Intro to Psychology (week 9)

Social Psychology

Casual Attributions

the process by which individuals explain the causes of their own and others' behaviors.

Situational Attributions

behaviors that focus on external factors or circumstances that influence an individual's actions, rather than on internal characteristics or traits.

Dispositional Attributions

behaviors that focus on internal characteristics, such as personality traits, attitudes, or motivations, rather than external situational factors.

Fundamental Attribution Error

the assumption that people are in control of their own behavior.

Just World Hypothesis

the belief that people get the outcome they deserve.

Implicit Theories of Personality

beliefs and assumptions that people hold about the nature of personality traits, including views on whether traits are fixed.

Out- Group Homogeneity Effect

the tendency for individuals to perceive members of an out-group as being more similar to each other than they actually are, while viewing members of their own in-group as more diverse.

Self-serving bias

he tendency for people to attribute their successes to internal factors (like their ability or effort) and their failures to external factors

Actor- observer bias

a cognitive bias that occurs when individuals attribute their own actions to situational factors while attributing the same actions of others to their personality or character traits.

Deindividuation

a psychological state characterized by a loss of self-awareness and individual accountability, often resulting in behaviors that are atypical or uninhibited, particularly in group settings.