All flashcards
Flashcard 1: Identify an example of a situational attribution.
Answer: Blaming a delay on traffic rather than poor time management. External circumstances, not personal characteristics, explain the behavior.
Flashcard 2: What theory examines how people explain their own and others' behaviors?
Answer: Attribution theory. Developed by Fritz Heider to understand how people make causal explanations.
Flashcard 3: Define 'implicit personality theory.'
Answer: Beliefs about how different traits and behaviors relate. Assumptions about personality traits that tend to occur together in people.
Flashcard 4: What is the halo effect in person perception?
Answer: The tendency for an impression in one area to influence another. One positive trait creates an overall positive impression of a person.
Flashcard 5: What is the fundamental attribution error?
Answer: Overemphasizing dispositional factors over situational factors. A cognitive bias where we underestimate situational influences on others' behavior.
Flashcard 6: Define 'situational attribution.'
Answer: Attributing behavior to external, environmental factors. Focuses on context rather than personality as the cause of behavior.
Flashcard 7: Define 'dispositional attribution.'
Answer: Attributing behavior to internal, personal traits. Focuses on personality and character as the cause of behavior.
Flashcard 8: What does the actor-observer bias refer to?
Answer: Attributing others' actions to disposition and our own to situational factors. We judge ourselves by our circumstances but others by their character.
Flashcard 9: How does the just-world hypothesis influence attributions?
Answer: It leads to blaming victims for their misfortunes. Maintains belief in a fair world by attributing suffering to personal failings.
Flashcard 10: What is the just-world hypothesis?
Answer: The belief that people get what they deserve. A cognitive bias that assumes fairness in life outcomes.
Flashcard 11: Define 'stereotype.'
Answer: A generalized belief about a group of people. Oversimplified beliefs that may not reflect individual differences.
Flashcard 12: How does confirmation bias affect person perception?
Answer: It leads to emphasizing information that confirms existing beliefs. We notice and remember information that supports our existing beliefs.
Flashcard 13: What is the effect of first impressions on person perception?
Answer: First impressions often have a lasting impact. The primacy effect makes initial judgments resistant to change.
Flashcard 14: How does cognitive dissonance affect person perception?
Answer: It may cause a change in perception to reduce discomfort. We may adjust our perceptions to maintain psychological consistency.
Flashcard 15: Define 'implicit personality theory.'
Answer: Beliefs about how different traits and behaviors relate. Assumptions about personality traits that tend to occur together in people.
Flashcard 16: What is the role of nonverbal cues in person perception?
Answer: Nonverbal cues influence judgments about others' emotions and intentions. Body language and facial expressions provide information beyond verbal communication.
Flashcard 17: What role do schemas play in person perception?
Answer: Schemas guide expectations and interpretations of others. Mental frameworks that organize information and shape our perceptions of others.
Flashcard 18: What is person perception?
Answer: The process of forming impressions of others. How we develop mental representations of others based on available information.
Flashcard 19: What theory examines how people explain their own and others' behaviors?
Answer: Attribution theory. Developed by Fritz Heider to understand how people make causal explanations.
Flashcard 20: Identify an example of a dispositional attribution.
Answer: Assuming someone is lazy because they missed a deadline. Personal characteristics, not circumstances, explain the behavior.
Flashcard 21: Identify an example of a situational attribution.
Answer: Blaming a delay on traffic rather than poor time management. External circumstances, not personal characteristics, explain the behavior.
Flashcard 22: What is the role of consensus information in attributions?
Answer: It helps determine if behavior is typical or unusual. Compares behavior to what most people would do in the situation.
Flashcard 23: What is the role of distinctiveness information in attributions?
Answer: It assesses whether behavior is specific to a situation. Determines if the person acts differently in other situations.
Flashcard 24: What is the role of consistency information in attributions?
Answer: It evaluates if behavior is consistent across time. Examines whether the person always acts this way.
Flashcard 25: Define 'illusory correlation.'
Answer: The perception of a relationship where none exists. A false perception of association between unrelated variables.
Flashcard 26: What is social categorization?
Answer: The classification of people into groups. Mental organization that simplifies social information processing.
Flashcard 27: How does social categorization affect person perception?
Answer: It simplifies processing but may lead to stereotyping. Efficient but can lead to inaccurate generalizations about groups.
Flashcard 28: Define 'ingroup bias.'
Answer: The favoring of one's own group over others. Preference for members of one's own social group over outsiders.
Flashcard 29: What is the outgroup homogeneity effect?
Answer: Perceiving outgroup members as more similar than ingroup members. Tendency to see less diversity in groups we don't belong to.
Flashcard 30: What is the role of motivation in person perception?
Answer: Motivation can influence how thoroughly we process information. High motivation leads to more careful, detailed processing of information.