Week 6 - Attributions Flashcards
What is short-termed memory?
Information and input that is CURRENTLY activated and maintained
Cannot be manipulated
(7 plus or minus 2)
What is working memory?
Manipulation and attention to ACTIVATED information
What is long term-memory?
Information from PAST experience that may/may not be activated
List the process of memory
sensory information —> short-term memory —> REHEARSAL—> long-term memory
Short term and working memory works on what part of the brain?
Pre-front cortex
Long-term memory works on what part of the brain?
Hippocampus
Memory is a “_______________” process
Reconstructive
(Influenced by biases, schemas, motives and goals)
HOWEVER information that is highly “___________” with schemas may be processed more throughout
Inconsistent
What is mood-congruent memory?
People are more likely to remember…
POSITIVE information when in + mood
NEGATIVE information when in - mood
Ex) chew same flavour of gum when studying and taking test
What is the misinformation effect?
The process by which CUES that are given AFTER an event can plant FALSE information into memory
Ex) car accident, broken glass using word “hit” vs using word “smash”
The use of eyewitness testimony is often “_______” influential piece of trail evidence
Most
False confessions can be coerced and fully “____________” by the “confessor”
Believed
What is the availability heuristic?
Judging frequency of an event based on the EASE with which it is brought to mind
Schema-based
What is the ease of retrieval effect?
Judge how frequently an event occurs on the basis of how EASILY they can RETRIEVE a CERTAIN # of instances of that event
True or false. We want to understand why people act and feel and think the way they do
TRUE
What does attribution theory describe?
How people explain their causes of their OWN and OTHERS behaviour
We make causal attributions all the time
Often AUTOMATIC and RAPID
What are the 2 primary sources the casual schema come from?
1) personal experiences
2) general cultural knowledge
What happens when the event doesn’t readily fit a casual schema?
We rely on what is SALIENT or highly ACCESSIBLE
“Top of the head phenomenon”
What is internal attribution VS external attribution?
Internal (disposition): persons behaviour was caused by something internal
Ex) attitudes, character
External (situation): ^^^ was caused by something external, we assume most people would behave similar
Ex) situation
What is a stable VS unstable stability of cause?
Stable: persons behaviour is RELIABLY caused by the SAME thing
Unstable: ^^ is NOT reliably cause by the same thing
True or false. Stability of cause cannot combine in different ways
FALSE
What is fundamental attribution error (FAE)?
We OVERESTIMATE the extent to which other’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors
While…
We UNDERESTIMATE the role of situational factors
Ex) We often think that actors are like their characters
What is the 3 stage model of attribution? (Based on dual-process models)
1)Identification of behaviour —> ATTRIBUTION: 2)automatic disposition inference —> 3)effortful situational correction
***(ONLY IF THEY HAVE SUFFICIENT MOTIVATION/COGNITIVE RESOURCES AVAILABLE)
What are observer attributions?
We tend to attribute other people’s behaviour to INTERNAL reasons and ASSUMED their behaviour is caused by their disposition
What is false consensus?
We assume other people are like ourselves
Freudian associations
What does implicit personality theory mean?
Some traits are more central to others to OVERALL impressions
Cross-situation consistency
Ex) warm vs cold
What is a main top down influence example?
Eye-tracking in similarity
In this experiment there was a STRONG focus on the eyes in terms of other parts of the face
Eyes provide critical information
Schema-inconsistent information is more likely to be memorable or not memorable?
Memorable
Ex) tap dancing on a coffin at a funeral
What is dialectics and what does it mean in collectivist terms?
A way of thinking that acknowledges and accepts INCONSISTENCY
Collectivist culture gather info differently than individual
What is the locus of causality?
What are the 2 dimensions?
1) Can be INTERNAL (person) or EXTERNAL (situation/environment)
Ex) I failed a physics exam… should I attribute this to my lack of intelligence or external factors such as it was an unfair exam
2) The behaviour can be STABLE or UNSTABLE
Internal examples:
Ex) lack of physics ability = STABLE = cause ability is relatively unchangeable
Ex) lack of effort = UNSTABLE = effort can vary from situation-situation
Can also be external…
Why is it good if someone has an incremental mind-set?
We believe that an attribute is MALLEABLE and can increase/decrease
Often this mind-sets helps a persons ability to GROW and IMPROVE
Ex) parents and their kids
Struggling at school —> “mom thinks I’m stupid”—> “I can’t do this!”
Struggling at school —> “mom thinks I should be trying harder” —> “I can do this!”
What is the actor-observer effect?
What do you see this lots in?
AS OBSERVERS we are more likely to make INTERNAL attributions for the behaviour of others
AS ACTORS we are more likely to make EXTERNAL attributions for our own behaviour
This depends…
More likely when we do GOOD on a test —> internal factors
More likely when we do BAD on a test —> external factors
——————————————————————————————-
See this lots in… FINGER POINTING
What are the 3 kinds of information needed to make a casual attribution?
1) consistency (time)
2) distinctiveness (situations)
3) consensus (people)
What is counterfactual thinking?
Deeply ingrained on how we react to events
We often think about how CHANGING that causal factor could of CHANGED the event
What is upward vs downward counterfactuals?
UPWARD: that is BETTER than what actually happened (generally make us feel worse about what happened)
“If only I didn’t have that last tequila shot”
DOWNWARD: alternatives that are WORSE than what actually happened (make us feel better about the past)
“You were lucky- you could of have spine damage and been paralyzed for life!”
The “______ ______ ______” help us recognize people we know
Fusiform face area
What does “theory of mind” mean?
Set of ideas about other peoples thoughts, desires, feelings and intentions based on what we KNOW about them and the SITUATION they are in
How would you build an impression from the top- up?
VS
How would you build an impression from the bottom-up?
Top-up: decoding BEHAVIOURS and the MINDS of others
Bottom-up: perceiving others through SCHEMAS
What is transference?
Forming an impression of another person using the SCHEMA one already has for a FAMILIAR person who resembles them
What is representativeness heuristic?
Tendency to OVERESTIMATE the likelihood of someone is part of a larger category if they have FEATURES that seem REPRESENTATIVE of that category
