PSY 005 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Fundamental Attribution Error, Order Of The Solar Temple, Personality Psychology
2 Oct 2020
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Document Summary
When trying to explain social behaviour, personality psychologists generally focus this attention on individual differences: the aspects of people"s personalities that make them different from other people. Ex, why did people in the solar temple cult end their own lives - point to their personalities, maybe they were conformist types or weak-willed in uence. This way of studying ignores a critical part: the powerful role played by social. If we want a deeper explanation of these tragic events, need to understand things like what kind of power and in uence the charismatic leaders of these cults possess. Social psychology is somewhere between sociology and personality psychology. Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to overestimate the extent to which people"s behaviour stems from personality traits and to underestimate the role of situational factors. When we underestimate the power of social in uence, we experience a feeling of false security.
