Social Psychology: Attributions and Emotion

Flashcards covering causal attributions, attribution errors, emotion components, universal facial expressions, body language, display rules, and social functions of emotion based on lecture material.

Causal Attributions

The inferred causes or explanations constructed to understand why a person performed a specific behavior or why an event occurred.

Internal Attribution

An explanation of behavior that attributes the cause to intrinsic characteristics, traits, or dispositions of the individual.

External Attribution

An explanation of behavior that attributes the cause to external, situational factors or environmental context.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overemphasize internal, dispositional attributions when explaining other people's behavior while underestimating external, situational factors.

Perceptual Salience

A phenomenon contributing to the Fundamental Attribution Error wherein the observed person is prominent to the viewer, while situational context is often difficult to notice.

Self-Serving Bias

The attributional tendency to explain one's own undesirable actions using external situational factors while attributing one's own positive actions to internal dispositional factors.

Emotion

A brief, specific response triggered by a stimulus, such as an event, object, or person.

Components of Emotion

The five distinct elements of an emotional state: appraisal of stimulus, physiological response, facial or bodily expression, subjective feeling, and action tendency.

Genuine vs. Fake Smile

Distinction in facial muscular activation where a genuine smile involves slight eye squinting and visible crow's feet, whereas a fake smile lacks eye squinting and often displays the bottom teeth.

Six Basic Facial Expressions

The set of primary facial expressions recognized across human cultures: happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear.

Ekman & Friesen (1971) Study

Research demonstrating that basic facial expressions are recognized cross-culturally with high accuracy, including among the isolated Fore people of Papua New Guinea.

Oxytocin

A hormone stimulated by physical contact that facilitates parent-child attachment, romantic attraction, and social bonding.

Power-Related Body Language

Nonverbal postural stances classified into expansive ('high power') or contractive ('low power') positions, which influence both interpersonal perceptions and personal self-confidence.

Emotional Display Rules

Socially and culturally defined conventions regulating which emotions ought to be masked or overtly expressed in particular situations.

Expressive vs. Stoic Cultures

Cultural variations in display rules, where expressive cultures encourage open emotional presentation and stoic cultures advocate subdued expression, particularly for negative emotions.

Toxic Positivity

A cultural norm in the U.S. that stresses high-arousal happiness and creates social pressure to suppress negative emotions, contributing to emotional avoidance and mental health stigma.

Social Function of Pride

An emotional state that promotes social integration within a group, reinforces supportive social networks, and enhances self-worth.

Social Function of Anger

An emotion rooted in perceptions of injustice that impels individuals to address wrongdoing, defend personal values, or participate in collective action.

Social Function of Guilt

An emotion focused on harm inflicted upon another person, functioning to deter prospective misdeeds and prompt interpersonal reconciliation.