Chapter 9: Forming Impressions

Attributions

The act of crediting a source or cause for certain behaviour 

1. Situational Attribution

2. Dispositional Attribution

Situational Attribution

Attributing behaviour to the specific situations and not the personality traits of an individual

Dispositional Attribution

Attributing the behaviour to just being the personality of the individual and not a result of that specific situation

Social Comparison

People evaluate themselves relative to others can lead to feeling of inferiority/ intimidation if they are supposedly better

Actor-Observer Effect

We perceive ourselves differently compared to those we observe - we are more aware of the many circumstances/ situational factors contributing to our behaviour 

• Fundamental Attribution Error: 

• Self-Serving Bias:

  • Above-average Effect:

Fundamental Attribution Error

• We have a tendency to over-estimate disposition attributed and under-estimate situational attributes especially when judging the behaviour of others  

  • Collectivist Society: Less focus on an individual behaviour and more on community more likely to explain behavior to situational factors for others

  • Individualist Society: FOcus more on themselves, will more likely explain behaviour as dispositional instead of situational 

Self-Serving Bias

• We tend to view our personal successes as reflection of our true abilities and failures as being something from our circumstances

• leads to above average effect

Above-average Effect:

• a cognitive bias where people overestimate their own abilities and qualities compared to others

Attribution theories:

Attribution theories explain how individuals interpret and assign causes to behavior, both their own and others’.

Covariation theory (kelly):

How a behaviour can be attributed to either dispositional or situational factors - How behaviour changes across different conditions 

Consensus: Do other people behave the same way in this situation?

• High: situational

• Low: dispositional

Distintiveness: Does the person behave this way in only this situation, or in many situations?

• High: situational

• Low: Dispositional

  • They act like this in other situations as well

Consistency: Does the person behave the same way over time in this situation?

• High: either situational or dispositional

• Low: Wider situational

  • Like its a very specific situation

Correspondence Inference theory:

we actively analyze a person’s behaviour to make inferences using three factors.

1. Degree of choice: amount of freedom the actor had to choosing their opinion or behavior

2. Expectation: the degree to which an individual behavior and a particular social role matches are expectation for that role

• Defying expectation = more informative 

3. Intended Consequence: the goals and motivation of an actor underlying their Behavior 

Explicit Bias

• a conscious, deliberate prejudice that someone is aware of and expresses

Implicit Bias

•  An unconscious, automatic attitude or stereotype that influences behavior without the person's awareness

  • Implicit biases develop from repeated exposure to societal stereotypes

• Implicit Association Test (IAT):

Implicit Association Test (IAT):

• Measures implicit biases by assessing response times in categorization tasks

  • Test: Told to categorize stimuli (words or faces) using paired response keys 

  • Results: 

    • Compatible pairing: categories associated in mind → faster, more accurate responses

    • Incompatible pairing: categories not associated → slower, more errors

  • BAcking: Causing amygdala activation, its a natural association in our minds

Cognitive Heuristics

mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that the brain uses to make decisions quickly and efficiently, especially under uncertainty → helps make quick decisions

1. Representativeness Heuristics: 

2. Availability Heuristic

Representativeness Heuristics

A mental shortcut that involves judging the probability of an event based on how similar it is to a mental prototype or stereotype

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut where people estimate the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind

Can be effected by “illusory correlation” believing in a correlation that doesn’t actually exist

False Consensus effect:

• We tend to believe more people share our views than they actually do

  • Helps protect our self esteem

Stereotypes

a widely held but oversimplified belief about a particular type of person or thing, which is often untrue and can be harmful

• Illusory Correlation - CAN EFFECT IT

Illusory Correlation

• when individuals believe that two variables are related even though there is no evidence for that relationship

  • Reinforces existing beliefs through selective attention to examples that confirm stereotypes.

PRejudice trends

• Historical data: Prejudice against Black people has declined since 1930s.

• Explicit bias: Most people now deny racial prejudice in surveys.

• Implicit bias: Stereotypes remain unconsciously and can influence behavior.

  • THe IAT: People associated black people with negative workds and white people with psoitve words 

    • They were faster at pairing “compatible pairings” like black with negative and white with positive 

    • But when told to pair white with bad and black with good they took longer 

      • This was even seen in people belonging to the group

 Factors of Attractiveness 

1. Proximity: how often we get to interact 

• Functional vs physical distance 

2. Familiarity

3.  Physical attractiveness

4.  Others opinions of us

• Self esteem boost → makes the other person seem better

Mere Exposure effect:

A tendency to perceive previous stimulus more favorable

just being exposed to it more

Halo effect

Tennessee to Tribute more positive characteristics to individuals that make a positive impression AKA more attractive

Others opinions of us - previous impressions

• Previous impressions: influence how you feel