Interpreting Others’ Behavior & Causal Attributions

Flashcards about Interpreting Others’ Behavior & Causal Attributions.

Causal attributions

A judgment about the cause of a behavior or other event; foundation of impressions.

External vs. Internal attributions

Attributions based on outside factors versus those based on personal characteristics.

Association

A link between two or more mental representations in our mind.

Accessibility

The ease and speed with which information comes to mind and is used.

Correspondent Inferences

The process of characterizing someone as having a personality trait that corresponds to his or her observed behavior

Correspondent Inference Theory

Focuses on when a correspondent inference is justified, such as when the behavior has unique effects, is freely chosen, and is unexpected.

Correspondence bias

The tendency to infer an actor’s personal characteristics from observed behaviors, even when the inference is unjustified because other possible causes of the behavior exist.

Salience

The ability of a cue to attract attention in its context.

Covariation information

Information about potential causal factors that are present when the event occurs and absent when it does not.

Covariation model

The effect is attributed to that condition which is present when the effect is present and which is absent when the effect is absent.

Locus

Refers to whether the attribution is external or internal.

Stability

Refers to whether the cause is stable or unstable.

Controlability

Refers to whether the cause is controllable or uncontrollable.

Fixed mindset

Attributing causes to internal, stable, uncontrollable factors.

Growth mindset

Attributing causes to internal, unstable, controllable factors.

Discounting

Reducing a belief in one potential cause of behavior because there is another viable cause.