Social Psychology Unit 12 Attributions Attribution Theory Attribution
Social Psychology Unit 12 Attributions
Attribution Theory • Attribution = explanation • Attribution Theory • Explain others behaviors by crediting the situation or the person’s disposition • Dispositional – factors within the person (personality) • Situational – factors outside the person (luck)
Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) • Tendency to use a dispositional explanation without considering the situational factors • “That guy cut me off because he is a jerk” – not that his wife could be in labor • video
Attribution Bias • Actor-Observer Bias • Tendency to explain the behavior of others with dispositional attributes BUT use situational attitributes to explain our own behavior • Two people in comparison • Samantha watches her classmate stumble while giving a speech – “She’s a bad speech giver” BUT when Samantha stumbles in her own speech it was because she was distracted by a noise in the hallway.
Self-Serving Bias • Tendency to attribute our successes to dispositional factors and our failures to situational factors. • Only your own behavior and makes you look good. • Jordan believes he aced the math test because he is smart but failed the history test because the teacher did not explain the material very well.
Self-Effacing Bias • Tendency to attribute failures to dispositional factors and our successes to situational factors • Modesty
False Consensus Effect • Tendency for an individual to overestimate how many others act and think the way they do. • You speed because everyone else is speeding.
Individualist vs. Collectivist • Individualist societies • U. S. and Western Europe • Self-serving bias and fundamental attribution error • Collectivist societies • Eastern Asia, Western Africa • Self-effacing bias
Attitudes • Change • Central Route to Persuasion • People focus on factual information, logical arguments, and a thoughtful analysis of details • Peripheral Route to Persuasion • People focus on emotional appeals and incidental cues • Foot-in-the-door Phenomenon • Complying with small request then leads to going along with a larger request • video
Social Influence • Study how other individuals’ thoughts and actions shape our own beliefs, feelings, and behaviors
Cognitive Dissonance • Only occurs within an individual • Tension is created when one holds two conflicting beliefs or if one’s beliefs and actions do not match • Smoking • Attitude or behavior change results because one is motivated to reduce the tension • Leon Festinger -Festinger’s $1 or $20 Study • Video Song
• Philip Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment • Stanford ‘ 72 • Power of social roles and impact of situation • Mock prison • 2 wk experiment called off in 6 days • Highly unethical • video
Conformity • Adoption of attitudes and behaviors shared by a particular group of people • Asch Line Study • Group size • Unanimity • Asch Experiment
Obedience • Altering one’s behavior in response to a demand from an authority figure • Stanley Milgram • Shock Study • With demand from authority figure, 65% of participants obey • Video
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