All flashcards
Flashcard 1: What is a situational (external) attribution?
Answer: Explaining behavior by context, environment, or circumstances. Focuses on external factors rather than internal personality traits.
Flashcard 2: Identify the concept: Assuming a robbery victim was careless because “bad things happen for a reason.”
Answer: Just-world hypothesis. Blaming victims helps maintain belief in fairness.
Flashcard 3: What is the just-world hypothesis?
Answer: Belief that people get outcomes they deserve; world is fundamentally fair. Helps maintain sense of control and predictability.
Flashcard 4: Identify the bias: You blame your poor grade on a hard test, not your studying.
Answer: Self-serving bias. Protects self-esteem by attributing failure externally.
Flashcard 5: Identify the error: A cashier is curt during a rush, and you conclude they are unfriendly.
Answer: Correspondence bias. Ignoring situational pressure (rush) when judging personality.
Flashcard 6: What is the correspondence bias (correspondent inference theory) in attribution?
Answer: Inferring stable traits from behavior, even when situational constraints exist. Tendency to assume behavior reflects personality despite constraints.
Flashcard 7: Identify the attribution: Only this restaurant makes you sick, and it happens every visit.
Answer: Situational (external) attribution. High distinctiveness (only this place) suggests external cause.
Flashcard 8: In Kelley’s model, which pattern best supports a situational attribution?
Answer: High consensus, high distinctiveness, high consistency. Everyone reacts similarly to this specific situation.
Flashcard 9: In Kelley’s model, which pattern best supports a dispositional attribution?
Answer: Low consensus, low distinctiveness, high consistency. Person acts uniquely across situations consistently.
Flashcard 10: What does Kelley’s covariation model propose about causal attributions?
Answer: People infer cause from consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency. Three factors help determine internal vs external causes.
Flashcard 11: Identify the error: “They failed because they are lazy; we failed because the test was unfair.”
Answer: Ultimate attribution error. Shows in-group favoritism in causal explanations.
Flashcard 12: What is the ultimate attribution error?
Answer: Group-based FAE: outgroup negatives internal, outgroup positives external. Extends FAE to intergroup contexts with in-group favoritism.
Flashcard 13: Identify the bias: A well-dressed applicant is judged as more competent without evidence.
Answer: Halo effect. Appearance creates positive impression affecting other judgments.
Flashcard 14: What is the halo effect in impression formation?
Answer: A global positive impression biases ratings of specific traits. One positive trait influences perception of all traits.
Flashcard 15: Identify the bias: You call yourself “stressed” for snapping, but call others “rude.”
Answer: Actor-observer bias. You know your stress context but not theirs.
Flashcard 16: What is the actor-observer bias?
Answer: Self: situational causes; others: dispositional causes for the same act. We have more info about our own situations than others'.
Flashcard 17: What is the self-serving bias?
Answer: Attributing successes internally and failures externally. Protects self-esteem and maintains positive self-image.
Flashcard 18: What is the fundamental attribution error?
Answer: Overattributing others’ behavior to disposition and underweighting situation. We underestimate how situations influence others' actions.
Flashcard 19: What is a dispositional (internal) attribution?
Answer: Explaining behavior by stable traits, motives, or personality. Focuses on internal factors like character rather than external factors.
Flashcard 20: What is attribution in social psychology?
Answer: Assigning causes to behavior and events (internal or external). Process of determining why events occur or people act certain ways.
Flashcard 21: Identify the error: You see a rude cashier and conclude they are a rude person, ignoring a long line.
Answer: Fundamental attribution error. Ignoring situational pressures when judging others' behavior.
Flashcard 22: Identify the bias: You ace an exam and say it was intelligence; you fail and blame unfair questions.
Answer: Self-serving bias. Attributing success internally and failure externally protects ego.
Flashcard 23: Identify the attribution: You cut someone off because you were late; you say it was due to traffic.
Answer: Situational attribution (actor–observer pattern). Actors attribute their own behavior to situations, not personality.
Flashcard 24: What are Kelley’s three cues used to infer causes of behavior?
Answer: Consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency. Kelley's covariation model uses these to determine attribution type.
Flashcard 25: What does the augmentation principle state in attribution theory?
Answer: Behavior despite obstacles implies a stronger internal cause. Acting despite constraints suggests strong internal motivation.
Flashcard 26: What does the discounting principle state in attribution theory?
Answer: Multiple plausible causes reduce weight of any single cause. When multiple causes exist, each seems less important.
Flashcard 27: What is the correspondence bias?
Answer: Assuming behavior reflects stable disposition despite context. Another term for fundamental attribution error.
Flashcard 28: What is the false consensus effect?
Answer: Overestimating how much others share one’s beliefs/acts. We think our views/behaviors are more common than they are.
Flashcard 29: What is the confirmation bias as it relates to attributions?
Answer: Seeking/weighting info that supports an initial attribution. We favor evidence that confirms our initial causal judgment.
Flashcard 30: What is the halo effect in attribution and impression formation?
Answer: One positive trait biases global evaluation of a person. Initial positive impression colors all subsequent judgments.