Lesson 1 - Attributions & Errors

Question 1

Social Psychology

Answer 1

Social psychologists focus on the situation: They study the social influences that explain why the same person acts differently in different situations.
- The scientific study of how we think about, influence and relate to one another (social interaction)

Question 2

Attributions

Answer 2

How we explain other people’s behaviour - what we ‘attribute’ a person’s behaviour to.

The theory that we tend to explain the behaviour to others as either an aspect of their inner trait (disposition) or due to external factors (situation)

Question 3

Dispositional Attributions

Answer 3

A person’s stable, enduring traits such as intelligence or personality
Ex: Max, a close friend just told you that he got a perfect score on a test
- “Max is always so good at history”
- “Max studied so much for this test”

Question 4

Situational Attributions

Answer 4

Behavior that is attributed to external factors.
Ex: Max, a close friend just told you that he got a perfect score on a test.
- “Yeah, but that test was a super easy test”
- “The teacher always gives easy tests”

Question 5

False Consensus Effect

Answer 5

The tendency to overestimate the number of people who agree with us
- Tendency to assume that one’s own opinions, beliefs, attributes, or behaviours are more widely shared than is actually the case.

Question 6

Fundamental Attribution Theory

Answer 6

The tendency people have to overemphasize personal characteristics and ignore situational factors in judging others’ behavior.
Ex: In class, Julie is quiet and never contributes to a class discussion, unless called on by the teacher. But Ryan enjoys participating in any type of discussion…
- An observer would conclude that Julie is an introvert and Ryan is an extrovert.

Question 7

Individualism

Answer 7

Believes that people should focus on the aspects that set them apart from others, rather than those aspects that are shared with everyone else.
- Western cultures more often attribute behaviours to personal disposition

Question 8

Collectivism

Answer 8

The tendency to view oneself as a member of a larger (family or social) group, rather than as an isolated, independent being.
- Eastern cultures are more sensitive to the influence of situation

Question 9

Just World Bias

Answer 9

The tendency to think that bad things happen to bad people. The world is ‘just’ so assuming if we are ‘good’, good things will happen. “You get what you deserve”

Question 10

Halo Effect

Answer 10

When one trait of a person is used to make an overall judgment of that person.
- Research has shown that attractiveness is one trait that leads often to the halo effect.

Question 11

Mere Exposure

Answer 11

The tendency for us to link something more with repeated exposure. Within the context of how we perceive others, but mere exposure is a phenomenon that can be applied to any stimulus.
- The more we see a person, the more we like them
- The more we hear a song, the more we like it…
- Anything can grow on you…