social psychology

Question 1

What are causal attributions?

Answer 1

Inferences about the causes of one’s own behaviors and the behaviors of others.

Question 2

What are the two types of causal attributions?

Answer 2

• Internal (dispositional)
• External (situational)

Question 3

What is an optimistic explanatory style?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What is a pessimistic explanatory style?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What is the fundamental attribution error?

Answer 5

The tendency to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors in others’ behaviors.

Question 6

How does culture affect the fundamental attribution error?

Answer 6

North Americans make more dispositional attributions, while Asian Indians make more situational attributions.

Question 7

What is the actor-observer effect?

Answer 7

The tendency to attribute our own behaviors to situational factors and others’ behaviors to dispositional factors.

Question 8

What is the self-serving bias?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What is the ultimate attribution error?

Answer 9

Attributing in-group negative behaviors to situational factors and out-group negative behaviors to dispositional factors.

Question 10

What does the group attribution error describe?

Answer 10

Attributing individual group member’s beliefs and decisions to the group as a whole.

Question 11

What are the two versions of the group attribution error?

Answer 11

• Belief that an individual group member’s beliefs reflect the group
• Belief that group decisions reflect the decisions of each individual member

Question 12

What is Kelley’s covariation model?

Answer 12

A model proposing that attributions about behavior are based on consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness.

Question 13

What does ‘consensus’ refer to in Kelley’s covariation model?

Answer 13

Whether others would behave the same way in the same situation.

Question 14

What does ‘consistency’ refer to in Kelley’s covariation model?

Answer 14

Whether the person usually acts this way in this type of situation.

Question 15

What does ‘distinctiveness’ refer to in Kelley’s covariation model?

Answer 15

Whether the person usually behaves differently in other situations.

Question 16

When are external attributions likely to be made according to Kelley’s model?

Answer 16

When consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness are all high.

Question 17

When are internal attributions likely to be made according to Kelley’s model?

Answer 17

When consensus is low, consistency is high, and distinctiveness is low.