attributions Flashcards
attributions
causes we give to events
two dimensions of attributions
Locus: external or internal cause
Stability: temporary or stable
what sort of attributions enhance relationships?
See positive behaviours as internal and stable
See negative behaviours as external and temporary
Intentionality is important.
Obviously, caveats apply - don’t use relationship enhancing attributions to excuse more severe problems.
hierarchy of beliefs
All the beliefs we have about our partner and our relationship can be organized hierarchically:
Bottom: concrete, specific observations
Mid-range: beliefs about partner’s enduring qualities
Top: global feelings about partner and relationship
Attributions>construal>behaviour
schemas
Are mental frameworks made of all our pre-existing knowledge about a particular thing that help us make sense of the world. They guide our expectations and influence our attributions and construals.
how can schemas be self perpetuating?
1). Perceptual confirmation - expecting what we see
2). Behavioural confirmation - behaving in a way that makes our expectations happen
Example: REJECTION SENSITIVITY
Anxiously expecting rejection shapes our behaviour and construals.
perceptual confirmation examples
Testing: emotional stroop task
Individuals high in RS are more likely to notice rejection-related cues (attentional bias)
Another example: that study where people participate in two get to know you activities. After first one told:
- Other person doesn’t want to continue
- Not enough time for second part
More feelings of rejection in first condition linked to RS
behavioural confirmation example
Rs in women and their relationships
- Couples talk about confictual topics
- Higher rs women behaves more negatively and partners rated conversations worse
why do people with rs tend to act hostile?
· Not necessarily more hostile
· Behavioural manifestation of feelings of hurt, anger, frustration, hopelessness stemming from social rejection?
Low self esteem:
- Naive realism
Defend against relationship anxieties triggers of self doubts by devaluing the relationship
In lower self esteem individuals, failure feedback about intellectual abilities affected all sorts of things:
○ Lower confidence in partners regard
○ Anxieties about rejection
○ Derogation of partner
Opposite pattern for individuals higher in self esteem…able to use partner as a self affirming resource
motivated cognition
Interpretations can also be shaped by what we want - not just what we think
We can be biased in how we perceive our partner and our relationship - explains why outsides can evaluate a relationship very differently than participants.
Enhancement bias: we are motivated to see our partners and our relationships in a positive light - positive illusions
We idealize our partners. “yes, but…”
what are positive illusions related to?
- Are related to increased relationship satisfaction
Self fulfilling prophecy - live up to expectations
justification motive
Means that we want to hold favourable attitudes about ourselves. In troubled relationships we can still uplift ourselves by placing the blame on the partner.
self serving bias
- Tendency to make internal attributions for our positive behaviour and external attributions for our negative behaviour
Hard to believe that we could cause our partner pain or distress.
ALSO, remember the actor-observer difference - affects the way we make our attributions
memory bias
Memory is a constructive process…we create a narrative by mixing pieces of remembered information and our current knowledge. This means that we tend to leave out or amplify information in order to support our current view of our partner and relationship.
mcfarland and ross (1987)
- Had ps rate their partners personality and relationship before and after two months
- Found that memories of past feelings were guided by current feelings about the relationship
