PSY 1102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Cognitive Dissonance, Dispositional Attribution, Fundamental Attribution Error

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1102
• Professor: Gary Capstick

Document Summary

Social psychologists explore connecions by scieniically studying how we think about, inluence, and relate to one another. Personality psychologists look at the person why dif people act dif in a given situaion vs. socials psychologists who look at the situaion why the same person will act dif in dif situaions. Social psychology = the scieniic study of how we think about, inluence, and relate to one another. Atribuion theory = the theory that we explain someone"s behaviour by crediing either the situaion or the person"s disposiion: stable/enduring traits (disposiional atribuion) or to the situaion (situaional atribuion) Fundamental atribuion error = the tendency for observers, when analyzing another"s behaviour, to underesimate the impact of the situaion and to overesimate the impact of personal disposiion: ex. Deciding that juliete is shy because she talks in class. Individualisic westerners oten atribute behaviour to personal traits. East asian cultures = more mindful of the power of the situaion.