Attribution

Question 1

what is dispositional attribution?

Answer 1

explains cause of behaviour in terms of personal characteristics

“scored well on the exam because they are smart”

Question 2

what is situational attribution?

Answer 2

explains the cause of the behaviour in terms of situational factors

“scored well on the exam because it was easy”

Question 3

what is the naive scientist approach to understanding attribution?

Answer 3

ordinary people are rational and scientific thinkers, therefore they make attributions using similar processes

Question 4

what is Kelley’s covariation model?

Answer 4

people typically attribute the cause of a behaviour to the factor that most clearly covaries with the behaviour

:the factor that tends to be present when the behaviour occurs

Question 5

Kelley’s covariation model explains …

Answer 5

that a typical social situation has three components: a person, a stimulus and a circumstance

therefore the observer infers a casual explanation based on consensus, distinctiveness and consistency

Question 6

Scenario 1: Attribution by covariation model

only one student is sleeping in class, the student does this in every class, the student does this every time

Answer 6

Consensus = low, no other people are sleeping in class

Distinctiveness = low, they do this is other classes too

Consistency = High, do this all the time

suggests that the individual is either lazy or has a sleeping disorder

Question 7

Scenario 2: Attribution by covariation model

only one student is sleeping in class, the student sleeps in everybody’s lectures, however the student doesn’t normally do this

Answer 7

Consensus = Low, no other students are asleep

Distinctiveness = low, sleeping in other lectures

Consistency = Low, doesnt normally do this

Suggests that the person’s had a late night with little sleep… attribution of the behaviour to the students circumstances

Question 8

Scenario 3: Attribution by covariation model

most of the students are asleep, the students sleep only in these lectures and this occurs often

Answer 8

Consensus = High, everybody is doing it

Distinctiveness = High, only happens in a particular class

Consistency = High, sleeps often

attribution of the behaviour to the object (Lecturer)

Question 9

Is attribution biased?

Answer 9

although people tend to make attributions based off of consensus, distinctiveness and consistency

peoples attributions can be biased, with them tending to favour either a type of cause or reason due to the person

Question 10

what is the fundamental attribution error?

FAE or correspondence bias

Answer 10

the tendency to over-attribute behaviour to the person (using dispositional causes for attribution)

there is evidence that people attribute behaviour to the person even though there is clear evidence for a situational cause

Question 11

What did Jones and Harris (1967) find out about fundamental attribution error?

Answer 11

American UG’s in the 1960s were given essays supposedly written by another student

the essay either expressed positive or negative views of Fidel Castro

the were also told that either the student bot to choose their argument or were forced to take it

the participants were then asked to make inference about the writer’s attitude towards castro

people still attributed the behaviour (essay position) to the person (their attitude towards castro) even when told the student had no choice

Question 12

When is fundamental attribution error stronger?

Answer 12

when people have to make quick decision

when people are distracted

when people are in a good mood

when they don’t know much about the person

Question 13

what is the actor-observer bias?

Answer 13

it is the tendency for actors to attribute their own behaviours to the situation and for observers to explain them in terms of their disposition

e.g. actor = i have a lot on my plate

observer = they are lazy and not motivated

Question 14

what is self-serving attribution bias?

Answer 14

taking credit for success (due to disposition) and denying responsibility (attributing it to the situation .. he made me do it)

Question 15

Collectivist cultures and FAE

Answer 15

fundamental attribution error is lower in collectivistic cultures. people are less likely to attribute behaviour to disposition and more likely to explain behaviour in terms of situational factors

thought to be because collectivistic cultures think more holistically (contextual)
whether as individualistic cultures think more abstractly, removing factors from the environment

Question 16

evidence for holistic thinking in collectivistic cultures

Answer 16

japanese and american participants were shown a number of animated scenes

japanese participants remembered 60% more background features than the americans who focused on focal objects. Japanese made more statements about how objects in the animation related to each other

Question 17

Blaming the victim due to attribution …

Answer 17

attribution can affect the justice system (how we assign blame)

evidence that people devalue victims of illness, poverty, rape and theft

this happens because people tend to attribute their misfortunes to personal factors rather than situational factors .. therefore rejecting these victims

Question 18

what is the ‘just-word’ theory?

Answer 18

people have a need to perceive the world as fair (children are socialised this way)

there is idea of the ‘personal contract’ that the world promotes confidence to pursue one’s goals

Question 19

how does the just-world theory derogate victims

Answer 19

by devaluing them it protects the sense of justice , by giving it a dispositional cause and not a situational one, the world remains fair and makes people feel safe: that this situation won’t happen to them

Question 20

Hafer’s (2000) experiment on the just-world theory

Answer 20

participants watched a video of a young women who gave an account on how she contracted HIV

prior to watching the video one group of participants were asked to list their long term goals in life

the video presented the women as either innocent (condom broke) or not innocent (didn’t use protection)

the participants then rated the women on several dimensions and on their personality

Hafer found that there was a significant difference between the two groups ratings when the victim was innocent. the victim was more likely to be derogated when the participants had listed their long term goals

consistent with the just-world theory