Chapter 4 Flashcards
(43 cards)
Attribution Theory
A group of theories that describe how people explain the causes of behaviour
Availability Heuristic
The tendency to estimate the likelihood that an event will occur by how easily instances of it come to mind
Base-Rate Fallacy
The finding that people are relatively insensitive to consensus information presented in the form of numerical base rates
Belief in a Just World
The belief that individuals get what they deserve in life, an orientation that leads people to disparage victims
Belief Perseverance
The tendency to maintain beliefs even after they have been discredited
Central Traits
Traits that exert a powerful influence on overall impressions
Confirmation Biases
The tendency to seek, interpret, and create information that verifies existing beliefs
Counterfactual Thinking
The tendency to imagine alternative events or outcomes that might have occurred but did not
Covariation Principle
A principle of attribution theory that holds that people attribute behaviour to factors that are present when a behaviour occurs and are absent when it does not
False-Consensus Effect
The tendency for people to overestimate the extent to which others share their opinions, attributes, and behaviours
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to focus on the role of personal causes and underestimate the impact of situations on other people’s behaviour
Impression Formation
The process of integrating information about a person to form a coherent impression
Information Integration Theory
The theory that impressions are based on (1) perceiver dispositions and (2) a weighted average of a target person’s traits
Mind Perception
The process by which people attribute human-like mental states to various animate and inanimate objects, including other people
Nonverbal Behaviour
Behaviour that reveals a person’s feelings without words through facial expressions, body language, and vocal cues
Personal Attribution
Attribution to internal characteristics of an actor, such as ability, personality, mood, or effort
Primacy Effect
The tendency for information presented early in a sequence to have more impact on impressions that information presented later
Priming
The tendency for recently used or perceived words or ideas to come to mind easily and influence the interpretation of new information
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The process by which one’s expectations about a person eventually lead that person to behave in ways that confirm those expectations
Situational Attribution
Attribution to factors external to an actor, such as the task, other people, or luck
Social Perception
A general term for the processes by which people come to understand one another
The False-Consensus Effect
Daphne loves her social psychology class and thinks that most of the other students in the class love it as well. Anna is in the same class and absolutely hates it. Anna is thoroughly convinced that most of the other students also dislike it. What concept so these distorted perceptions illustrate?
A Situational Attribution
Colin and Erin are waiting to meet with their caterer so that they can discuss the menu for their wedding. The caterer is 30 minutes late and still hasn’t arrived. Clin suggests that the caterer is probobly delayed because of traffic. Erin suggests that the caterer is probobly disorganized and unreliable. What kind of attribution is Colin making?
The Trait Negativity Bias
Reena meets Rachel for the first time. Rachel is percieved as smart, funny, and sociable, but rude. Although Reena perceived Rachel to have many good qualities, her rudeness outweighted them, and Reena forms an unfavourable impression of Rachel. Which of the following does this scenario illustrate?
