Judgements of Others Flashcards
What is the tripod of social psychology?
situationism; forces in society
construal; interpretations of situations
tension systems; state of tension
- centrality of the self
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Merton; a false definition of a situation can evoke a new behaviour making the original false conception come true
What do studies on behavioural confirmation effects show?
initial expectations about a person or event can influence their subsequent behaviour and confirm the initial expectation
Describe the main features of two behaviour confirmation studies
Phonecall (Snyder et al., 1977); attractiveness manipulation influences the friendliness of a female participant
Hostility (Snyder & Swann, 1978); labelling and attribution manipulations affect the targets use of noise gun
What are Ichheiser’s causes of misunderstandings in human relations?
physical appearance
behaviour
situational factors
communications from others and from the person themselves
What are the two types of attribution?
disposition; outcomes are the result of personal, internal characteristics
situation; outcomes are the result of external factors
Which study showed a difference in the importance of disposition and situation in producing events?
Diary; Gilovich & Regan (1986)
action events are more causally related to disposition
experiencing events are more causally related to situation
What are Pronin’s (2008) aspects of judgements?
positive illusions; inflated views of the self and ones future
interpersonal knowledge; overestimate what can be learnt during brief encounter
pluralistic ignorance; misconstruing the thoughts and motives of others
miscommunications; what people say vs. what they mean
conformity; people deny that they conform and see themselves as unique
objectivity; people see themselves as objective and others as biased
What is the correspondence bias?
when people make attributions about others based on their disposition when their actions can be entirely explained by the situation
Which study supports the correspondence bias?
Jones & Harris (1967) Castro’s Cuba
participants given no choice were rated as more favourable to Castro when they wrote a defensive essay
What is the fundamental attribution error?
the tendency to overestimate the effect of dispositional factors and underestimate the effect of situational factors
What factors can affect the FAE?
cognitive load
mood
culture
political orientation
How does cognitive load affect the FAE?
Gilbert et al. (1988)
dispositional inferences are resource efficient
situational correction requires more cognitive effort
How does mood affect the FAE?
Forgas (1998)
positive mood increases the incidence of dispositional inferences due to less systematic processing
How does culture affect the FAE?
dispositional inferences are more prevalent in North America
situational inferences are more prevalent in Asia
collectivistic cultures use more situational correction
Which study supports the FAE?
Ross et al. (1977)
quizmasters and contestants
Q’s rate themselves & C’s are similarly above average
C’s rate themselves below and Q’s significantly above average
How do political attitudes affect the FAE?
Skitka et al. (2002)
liberals focus more on situational explanations for homelessness and crime
conservatives focus more on dispositional explanations
quizmaster-contestant like experiment shows this
Which study shows a bias in the perception of situational correction?
Van Boven et al. (2003)
Columbine massacre attributions
people estimated more situational than dispositional factors
people rated others as making similar ratings of dispositional and situational factors
people want to see themselves as superior people perceivers
What is embarrassment?
an aversive emotional state rooted in social interaction involving flustering and the desire to hide
What is face?
positive aspects of character that a person lays claim to
How does Sabini explain Milgram’s findings using RFAE?
people are controlled by a disposition to obey authority, this is stronger than their disposition to follow their conscience; obey experimenter to avoid embarrassment
How does Sabini explain Asch’s findings using the RFAE?
people are more eager not to look like fools (so follow disposition) than to obey the experimenters instructions (following the situation)
What is the really fundamental attribution error?
disposition is in fact generally the root of behaviour, but it is the disposition to obey the situational constraints rather than a disposition of positivity towards the action
FAE misunderstands the aspect of disposition at play
What are 6 stages of making attribution?
Gilbert & Malone (1995)
- prior beliefs
- situation perception
- behavioural expectations
- behaviour perception
- dispositional inference
- situational correction