Psychology 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Fundamental Attribution Error, Cognitive Dissonance, Normative Social Influence

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Laura Fazakas- De Hoog

Document Summary

Attributions- judgments about the causes of our own and other people"s behaviour and outcomes. Personal vs. situational attributions: personal (internal) attributions infer that people"s behaviour is caused by their characteristics, situational (external) attributions infer that aspects of situation cause behaviour. 3 types of info determine attribution we make: consistency, distinctiveness, consensus: when all 3 are high, we"re likely to make situational attribution, when consistency is high and other factors low, we make personal attribution. Fundamental attribution error- we underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the role of personal factors when explaining other people"s behaviour. Ex. - expecting actors behaviour on screen to be their actual personalities: applies to how we perceive other people"s behaviour rather than our own. Self-serving bias- making relatively more personal attributions for successes and more situational attributions for failures: strength of self-serving bias depends on various factors (psychological state, cultural norms, etc. )