Unit 4A Sec 2- Social Influence and Perception

Question 1

Attribution theory

Answer 1

Explains how people decide whether someone’s behavior is caused by their personality or situation

Question 2

Dispositional attributions

Answer 2

Assuming a person’s actions are due to their personality, not their situation

Question 3

Situational Attributions

Answer 3

Assuming a person’s actions are due to their circumstances, not their personality

Question 4

Explanatory Style

Answer 4

How a person usually explains the reason behind events–whether they blame themselves or outside factors

Question 5

Optimistic Explanatory Style

Answer 5

The habit of explaining good things as likely to happen again and bad things as one-time events

Question 6

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

Answer 6

The habit of explaining bad things as likely to happen again and good things as one-time events

Question 7

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 7

The tendency to blame people’s actions more on their personality and less on their situation

Question 8

Actor-Observer Bias

Answer 8

The habit of blaming our own actions on the situation but blaming other people’s actions on their personality

Question 9

Self-Serving Bias

Answer 9

The tendency to attribute one’s success to personal characteristics and failures to external factors, enhancing one’s self esteem