AP Psych Unit 4 (4.1): Attribution Theory and Person Perception

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context based on the influence of others.

Attribution Theory

Attributions are how people explain the behavior and mental processes of both themselves and others.

Dispositional Attributions

Attributing one’s behavior to their internal characteristics, such as their personality, character, or disposition.

Situational Attributions

Refers to when we explain someone’s behavior based on external factors or the situation they’re in.

Explanatory Style

A predictable pattern of attributions which explain good and bad events in one’s life.

Optimistic Explanatory Style

These people tend to explain negative events in ways that make them feel more hopeful and resilient.

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

These people tend to explain negative events in ways that make them feel hopeless or helpless.

Cognitive Bias

A systematic error in thinking that affects the decisions and judgements that people make.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Our tendency to underestimate the impact of situational factors and overestimate the impact of personal factors when assessing why other people acted the way they did.

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to blame external forces when bad things happen and to give ourselves credit when good things happen.

Actor/Observer Bias

Tendency to attribute one’s own actions to external causes (as the “actor”) while attributing other people’s actions to internal causes (as the “observer”).

Locus of Control

The extent to which people feel that they have control over the events that influence their lives.

Internal Locus of Control

You believe that you have control over what happens.

External Locus of Control

Blame outside forces for their circumstances.

Person Perception

The process by which we form impressions of and make judgements about the behaviors, traits, and characteristics of other people.

Person Perception Principles

Guide how we categorize, interpret, and understand people based on their characteristics, behaviors, and contexts.

Person Perception Principles: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

When someone’s perceptions about another person (or even themselves) cause that person to behave in a way that confirms those expectations, even if they weren’t initially true.

Person Perception Principles: Mere Exposure Effect

The phenomenon that repeated exposure to stimuli increases the likelihood of our perception changing and being attracted or drawn to it.

Person Perception Principles: Social Comparison

Occurs when people evaluate themselves based on comparisons to other members of society or social circles. Can be upward (comparison towards someone more capable or successful) or downward (comparison towards someone less capable, or successful).

Person Perception Principles: Relative Deprivation

People often judge what they lack based on what other have - the feeling of being deprived of something to which one believes they are entitled, especially when comparing themselves to others.

Person Perception - Attraction

What makes us perceive someone as an attractive romantic interest, as a potential friend, as an appealing social group to join?

Person Perception - Attraction: Proximity

The closer together people are physically, the more likely they are to form a relationship/friendship.

Person Perception - Attraction: Familiarity “Mere Exposure Effect”

We tend to like things as they become more familiar, they produce more positive feelings and seem safer.

Person Perception - Attraction: Physical Attractiveness

Experiments reveal that what most affects a first impression is physical attractiveness.

Matching Hypothesis

States that people have a tendency to choose partners whose level of attractiveness they believe to be equal.

Person Perception - Attraction: Halo Effect

Initial positive judgements may unconsciously influence other perceptions about a person (ex: believing someone is attractive may cause you to believe they’re also happy or successful).

Person Perception - Attraction: Similarity

Shared attitudes, background, and other traits help in perception.

Person Perception - Attraction: Reciprocity of Liking

People tend to seek out validation by surrounding themselves with people who already like them.