Chapter 3: Social Beliefs & Judgments

attribution theory

The theory of how people explain the behaviour of others—for example, by attributing it either to internal dispositions (enduring traits, motives, and attitudes) or to external situations.

automatic processing

“Implicit” thinking that is effortless, habitual, and without awareness; roughly corresponds to “intuition.” Also known as System 1.

availability heuristic

A cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory. If instances of something come readily to mind, we presume it to be commonplace.

behavioural confirmation

A type of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby people’s social expectations lead them to act in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations.

belief perseverance

Persistence of your initial concep- tions, as when the basis for your belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives.

confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions.

controlled processing

“Explicit” thinking that is deliberate, reflective, and conscious. Also known as System 2.

counterfactual thinking

Imagining alternative scenar- ios and outcomes that might have happened, but didn’t.

dispositional attribution

Attributing behaviour to the person’s disposition and traits.

embodied cognition

The mutual influence of bodily sensations on cognitive preferences and social judgments.

fundamental attribution error

The tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences on others’ behav- iour; also called correspondence bias because we so often see behaviour as corresponding to a disposition.

heuristics

A thinking strategy that enables quick, effi- cient judgments.

illusory correlation

A perception of a relationship where none exists or a perception of a stronger relation- ship than actually exists.

misattribution

Mistakenly attributing a behaviour to the wrong cause.

misinformation effect

Incorporating “misinformation” into one’s memory of an event, after witnessing an event and then receiving misleading information about it.

overconfidence phenomenon

The tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs.

Priming

Activating particular associations in memory.

regression toward the average

The statistical tendency for extreme scores or extreme behaviour to return toward the person’s average.

representativeness heuristic

The tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that someone or some- thing belongs to a particular group if resembling (repre- senting) a typical member.

self-fulfilling prophecies

Beliefs that lead to their own fulfillment.

situational attribution

Attributing behaviour to the environment.

spontaneous trait inference

An effortless, automatic inference of a trait after exposure to someone’s behaviour.

System 1

The intuitive, automatic, unconscious, and fast way of thinking.

System 2

The deliberate, controlled, and slower way of thinking.