Social Behavior and Attributions

Situational Attribution

Attributing a person's behavior to external factors, such as social context or environment.

Example: Assuming someone is smiling because of politeness (social norm) rather than innate happiness.

Dispositional Attribution

Attributing behavior to internal traits, such as personality characteristics.

Example: Believing a person smiles because they are naturally friendly.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Overemphasizing dispositional factors and underestimating situational influences when judging others.

Example: Assuming a person yelling is "mean" without considering their stress.

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

Bias of perceiving outgroup members as more similar to each other than they actually are.

Example: Thinking "all [group X] are the same" due to limited exposure.

Stereotype Threat

Impaired performance due to anxiety about confirming negative stereotypes of one’s group.

Example: Women underperforming in math or African Americans in academic tests when primed with identity.

Self-Serving Bias

Crediting successes to internal factors (skill) and failures to external factors (luck).

Example: "I won because I’m talented; I lost because the test was unfair."

Obedience (Milgram)

Complying with authority figures’ orders, even when they conflict with personal morals.

Example: Administering fake "electric shocks" because a researcher instructed it.

Conformity (Asch)

Adjusting behavior or opinions to match group norms.

Example: Claiming an incorrect line length matches because others said so.

Bystander Effect

Reduced likelihood to help in emergencies when others are present (diffusion of responsibility).

Example: Kitty Genovese case: witnesses didn’t act, assuming someone else would.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-awareness in groups, leading to impulsive/aggressive behavior.

Example: Guards’ actions in the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Cross-Cultural Attribution

Cultural differences in attributions: individualistic (dispositional) vs. collectivist (situational).

Example: U.S. (blaming a worker’s mistake on laziness) vs. Japan (blaming situational pressures).