AP Psych AMSCO Topic 4.1: Attribution Theory, Locus of Control, and Person Perception

Social Cognition

how we think about ourselves and others in social situations

Social Situation

an individual's behaviors and mental processes that occur in a group of two or more people or when they think others are observing them

Attribution Theory

the way in which we can explain the cause or causes of behavior

Dispositional Attribution

assumption that behavior is driven by internal characteristics like intelligence or personality

Situational Attribution

behavior as a result of an external source

Explanatory Style

the predictable way of explaining the causes of events to themselves

Global Explanatory Style

attributing negative events to causes that they see as affecting many areas of their life

Specific Explanatory Style

attributing negative events to causes that are limited to circumstances; they isolate negative incidents

Optimistic Explanatory Style

attribute negative events to external and specific causes and attribute positive events to internal and global causes

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

attributing negative events to internal and global causes and attributing positive events to external and specific causes

Actor-Observer Bias

the tendency to attribute dispositional explanations of behaviors when we observe other people's behaviors, but situational explanations of behaviors when we explain our own behaviors

Fundamental Attribution Error

people tend to attribute the behaviors of others to their temperament/dispositional factors and ignore other explanations, like situational or external factors

Self-Serving Biases

tendencies to see ourselves in a positive light

Locus of Control

perception of where/who control over life events

Internal Locus of Control

belief that people have the ability to control their lives, choices, and the world

External Locus of Control

belief that an individual can have that they have little to no control over their life or over what people do

Person Perception

our brain's ability to form impressions and make judgements about others based on limited information

Mere-Exposure Effect

the preference for something increases the more you are exposed to it

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

psychological phenomenon in which an individual's belief or expectation about a situation or another person, positive or negative, influences their behavior in a way that causes those expectations to come true

Social Comparison

explores how individuals evaluate themselves by comparing their abilities, opinions, behavior, status, or attributes to those of others

Upward Social Comparison

comparing oneself to others who are perceived as superior in some way

Downward Social Comparison

comparing oneself to others who are perceived as inferior in some respect

Relative Deprivation

feeling of dissatisfaction or resentment that arises when people perceive themselves as having less than they deserve compared to others

Reference Group

the group you compare yourself to