PSYC 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Controllability, Dispositional Attribution, Social Class
29 Dec 2017
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Causal attribution: linking an instance of a behavior to a cause, attempts to figure out. Attribution theory: the general term for theories about how people explain the causes. Inferring the causes of behavior of the events that they observe why someone or yourself did something. B = f(p, e) -> behavior is a function of the person (p) and the environment (e) The judgements we make aren"t always based on what actually happened; sometimes it"s based on what we imagine would/could have happened. If people act in an expected way, we tend to discount the internal attribution. Discounting principle: less weight is given to a particular cause of behavior if there are alternative causes present. If people act in an unexpected way, we tend to augment the internal attribution. Augmentation principle: greater weight is given to a particular cause of behavior if there are other potential causes that would normally produce the opposite outcome.
