Module 4.1

Attributions

how people explain behavior and mental processes of themselves and others

Dispositional attributions

relate to internal qualities of others, things like intelligence or personality

Situational attributions

relate to external circumstances that are experienced

Explanatory style

how people explain good and bad events in their lives and in the lives of others; this style can be optimistic or pessimistic

actor/observer bias

the tendency for individuals acting in a situation to attribute the causes of their behavior to external or situational factors, such as social pressure, but for observers to attribute the same behavior to internal or dispositional factors, such as personality

Fundamental attribution error

he tendency to overestimate the degree to which an individual's behavior is determined by their abiding personal characteristics, attitudes, or beliefs and, correspondingly, to minimize the influence of the surrounding situation on that behavior (financial or social pressures)

Self serving bias

the tendency to interpret events in a way that assigns credit for success to oneself but denies one's responsibility for failure, which is blamed on external factors. The self-serving bias is regarded as a form of self-deception designed to maintain high self-esteem

Locus of control

a construct that is used to categorize people's basic motivational orientations and perceptions of how much control they have over the conditions of their lives

External locus of control

tend to behave in response to external circumstances and to perceive their life outcomes as arising from factors out of their control

Internal locus of control

tend to behave in response to internal states and intentions and to perceive their life outcomes as arising from the exercise of their own agency and abilities

Mere exposure effect

occurs when people are exposed to a stimulus repeatedly over time, which causes them to like the stimulus more

Self-fulfilling prophecy

behaving in ways that can elicit behaviors from others that confirm their beliefs or perceptions about themselves or others

Social comparison

type of person perception that occurs when people evaluate themselves based on comparisons to other members of society or social circles

Social comparison upward

comparing oneself with someone judged to be better than oneself (by having more wealth or material goods, higher social standing, greater physical attractiveness)

Social comparison downward

comparing oneself with someone judged to be not as good as oneself

Relative deprivation

the perception by an individual that the amount of a desired resource (e.g., money, social status) they have is less than some comparison standard