Attribution Theory

Question 1

What is attribution?

Answer 1

How we explain the world around us

Question 2

What are the three dimensions of explanatory styles?

Answer 2

1. internal vs external
2. stable vs unstable
3. global vs specific

Question 3

What are the 2 styles in explanatory styles? How would they attribute a success?

Answer 3

1. optimistic - internal, stable, global
2. pessimistic - external, unstable, specific

Question 4

What benefits does having an optimistic style have?

Answer 4

academic success, fewer health problems and better coping

Question 5

What is a dispositional attribution?

Answer 5

internal cause - personality, skills, etc

Question 6

What is a situational attribution?

Answer 6

external cause - environment, situation, etc

Question 7

What is correspondence bias?

Answer 7

make dispositional attribution even when situation clearly caused behaviour

Question 8

Correspondence bias experiments’ findings?

Answer 8

• even if person telling them what to respond, still think responses are reflective of answerer’s opinion
• occurs across cultures
• collectivists correspondence bias lowers IF exposed to same condition as person who they are evaluating

Question 9

What is the fundamental attribution error?

Answer 9

Tendency to over emphasize dispositional and under state situational attributions when explaining others’ behaviour

Question 10

Is FAE universal? How does it develop?

Answer 10

Only in individualist; children make same attributions then collectivists become more situational and individualists become more dispositional

Question 11

What is actor observer bias/asymmetry?

Answer 11

Tendency to give situational attributions for own foolish behaviour and dispositional for others’ foolish behaviour

Question 12

What are the mechanisms being the actor observer bias?

Answer 12

1. knowledge of the actor - better you know the person, more likely to give situational attributions
2. perceptual salience - from 3rd perspective person is main focus; from 1st perspective situation is main focus

Question 13

What is the two factor theory of emotion?

Answer 13

we deduce our emotional state from: 1.physiological arousal
2. situation

Question 14

What was the finding of drug injection experiment?

Answer 14

If know reason why aroused, don’t take on other emotions; if unsure why aroused, take on other people’s emotions