social psych ch 4, 5 & 7

attribution theory

a description of the way in which explain the causes of their own and other people’s behavior

internal attribution

the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person, such as attitude, character, or personality

external attribution

the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the situation they are in, with the assumption that most people would respond the same way in that situation

covariation model

a theory that states that to form an attribution about what caused a person’s behavior, we note the pattern between when the behavior occurs and the presence or absence of possible causal factors

consensus information

the extent to which other people behave the same way toward the same stimulus as the actor does

distinctiveness information

the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli

consistency information

the extent to which the behavior actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances

perceptual salience

people give more attributional weight to the things that are the focus of attention–often a person

two step attribution process

1. Characterization–we make an internal attribution (automatic)

2. Correction–we consider situation factors (controlled)

self serving attributions

explanations for one’s successes that credit internal, dispositional factors and explanations for one’s failures that blame external, situational factors

belief in a just world

a defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people

bias blindspot

the tendency to think that others are more susceptible to attributional biases than we are

high consistency

a person frequently behaves this way

low consistency

a person has no perceived pattern of behaving this way

high consensus

most people behave like this

low consensus

not many people behave like this

high distinctiveness

a person doesn’t behave this way in other situations

low distinctiveness

a person behaves like this in many other situations

implications of the correction step

1. We don’t/can’t always engage in correction (cognitive load, distraction, etc.)

2. Considering situation factors doesn't mean we’ll always make an external attribution

fundamental attribution error

the tendency to overestimate the importance of internal–and underestimate the importance of external–factors on a person’s behavior

self concept

the overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes

independent view of self

a way of defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others

interdependent view of the self

a way of defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to other people and recognizing that one’s behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others

functions of the self

self-knowledge, self-control, impression management, self-esteem

self knowledge

the way we understand who we are and formulate and organize this information

self control

the ability to subdue immediate desires (e.g., to take a nap) to achieve long-term goals

impression management

the way we present ourselves to other people and get them to see us the way we want to be seen

self esteem

the way in which we try to maintain positive views of ourselves

introspection

the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings and motives

self awarness theory

the idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values

causal theories

theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviors; often we learn such theories from our culture (e.g.; “absence makes the heart grow fonder”)

self perception theory

the theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs

two factor theory of emotion

the idea that emotion experience is a result of a two-step self-perception process in which people first experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it

misattribution of arousal

the process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do

positive reinforcement

giving a reward each time a behavior occurs will increase the frequency of that behavior

intrinsic motivation

the desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting, not because of external rewards or pressures

extrinsic motivation

the desire to engage in an activity is because of external rewards or pressures, not because we enjoy the task or find it interesting

overjustification effect

the tendency for people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, such as a reward, making them underestimate the extent to which their behavior was caused by intrinsic reasonst

task contingent rewards

people are rewarded simply for doing a task, regardless of the quality of their performance

performance contigent rewards

the reward depends on how well people perform the task

fixed mindset

the idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change

growth mindset

the belief that achievement is the result of hard work, trying new strategies, and seeking input from others

social comparison theory

the theory holds that people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves to othersu

upward social comparison

comparing yourself to people who are better than you are with regard to a particular trait or ability

downward social comparison

comparing ourselves to people who are worse than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability

implementation intentions

people’s specific plans about where, when and how they will fulfill a goal and avoid temptations

ingratiation

the process whereby people flatter, praise and generally try to make themselves likable to another person, often of higher status

self handicapping

in this case, people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves

behavioral self handicapping

people act in ways that reduce the likelihood that they will succeed on a task so that if they fail, they can blame it on the obstacles they created rather than on their lack of ability

reported self handicapping

rather than creating obstacles to success, people devise ready-made excuses in case they fail

lateral social comparison

we want to accurately evaluate the self, someone on your level you look/compare to