straight defenitions

Attributions

The explanations people create for the causes of their own and others’ behaviors, typically categorized as either dispositional (internal) or situational (external).

Dispositional (internal qualities)

Attributing behavior to a person’s inherent traits, personality, or abilities rather than external circumstances.

Situational (external circumstances)

Attributing behavior to external factors such as the environment, social pressures, or luck rather than personal traits.

Explanatory styles

The habitual ways people explain the causes of events, which can influence their mindset and mental health.

Optimistic

An explanatory style where people attribute positive events to internal, stable, and global factors, while seeing negative events as external and temporary.

Pessimistic

An explanatory style where people attribute negative events to internal, stable, and global factors, while seeing positive events as external and temporary.

Actor/observer bias

The tendency to attribute one's own actions to situational factors while attributing others' actions to dispositional factors.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overemphasize personality traits and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behavior.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute one's successes to internal factors (like ability or effort) and failures to external factors (like bad luck or difficult circumstances).

Internal locus of control

The belief that one's actions and decisions directly influence outcomes and that personal effort determines success.

External locus of control

The belief that external forces, such as fate, luck, or other people, have more control over life’s outcomes than personal actions.

Person perception

The process of forming impressions and making judgments about other people based on their appearance, behavior, and other social cues.

Mere exposure effect

The phenomenon where repeated exposure to something or someone increases our preference for it.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A situation in which a belief or expectation influences behavior in a way that causes the belief to come true.

Social comparison (upward or downward)

The act of evaluating oneself by comparing to others…

Relative deprivation

The feeling of dissatisfaction that arises when people believe they are worse off compared to others, even if their situation is objectively stable.

Social comparison (upward or downward): The act of evaluating oneself by comparing to others…

• Upward comparison involves comparing to those perceived as better

• Downward comparison involves comparing to those perceived as worse.