AP PSYCH UNIT 4

Attributions

Explanations we make about the causes of behavior, whether our own or others'.

Dispositional Attributions

Attributing behavior to internal characteristics such as personality, traits, or abilities.

Situational Attributions

Attributing behavior to external factors, such as the environment or circumstances.

Explanatory Style

A person’s habitual way of explaining events, typically as positive or negative.

Optimistic Explanatory Style

Explaining negative events as temporary, external, and specific, leading to a more positive outlook.

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

Explaining negative events as permanent, internal, and global, leading to a negative outlook.

Actor/Observer Bias

The tendency to attribute our own behavior to situational factors but others’ behavior to dispositional factors.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overemphasize personality traits and underestimate situational factors when explaining others’ behavior.

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

Internal Locus of Control

The belief that one controls their own fate through effort and actions.

External Locus of Control

The belief that external forces, such as luck or fate, determine outcomes.

Mere Exposure Effect

The phenomenon where repeated exposure to something increases our liking for it.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

When expectations about a person or situation lead to behaviors that make those expectations come true.

Social Comparison

Evaluating oneself by comparing to others.

Upward Social Comparison

Comparing yourself to someone who is better off, which can motivate improvement but also lower self-esteem.

Downward Social Comparison

Comparing yourself to someone worse off to boost self-esteem.

Relative Deprivation

The feeling of being worse off compared to others, even if one is not actually deprived.