Social Psychology Exam 2 Social Cognition Learning Objectives Chapter 3 1 What are attributions and when do we make them lecture and book pg 100 101 Misattribution mistakenly attributing a behavior to the wrong source ex men s misreading of women s warmth as a sexual come on can contribute to behavior that women regard as sexual harassment or even rape Attribution the theory of how people explain others behaviors Internal Attributions Dispositional ex He loves to dance External Attributions Situational ex It s a dance party 2 What are internal and external attributions and what do they explain lecture and book pg 101 Internal Attributions Dispositional Attribution attributing behavior to the person s disposition and traits Ex Joe loves to dance External Attributions Situation Attribution attributing behavior to the environment Ex It s a dance party We use attributions to explain everyday behavior Ex A teacher may wonder whether a child s underachievement is due to lack of motivation and ability dispositional or to physical and social circumstances situational 3 What does the Jones Harris 1967 pro Castro anti Castro study say about the types of attributions we make lecture and book pg 103 When people read a debate speech supporting or attacking Fidel Castro they attributed corresponding attitudes to the speechwriter even when the debate coach assigned the writer s position Even when people know they are causing someone else s behavior they still underestimate external influences If individuals dictate an opinion that someone else must then express they still tend to see the person as actually holding that opinion If people asked to be either self enhancing or self deprecating during an interview they are very aware of why they are acting so But they are unaware of their effect on another person 4 What is the fundamental attribution error lecture and book pg 103 Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon other s behavior Tendency to make dispositional attributions for others behavior even when plausible situational explanations exist ex Rude waiter 5 What is actor observer bias lecture How is it related to the fundamental attribution error lecture Actor Observer Bias Tendency to make internal attributions for others behaviors Ex Jon kicked the dog because he s an asshole Tendency to make external attributions for our own behaviors Ex I kicked the dog because it had rabies and was about to bite me Related to fundamental Attribution Error by Dispositional Attributions behavior related to personality and internal traits 6 When do we attribute our behavior to external versus internal causes Sedikides et al 1998 How does this relate to self serving biases from when we talked about the self lecture Use Internal Attributions for others behavior e g that other driver is just a jerk or a bad driver Use External Attributions for our own behavior e g I m running late or the driver I cut off is a bad driver Self Serving Bias Taking credit for successes internal attributions Blaming other people factors for failures external attributions 7 What is Kelley s Covariation model What are the three types of relevant information we need and what do they predict lecture and book pg 102 QuickTime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture 1 Consistency Does the actor behave similarly in this situation on other occasions Does Claire always throw drinks in Joe s face YES High Consistency NO Low Consistency 2 Distinctiveness Does the actor behave similarly in other situations Does Claire throw drinks in everyone s faces NO High Distinctiveness YES Low Distinctiveness 3 Consensus Do others behave similarly in that situation Do other people throw drinks in Joe s face YES High Consensus NO Low Consensus Example Say one of you gets up and leaves during the middle of class all the time high consistency What would I attribute this to QuickTime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture QuickTime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture 8 What is the overconfidence phenomenon and how can you reduce it lecture and book pg 88 89 Overconfidence Phenomenon the tendency to be more confident than correct to overestimate how accurate we are in our beliefs ex humor grammar May be in part due to the way we test our beliefs How can we reduce it 9 What is spontaneous trait transference book pg 82 Spontaneous Trait Transference when we say something good or bad about another people spontaneously tend to associate that trait with us if we go around talking about others being gossipy people may then unconsciously associate gossip with us 10 What is confirmation bias How can you reduce it lecture and book pg 91 Confirmation Bias tendency to search for information that confirms one s preconceptions How can you reduce it 11 What are heuristics and when do we use them lecture and book pg 92 Heuristics mental shortcuts that provide quick estimates about the likelihood of events Efficient and often lead to correct answer Prone to predictable types of errors Representativeness Heuristics the tendency to presume sometimes despite contrary odds that someone or something belongs to a particular group if resembling representing a typical member Availability Heuristics a cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory If instances of something come readily to mind we presume it to be commonplace How do we use them 12 What does your book state about embodied cognition Be able to generalize its examples to other situations book pg 79 Embodied Cognition the mutual influence of bodily sensations on cognitive preferences and social judgments Example After receiving a cold shoulder treatment people judge the experimental room as colder than do those treated warmly Physical warmth accentuates social warmth and social exclusion literally feels cold 13 What does the text state about how we reconstruct memories and our past behaviors Do we tend to be accurate book pg 83 85 Memories our memories are not exact copies of experiences that remain on deposit in a memory bank Rather we construct memories at the time of withdrawal Misinformation Effect incorporating misinformation into one s memory of the event after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about it Past Behaviors memory construction enables us to revise our own histories Priming the process by which
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