PSYC 333 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Construals, Observational Error, Interrupt

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 333
• Professor: Arash Abizadeh

Document Summary

Situations ( ifs ) reliably trigger behavioural responses ( thens ) Cognitive and affective units mediate the situation-to-behavioural response. There is a need to understand the psychological meaning of the situation for the individual in order to predict the individual"s behaviour. Variability in behaviour across situations is not random error; rather variability is important information that fives us clues about the underlying personality system . Desirable and undesirable outcomes and affective states; goals, values, life projects. The only way we impact our environment is through movement. Reasons why we move: to approach what we desire end states or avoid undesirable end states. The object of a person"s ambition or effort. The end toward which an effort is directed: aim. More generally, we can think of goals as internal representations of desired states (could be positive things we want or negative things we don"t want) These goals can span from momentary to life-long.