Social Psychology chapter 4

describe attribution theory and give an example of situational and personal attribution- a theory that one attempts to understand the behavior

- situational- late to class because of traffic - personal -late to class because you are lazy, irresponsible

Belief in just world

Belief that individuals get what they deserve in life, often leading people to disparage or blame victims.

According to correspondent inference theory, correspondent inferences are most likely to occur when a person's behavior is

Feely choose, atypical, and results in a negative outcome.

According to the covariation principle, a situational attribution is most likely to result when consistency is ____, consensus is ____, and distinctiveness is ____.

High; High ; High

According to the covariation principle, a personal attribution is most likely to result when consistency is ____, consensus is ____, and distinctiveness is ____.

High; Low; Low

False- consensus effects

Overestimating the extent to which others share our beliefs , attitudes, dispositions.

self-fulfilling prophecy

Process by which our expectations about a person eventually lead that person to behave in ways to confirm those expectations.

how do ideological motives color our attributions for the behavior of others?

Research on the impact of ideological motives on attribution indicates that a liberal is most likely to explain poverty as due to existing power structures ( situational) ; conservatives would would make a more personal attribution.

Traits negativity bias

The notion that, even when of equal intensity, things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive things

impression formation

The process of integrating information about a person to form a coherent impression

The impressions we form of others are influenced by superficial aspects of their appearance

True

The system that social perceivers rely on first is intuitive and automatic.

True

describe kelley's ( 1967) covariation theory of attribution know when consisten( is reaction consistent over time), consensus ( how do others react to the same situation), and distinctiveness( how does this person react to other situations) is high or low for both personal and situational attributions.

consistency: the extent to which the person behaves like this every time the situation occurs.If Alison only smokes when she is out with friends, consistency is high. if she only smoke on one special occasion, consistency is low. Consensus:The extent to which other people behave in the same way in a similar situation. e.g. alison smokes a cigarette when she goes out of a meal with her friend. if her friend smoke, her behavior is high in consensus. smoke, it low. Distinctiveness: the extent to which the person behaves in the same way in similar situations. If Alison only smokes when she is out with friends, her behavior is high in distinctiveness. If she smokes at any time or place, distinctiveness is low.

availability heuristic

established likelihood that an event will occur based on how easily instances of it come to mind

counterfactual thinking

human tendency to create posible alternatives to life events occurred; nothing that is contrary to what actually happened.