Chapter 6 Flashcards
(39 cards)
a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment
perception
what are the three factors that shape/distort perception
perceiver
target
situation
an attempt to explain the ways we judge people differently, depending on the meaning we attribute to a behavior, such as determining whether an individual’s behavior is internally or externally caused
attribution theory
behaviors that an observer believes to be under the personal behavior control of another individual
internally caused
behaviors we imagine the situation forced the individual to do
externally caused
whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations
distinctiveness
if everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way
consensus
whether a person responds the same way every time
consistancy
the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others
fundamental attribution error
the tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors and put the blame for failures on external factors
self-serving bias
the tendency to choose to interpret what one sees based on one’s interests, background, experience, and attitudes
selective perception
the tendency to draw a positive general impression about an individual based on a single characteristic
halo effect
the tendency to draw a negative general impression about an individual based on a single characteristic
horns effect
evaluation of a person’s characteristics that is affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics
contrast effect
judging someone based on one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs
stereotyping
a situation in which a person inaccurately perceives a second person and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception
self-fulfilling prophecy
describes how an individual’s behavior is determined by others expectations
pygmalion effect
choices made from among two or more alternatives
decisions
a discrepancy between the current state of affairs and some desired state
problem
characterized by making consistent, value-maximizing choices within specified constraints
rational
a decision-making model that describes how individuals should behave to maximize some outcome
rational decision making model
a process of making decisions by constructing simplified models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity
bounded rationality
an unconscious process created out of distilled experience
intuitive decision making
a tendency to fixate on initial information from which one then fails to adjust adequately for subsequent information
anchoring bias