Causal Attribution Flashcards
Describe Heider and Simmer’s idea of the attribution theory
- how we come up with causal explanations
- people make complex inferences based on small amounts of info
- seeking simple info to predict
Define causal attribution
- explaining instances by reference to cause and effect
- draws upon social cognition; why we did something
How do we make explanations?
Theory of mind - the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and recognise that others may be difference
Briefly describe the three components of theory of mind?
Physical stance: explanations and predictions from the knowledge of physical laws (mass, energy etc)
Intentional stance: explanations and predictions on the basis of mental states
Counterfactual thinking: what would’ve happened; helps up understand the likely causes (what ifs?) - more causal responsibility to unusual elements
Give evidence of counterfactual thinking
Miller and McFarland:
- customer injured in a store
- either a store they were usually shopping in or one they didn’t
- ppts give more compensation to the customers who were in a shop they don’t usually shop in - less likely it would’ve happened
What is emotional amplification in terms of counterfactual thinking and give an example?
- reactions to counterfactuals are proportional to how easy it is to imagine the alternatives
- dwelling on things that are easy to undo (e.g. dwelling on 2 minutes late for a plane rather than 2 hours)
Example; Silver Medal Syndrome
- more happy with bronze than silver (e.g. first loser)
- counterfactual - almost came first but bronze - at least you got something
What are out of role behaviours?
- more informative than appropriate behaviour
- actions despite the situation; more extreme judgements and more likely to attribute to what the person is like (instead of considering the situation)
What is the discounting principle?
- multiple causes for the same behaviour = reduce the weight of each case
- imagining the alternative and dismissing the likelihood that their personality caused the behaviour
What is the augmentation principle?
- if X causes behaviour in spite of barriers that should prevent
- increases confidence that X is the reason for the behaviour
How can ambiguity effect identifying attributions?
- can’t tell if something is dispositional or situational
- other possibilities decrease the likelihood of a primary cause
What does B= f (P, E) mean?
- behaviour is a function of person and environment
What is the causation principle?
- explanation for B=f(p,e)
- internal causes; their personality
- external causes; the situation/context
What did Kelley suggest about the causation principle?
- forming attributions systematically using patterns of behaviour and the presence of causal factors such as…
- consensus: do most people do it? unique to one?
- distinctiveness: does the person only do this in THIS situation or is it in EVERY situation
- consistency: does the person do this EVERY TIME they are in the situation/a few times
- these figure out whether it is internal or external
What did Weiner suggest about attributions?
- judgement based on three dimensions
- internal vs external
- stable vs unstable
- global vs specific
Explanatory style dimension:
- using internal vs external dimensions to understand causes (e.g. a break up)
- stable vs unstable, global or specific
- pervasive tendency to explain in terms of dimension
- internal, stable and global for negative events = pessimistic and regular perceptions like this can lead to depression or anxiety
How does Weiner’s research apply to self-serving attributional bias’ and self-handicapping?
Self-serving attributional bias:
- tendency to see failures as external
- seeing success as internal
- this, therefore, maintains positive images and self-esteem
Self-handicapping:
- allows one to blame personal failures on external and unstable causes rather than internal/stable
- making external excuses to keep a favourable view of self
