PSYC 2230 Chapter 10: Chapter 10 full notes

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2230
• Professor: Pauline Charlton

Document Summary

Attribution theory involves the study of decisions we make about the causes of events. Humans are motivated to attribute or assign causes to outcomes. Motivation to do so stems from the need to make sense of events personal, interpersonal, impersonal. When an outcome is not the result of our instrumental action, and we come to believe that so(cid:373)ethi(cid:374)g (cid:449)e"re doi(cid:374)g is produ(cid:272)i(cid:374)g the out(cid:272)o(cid:373)e: superstition (verbal and motor rituals that we assume out of which outcome occurs) Social attribution: people assign (attribute) particular causes to other people"s (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iour. We assign personal causation to other"s (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iour or (cid:449)e assig(cid:374) situational causation to other"s (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iour. I(cid:374) so(cid:373)e se(cid:374)se, assig(cid:374)i(cid:374)g (cid:272)auses to other"s (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iour is a(cid:272)(cid:272)ou(cid:374)ti(cid:374)g for the motivations underlying their behaviour. Proximate: the most recent and distal: remote causes. According to heider (1950s): we are biased toward dispositional attributions. That is, the te(cid:374)de(cid:374)(cid:272)(cid:455) to attri(cid:271)ute other"s (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iour to stable, internal characteristics. This tendency is called the fundamental attribution error.