Attribution And Bias - Eppp Knowledge
- What is confirmation bias when evaluating explanations for behavior?
- Seeking/weighting evidence that supports an existing belief. This bias reduces cognitive dissonance by selectively attending to information that aligns with preconceptions.
- What is the discounting principle in attribution theory?
- Alternative plausible causes reduce weight given to any one cause. This principle adjusts causal attributions by reducing emphasis on a cause when alternatives are present.
- Identify the bias: A clinician seeks only evidence supporting an initial diagnosis to explain behavior.
- Confirmation bias. The clinician's selective evidence gathering confirms preconceptions, ignoring disconfirming information.
- What is the false consensus effect in social judgment about behavior?
- Overestimating how much others share one's beliefs/behaviors. This effect stems from egocentric projection, assuming one's views are more widespread than they are.
- What is the augmentation principle in attribution theory?
- Behavior despite inhibitors implies a stronger dispositional cause. This principle strengthens causal inferences when behavior occurs despite obstacles, implying greater intent.
- What is the framing effect in decisions based on behavioral information?
- Choices change depending on whether information is gain- or loss-framed. This effect influences preferences due to loss aversion, where losses loom larger than equivalent gains.
- What is the availability heuristic in judging causes or frequency of behaviors?
- Estimating likelihood using ease of recall of examples. This heuristic relies on mental accessibility, leading to overestimation of events that are easily remembered.
- What is the ultimate attribution error regarding outgroup behavior?
- Outgroup negatives seen as dispositional; positives as situational. This error maintains ingroup favoritism by attributing outgroup negatives internally and positives externally.
- What is the self-serving bias in causal attribution for outcomes?
- Success to internal causes; failure to external causes. This bias protects self-esteem by internalizing positive outcomes and externalizing negative ones.
- What is the just-world hypothesis as an attributional tendency?
- Belief that people generally get outcomes they deserve. This hypothesis provides a sense of control and justice in an unpredictable world.
- What is the fundamental attribution error in interpreting another person's behavior?
- Overattributing behavior to disposition and underweighting situational factors. This error stems from a cognitive tendency to prioritize internal traits over external influences when explaining others' actions.
- Identify the bias: After learning the test score, you say you "knew all along" the student would fail.
- Hindsight bias. Post-outcome, the bias retroactively inflates perceived predictability of the event.
- Identify the bias: You assume a "friendly" person is also competent and honest based on first impression.
- Halo effect. A single positive trait creates a generalized positive bias across unrelated attributes.
- What is the halo effect in person perception and behavioral interpretation?
- One positive trait biases judgments of other traits/behaviors. This effect occurs due to cognitive generalization from a single positive attribute to an overall positive impression.
- What is base-rate neglect when interpreting a person's behavior?
- Ignoring prior probabilities in favor of case-specific information. This neglect happens when specific details overshadow general probability information in decision-making.
- What is the false uniqueness effect in interpreting one's own behavior?
- Underestimating how common one's desirable traits/behaviors are. This effect enhances self-perception by viewing one's positive attributes as rarer than reality.
- Identify the attribution error: You cut someone off; you say it was traffic, but you say they are rude.
- Actor–observer bias. The example illustrates differing attributions based on perspective, situational for self and dispositional for others.
- What is the hindsight bias when evaluating why an outcome occurred?
- After the fact, believing the outcome was predictable. This bias reconstructs past beliefs to align with known outcomes, creating an illusion of foreseeability.
- What is the representativeness heuristic in explaining behavior?
- Judging by similarity to a prototype while neglecting base rates. This heuristic uses prototypical similarity for judgments, often overlooking statistical base rates.
- What is the anchoring bias when forming an impression of someone's behavior?
- Initial information anchors judgments despite later evidence. This bias persists because initial values serve as cognitive anchors, resisting adjustment with new data.
- What is belief perseverance in maintaining an interpretation of behavior?
- Persisting in a belief despite disconfirming evidence. This phenomenon maintains cognitive consistency by resisting belief change even with contradictory evidence.
- What is the illusory correlation in attributing causes to behaviors?
- Perceiving an association that is weak or nonexistent. This perception arises from selective attention to co-occurrences, exaggerating nonexistent relationships.
- What is the correspondence bias as a synonym or close variant in attribution?
- Overinferring stable traits from observed behavior. This bias overemphasizes dispositional inferences from behavior, akin to the fundamental attribution error.
- What is the horn effect in interpreting a person's behavior?
- One negative trait biases judgments of other traits/behaviors. This effect results from cognitive generalization where a single negative attribute taints the overall perception.