SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY - ATTRIBUTION Flashcards
(31 cards)
Whats anthropomorphism?
Anthropo - human
Morph - form
Explaination of events by attributing human characteristics such as thoughts and language
Whats heiders theory of naive psychology?
Humans tend to explain behaviour in terms of intentions
Whats the 3 principles of heider?
- Own behaviour has purpose so assume others will also have intentions
- Predicting what will happen next means we can responsd appropriately so searching for causes and anticipation is useful
- All aspects of another person needs to be determined so may evaluate them.
The 2 attributions of heiders 3 principles theory?
Dispositional attribution - internal -clumsy careless
Situational attribution - external - evil colleagues, late
What theory did jones and Davi’s do?
Theory of correspondent inference
Whats the theory of correspondent inference?
It’s when we assume someone’s behavior reflects their true personality or intent, especially if the action is freely chosen, unusual, or has clear effects.
Whats the 5 sources of information in the theory of correspondent inference?
- Was their behaviour freely chosen?
2, was the behaviour socially desirable? - Can we infer personalism?
- Were there non-common effects?
- Did the behaviour have hedonic relevance?
Explain what jones and Harris did and their limitations ?
Freely chosen + ‘dicey’ topic = correspondent inference
They did an experiment where read essays on Castro. Some writers chose their stance, while others had no choice. Even when writers had no choice, participants still assumed the essay reflected the writer’s true beliefs, showing we make dispositional attributions despite situational factors.
Limitations =
- unintentional behaviour can be strong basis for correspondent inference
- People don’t pay attention to behaviours that don’t happen - so can’t work out if something has non-common effect.
Whats the Kelley’s covariation model?
3 types of information is used
1. Consistency
2. Distinctiveness
3. Consensus
Explain Kelley’s consistency for covariation model?
If the person only occasional behaves like this and its not linked to a particular situation it suggests there is something else externally
Explain distinctiveness in Kelley’s covariation model?
If this person generally behaves like this then this is down to something internal to them
Explain consensus in Kelley’s covariation model?
Is this what most people would do in a similar circumstance? If not then it is internal to this person
Critism of Kelley’s attribution theory?
People under use consensus information.
Co-variation (correlation) is a naïve mechanism
If covariation does exist multiple observations are
required to form any attribution
Whats Kelley’s reply to criticisms?
He described causal schemata to cover how some
attributions are made from a single observation
(‘multiple necessary cause’ schema - This means we assume two or more causes must be present together to produce an effect.
What happens in labelling our emotions?
Immediate stimulus
Bodily response
Appraisal of context
Subjective emotions
Explain attributing emotions?
Cognitive awareness of the source of an emotion means that therapy can allow reassignment of arousal
Eg anger, anxiety
Attributing emotions means figuring out what emotion someone is feeling and why — based on their behavior, situation, and expressions.
What throes did wiener do?
Attributional theory
attributional theory about achievement by weiner - What are the 3 factors influencing success/failure attributions?
Locus: Internal (personal traits, effort) vs. External (luck, task difficulty).
Stability: Stable (unchanging, e.g., ability) vs. Unstable (changeable, e.g., effort).
Controllability: Controllable (effort) vs. Uncontrollable (luck
What are the indivudlas differences in attribution?
Some people favour internal attributions and others favour external
Some always see failure as their fault and success as luck
Some see success as their hard works and failure as bad luck
Whats the three points in attribution theory and relationships?
Formation - make thoughtful attributions
Maintenance - use persona schema we’ve formed
Dissolution - attribute blame/ excuse them
Who did the Castro experiment?
Jones and Harris
What happened in the Castro experiment?
Student gave speeches that were pro or anti Castro
Particpants told: students chose topic or were assigned it
Whats outcome bias?
It’s the tendency to judge a decision based on its outcome, rather than on whether the decision was logical or well-reasoned at the time it was made.
Whats actor - observer
We make dispostional rather then situational attributions for others but not for self - we need to take inot account the nature of the behaviour involved)
