chapter 5 Flashcards
(16 cards)
attribution theory
a set of concepts explaining how people assign causes to the events of these kinds of causal assessments
casual attribution
linking an event to a cause, such as inferring that a personality trait is responsible for a behaviour
explanatory style
a persons habitual way of explaining events, typically assessed along three dimensions; internal/external, stable/unstable, and global/specific
covariation principle
the idea that behaviour should be attributed to potential causes that occur along with the observed behaviour
consensus
a type of covariation information: whether most people would behave the same way or differently in a given situation
distinctiveness
a type if covariation information: whether a behaviour is unique to a particular situation or occurs in many or all situations
consistency
a type of covariation information: whether an individual behaves the same way or differently in a given situation on different occasions
discounting principle
the idea that people will assign reduced weight to a particular cause of behaviour if other plausible causes might have produced it
augmentation principe
the idea that people will assign greater with to a particular cause of behaviour if other caused are present that normally would produce a different outcome
counterfactual thinking
thoughts if what might have, could have or should have happened “if only” something had occurred differently
emotional amplification
an increase in an emotional reaction to an event that is proportional to how easy it is to imagine the event not happening
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
fundamental attribution error
the failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behaviour, along with the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions on behaviour
just world hypothesis
the belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get
actor observer difference
a difference in attribution based on who is making causal assessments: the actor ( who is relatively inclined to make situational attributions) or the observer (who is relatively inclined to make dispositional attributions)
social class
the amount of wealth, education, and occupational prestige individuals and their families have
