PSYCH 1X03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Fundamental Attribution Error, Physical Attractiveness, Representativeness Heuristic
22 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
We are already experts at forming impressions of people around us through a lifetime of social interactions. For every behaviour, there are many possible motivating factors. Therefore, identifying the intention of a person may be difficult. Attribution theories: we can get a lot of information about a person by observing their behaviour. However, the accuracy with which we may identify circumstances will vary. The degree of choice, expectation, and intended consequences determine the inference made. The side of a argument that we made support reveals a lot about our personality. For example, during a debate about the validity of death penalty, if one individual chooses to support the practice whilst we do not, we may associate negative attributes towards that person. Expectation: uncommon behaviour gives us a lot more information than common behaviour. If a person behaves in a unexpected way, a reason to determine the underlying cause is generated.
