Chapter 5 Flashcards
(14 cards)
Attribution Theory
A set of concepts explaining how people assign causes to the events around them and the effects of these kinds of casual assessments.
Casual attribution
Linking an event to a cause, such as inferring that a personality trait is responsible for a behavior.
Explanatory style
A person’s habitual way of explaining events, typically assessed along three dimensions: internal/external, stable/unstable, and global specific.
Covariation principle
The idea is that behavior should be attributed to potential causes that occur along w/ the observed behavior.
Consensus
A type of covariation info: whether most people would behave the same way or differently in a given situation.
Distinctiveness
A type of covariation info: Whether a behavior is unique to a particular situation or occurs in many or all situations.
Consistency
A type of covariation info: Whether an individual behaves the same way or differently in a given situation on different occasions.
Discounting Principle
The perceived role of a given cause in leading to a given effect is diminished when other possible causes for that event are also detected.
Augmentation Principle
is the attributional tendency to assign greater influence to a particular cause or rationale of behavior if there are other factors present that normally would produce a different outcome. For example, you learn that a person just ran a marathon.
Counterfactual Thinking
Thoughts about what might have, could have, or should have happened. “If only” something had occurred differently.
Emotional Amplification
Sudden loud noises really disturb me. I’m very uncomfortable when I’m in a place that is too hot or too cold.
Self-Serving Attributional Bias
The tendency to attribute failure and other bad events to external circumstances and to attribute success and other good events to oneself.
The Fundamental Attribution Error
The failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior, along w/ the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of disposition of behavior.
Perceived Distribution
When people overestimate when they hold the statistical minority. Example: Trump supoorters would overestimate the amount of people that support Trump.
