Attribution Flashcards
What is an internal (dispositional) attribution?
Attributing the behaviour to personal factors.
What is an external (situational) attribution?
Attributing a behaviour to environmental factors.
Describe the three principles underlying Heider’s (1958) theory of naïve psychology.
Principle 1 = we feel our behaviour is motivated, not random, so look for causes in others behaviour to discover motives.
Principle 2 = looking for stable properties to discover causes of behaviour.
Principle 3 = distinguishing between personal and environmental factors when attributing cause for behaviour.
What are the three causes of behaviour that people use to make an internal or external attribution?
- Consistency
- Distinctiveness
- Consensus
What three factors (consistency, distinctiveness, consensus) define an internal attribution?
High consistency, high distinctiveness and low consensus.
What three factors (consistency, distinctiveness, consensus) define an external attribution?
High consistency, high distinctiveness and high consensus.
State one limitation of the covariation model.
People tend to under use consensus information.
Describe the 3 dimensions of Weiner’s model?
- Locus of causality (internal or external).
- Stability of the causal factor (stable or unstable).
- Controllability of the causal factor (under the control of the individual or not).
Which dimension determines your future expectations for success or failure?
Expectations related to stable-unstable dimension.
What is the fundamental attribution error?
The tendency to make internal attributions for others behaviour, and attach too little weight to external causes.
What is focus of attention?
Focusing attention away from actor and onto situation which increases tendency to make external attributions. Explanation of fundamental attribution error.
What is differential forgetting?
Some studies show that people tend to forget external causes more readily that they do internal causes (Petersom, 1980). Explanation of fundamental attribution error.
What is the actor-observer effect?
The tendency to make internal attributions for others behaviour (observer effect) and external attributions for own behaviour (actor effect).
What are the two main explanations for the actor-observer effect?
- Informational differences between actors and observers.
- Perceptual salience (actor and observer have different perspectives).
What is the false consensus effect?
Assuming own behaviour typical and that others would behave the same in similar circumstances.
