Social Cognition – Causal Attributions

Question 1

Causal attributions

Answer 1

Inferences about the causes of behaviors, which can be internal (dispositional) or external (situational), stable or unstable, and specific or global.

Question 2

Optimistic explanatory style

Answer 2

Attribute negative outcomes to external, unstable, and specific factors.

Question 3

Pessimistic explanatory style

Answer 3

Attribute negative outcomes to internal, stable, and global factors.

Question 4

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 4

Tendency to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when attributing others’ behavior.

Question 5

Actor-observer effect

Answer 5

Tendency to attribute our own behavior to situational factors and others’ behavior to dispositional factors.

Question 6

Self-serving bias

Answer 6

Attribute our own desirable behaviors to dispositional factors and undesirable behaviors to situational factors.

Question 7

Ultimate attribution error

Answer 7

Attributing negative behaviors of one’s in-group to situational factors and negative behaviors of out-groups to dispositional factors, and vice versa for positive behaviors.

Question 8

Group attribution error

Answer 8

Believing that individual group members’ beliefs reflect those of the whole group, or that group decisions reflect unanimous individual decisions.

Question 9

Kelley’s covariation model

Answer 9

Model proposing attributions based on consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness of behavior. High consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness lead to external attribution; low consensus, high consistency, and low distinctiveness lead to internal attribution.