Social Psychology - Lecture Four

Question 1

Attribution

Answer 1

People’s perception of the causes of an event affects what they do and how they feel

Question 2

Couples who experience marital distress

Answer 2

Tend to attribute their partners negative behaviours to internal characteristics

Question 3

Frey and Rogner (1987) study

Answer 3

Found that following accidents, individual who thought that they were in some way to ‘blame’ spent 30 days in hospital, whereas, individuals who thought they were not to ‘blame’ for the accident spent 20 days in hospital

Question 4

Pessimist

Answer 4

Refers to own enduring qualities

Question 5

Optimist

Answer 5

Explains negative events in terms of external factors

Question 6

Pessimists and health

Answer 6

Men who explained negative events through reference to their own internal, stable, pervasive characteristics
tended to have significantly poorer health between the ages of 45 and 60

Question 7

Self-esteem

Answer 7

Attributions are linked to self-esteem in two ways:
If we behave positively or successfully and then attribute this to our own internal, qualities we can achieve and maintain self-esteem
If we behave negatively or fail in some way and then we attribute this to the same internal, qualities, then we can suffer a decrease in self- esteem

Question 8

Control

Answer 8

Attributions can enhance control: If we attribute our successes to our internal characteristics we may believe that we are in control

Question 9

Control function is not always positive

Answer 9

For example, victim blame

Question 10

Level One of Analysis - Intra-personal level

Answer 10

Focuses on the criteria by which individuals analyse information and come to make an attribution
Main theories: Correspondence inference
Covariation and configuration

Question 11

Level Two of Analysis - Interpersonal level

Answer 11

Deals with face to face attributions where attributions are no longer seen as rational
Two major types of effect:
Actor Observer Effect
Self-Serving Bias

Question 12

Level Three of Analysis - Intergroup level

Answer 12

Attributions at this level examine the way in which the members of different groups explain behaviour

Question 13

Level Four of Analysis - Societal level, Miller (1984) study

Answer 13

Shows that while individuals from Western cultures favour dispositional explanations
- individuals from Non-Western cultures tend to favour environmental explanations

Question 14

The Actor-Observer Effect

Answer 14

People tend to attribute the cause of their own actions to EXTERNAL factors but attribute the cause of others actions to INTERNAL causes.

Question 15

The self-serving Bias

Answer 15

People take credit for their successes but not their failures