance
Self-enhancement: Motivation to maintain positive image of self
i. Sociometer theory
1. our self-esteem functions as a signal of the degree to which we feel accepted or rejected by other people
a) self-esteem drop when receive rejection and rise when feel accepted
2. hard to prove?
ii. Terror management theory
1. people cope with the fear of their own death by constructing worldviews that help to preserve their self-esteem
a) i.e. our death is inevitable, but culture provide us ways to live immortally, though belief, values
2. strong evidence
a) affirming positive beliefs about the self reduces death anxiety
b) reminding people of death leads to stronger self-enhancement
i. people who are dying are more engaged in risky driving
c) suggesting a scientific proof of death reduces the impact of mortality salience
Contrast effects,
Contrast effect — self vs. others
self is contrasted to the target of comparison
and thus self-evaluations move away from the target
- Contrast effect results
Upward social comparison: Feeling worse when compare someone better than you
Downward social comparison:
Feeling better when compare someone worse than you
Self enhancement
When people need positive sense of self, they do downward comparison
assimilation effect
Self-evaluations move towards the target of comparison,
Occurs when
a) Target is relevant (e.g., part of one’s social group)
b) Self-enhancement needs are activated
Assimilation effect results
a) Upward social comparison
i. Feeling worse when compare someone better than you
ii. Self enhancement
b) Downward social comparison
i. Feeling better when compare someone worse than you
e.g., basking in reflected glory
One Type of Assimilation effect: Basking In Reflected Glory (BIRGing)
a) Definition: the tendency to increase association with those who are successful (BIRGing)
b) Cialdini et al (1976) field study:
i. Monday morning after football games, college students (from Arizona State, Louisiana State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, etc.) more likely to wear school sweatshirts when team won on the previous Saturday
ii. Larger the victory , the more shirts worn
iii. People tend to associate with positive others most closely when their own public image is threatened
iv. People associate themselves with positive others even when they have no clear connection to the success of the positive others.
what is belief in just world
- The belief that people get what they deserve in life, such that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people
- ‘what goes around comes around’
- Similar to illusion of control in terms of helping us to feel in control to our life, to feel world is stable
- E.g., poor people deserve misfortune; victim of abuse did something bad in the past
self-handicapping
- We may claim or create a handicap to our own performance in the following situation
a) are unsure of our success on a task we value and
b) feel we should do well, - We do this in order to
a) Build an advance excuse for possible future failure that might otherwise damage our self-esteem
And/or
b) Be able to claim additional credit should we nevertheless succeed
illusion of control
Compare to the lives of similar others, we tend to believe:
- we have more positive experiences
- and fewer negative experiences
better-than average effect
- Tendency to evaluate oneself more positively than most people
- Example:
a) Most people (80%) rate themselves ‘above average’ in intellectual ability
b) 70% of faculty rate their teaching as ‘better than average’ - Better than average effect is more pronounced in domains perceived as important
- Does not work in esoteric and perceived unimportant domains (e.g., spelunking)
- Note this effect varies with culture: more likely in individualism culture, not in collectivism culture (modesty in Asians)
Attribution across cultures
a) Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) & Culture
i. Individualism
1. i.e. humans are autonomous, internally driven creatures
2. independent sense of self
3. sense of self is stable
4. e.g., I’m always me regardless I’m with friends or family
5. more in Europe and North America
ii. Collectivism
1. i.e., stress the relationship between the individual and his/ her social roles and surroundings
2. interdependent sense of self
3. affected by surroundings and contexts
4. tend to score lower in self-esteem
5. e.g., My sense of self is affected by my family’s behaviour
6. more in East Asians
Attribution across cultures: e.g., Masuda & Nisbett, 2001 study
iv. Masuda & Nisbett (2001) study
1. Ss: American and Japanese
2. Task1: describe the picture; Task2: present single pic of fish, ask if had seen the fish in previous pic
3. Result:
a) Task 1:
i. American focused more on attributes of the fish (e.g., colour of fish)
ii. Japanese focused more on attributes of the context (e.g., surroundings, frog)
b) Task 2- American more likely answer correctly
