Attribution key terms

Question 1

Naive Psychologists

Answer 1

Model of cognition that characterises people as using scientific like cause and effect analyses to understand the world

Question 2

Dispositional Attribution

Answer 2

Process of assigning the cause of our own or others behaviour to internal or dispositional factors

Question 3

Situational Attribution

Answer 3

Assigning the cause of our own or others behaviour to external or environmental factors

Question 4

Outcome Bias

Answer 4

Belief that outcome of behaviour were intended by the person who chose the behaviour

Question 5

Discount

Answer 5

If there is no consistent relationship between a cause and behaviour, the cause is discounted in favour of another cause

Question 6

Casual Schemata

Answer 6

Experience based beliefs about how certain types of causes interact to produce an effect

Question 7

Self Perception Theory

Answer 7

Idea we can gain knowledge of ourselves only by making self attributions

Question 8

Attributional style

Answer 8

Individual predisposition to make a certain type of causal attribution for behaviour

Question 9

Motivated tactician

Answer 9

Model of social cognition that characterises people as having multiple cognitive strategies available which they choose among on the basis of personal goals and needs

Question 10

Cognitive Miser

Answer 10

Model of social cognition that characterises people as using the least complex and demanding cognitions that are able to produce generally adaptable behaviours

Question 11

Correspondence Bias

Answer 11

General attribution bias where people have an inflated tendency to see behaviour as reflecting stable underlying personality attributes

Question 12

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 12

Bias in attributing others behaviour to more internal than external causes

Question 13

Essentialism

Answer 13

Persuasive tendency to consider behaviour to reflect underlying and immutable properties of people or the groups they belong to

Question 14

Actor-Observer Effect

Answer 14

Tendency to attribute our own behaviours externally and others’ behaviour internally

Question 15

False Consensus Effect

Answer 15

Seeing our own behaviours as more typical than they actually are

Question 16

Self-Serving Biases

Answer 16

Attributional distortions that protect or enhance self esteem

Question 17

Self-Handicapping

Answer 17

Publicly making advance external attributions for out anticipated failure in an upcoming event

Question 18

Illusion of control

Answer 18

Belief we have more control over the world than we really do

Question 19

Belief in a just world

Answer 19

Belief that the world is just a predictable place where good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people

Question 20

Intergroup Attribution

Answer 20

Process of assigning the cause of ones own or others behaviour to group membership

Question 21

Ethnocentrism

Answer 21

Evaluative preference for all aspects of our own group relative to other groups

Question 22

Ultimate Attribution Error

Answer 22

Tendency to attribute bad outgroup and good ingroup behaviour internally and good outgroup and bad ingroup behaviour externally

Question 23

Social Identity Theory

Answer 23

Theory of group membership and intergroup relations based on self catergorisation and the construction of self definition in terms of ingroup defining processes