Ch. 5: Social Attribution

Question 1

Attribution Theory

Answer 1

A set of concepts explaining how people assign causes to the events around them and the effects of people’s causal assessments

Question 2

Causal Attribution

Answer 2

Linking an event to a cause, such as inferring that a personality trait is responsible for a behaviour

Question 3

Explanatory Style

Answer 3

A person’s habitual way of explaining events typically assessed along three dimensions: internal/external, stable/unstable and global/specific

Question 4

What is the explanatory style for a pessimist?

Answer 4

internal, stable and global

Question 5

What is the explanatory style for an optimist?

Answer 5

external, unstable and specific

Question 6

What does research show regarding boys and girls attributional style in school?

Answer 6

Boy are more likely to attribute failure on lack of effort while girls are more likely to attribute failure on lack of ability

Question 7

Dispositional cause

Answer 7

an outcome is the product of something within the person

Question 8

Situational cause

Answer 8

a reflection of the context or circumstances

Question 9

Covariation Principle

Answer 9

The idea that behaviour should be attributed to potential causes that occur along with the observed behaviour

Question 10

What are the three different types of covariation?

Answer 10

1. Consensus
2. Distinctiveness
3. Consistency

Question 11

Consensus

Answer 11

A type of covariation information

What most people would do in a given situation.

high consensus = when individual reactions are shared
low consensus = when reactions are different

Question 12

Distinctiveness

Answer 12

A type of covariation information

What an individual does in different situations; whether the behaviour is unique to a situation or occurs in all situations

High distinctiveness = when a reaction is confined to a particular situation
Low distinctiveness = multiple situations elicit the same situation

Question 13

Consistency

Answer 13

A type of covariation information

What an individual does in a given situation on different occasions

High consistency = a reaction to a situation is repeated over time
Low consistency = reactions to a situation change over time

Question 14

External/Situational attribution

Answer 14

HIGH consensus, HIGH distinctiveness, HIGH consistency

Question 15

Internal/Dispositional attribution

Answer 15

LOW consensus, LOW distinctiveness, HIGH consistency

Question 16

Discounting Principle

Answer 16

The idea that people should assign reduced weight to a particular cause of behaviour if other plausible causes might have produced it

** if situational constraints likely affected the behaviour **

Question 17

Augmentation Principle

Answer 17

The idea that people should assign greater weight to a particular cause of behaviour if other causes are present that normally would produce a different outcome

**if strong forces would typically inhibit the behaviour but it didn’t - we infer that behaviour is strongly innate/personable **

Question 18

Counterfactual Throughts

Answer 18

Thoughts of what might have, could have, or should have happened “if only” something had occurred differently

Question 19

Emotional Amplification

Answer 19

An increase in an emotional reaction to an event that is proportional to how easy it is to imagine the event not happening

Question 20

Self-Serving Attributional Bias

Answer 20

The tendency to attribute failure and other bad events to external circumstances, and to attribute success and other good events to oneself

Question 21

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 21

The failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behaviour, and the corresponding tendency to over emphasize the importance on behaviour

Question 22

Just World Hypothesis

Answer 22

The belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get

Question 23

Actor Observer Difference

Answer 23

A difference in attribution based on who is making the causal assessment:
the actor is relatively inclined to make situational attributions
the observer is relatively inclined to make dispositional attributions

Question 24

Social Class

Answer 24

The amount of wealth, education and occupational prestige individuals and their families have

Question 25

What are some attributional differences between interdependent and independent cultures?

Answer 25

interdependent: more likely to make situational attributions
independent: more likely to make dispositional attributions and fall victim to the fundamental attribution error