Unit 4

Attribution Theory

  • Explains how people attribute causes of behaviors/events (internal traits vs. external circumstances).

  • Dispositional Attribution: Based on personality traits (e.g., "She failed because she's lazy").

  • Situational Attribution: Based on external factors (e.g., "She failed because she was sick").

Explanatory Style

  • Optimistic: Believes negative events are temporary and external (e.g., "I failed, but I’ll do better next time").

  • Pessimistic: Believes negative events are permanent and internal (e.g., "I failed, and I’ll never succeed").

Attribution Biases

  1. Actor-Observer Bias: Actors attribute behavior to situation; observers to personality traits.

  2. Fundamental Attribution Error: Underestimate situational influences on others’ behaviors.

  3. Self-Serving Bias: Attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

Locus of Control

  • Internal: Belief that one's own actions impact outcomes (e.g., "If I study, I'll do well").

  • External: Belief that outside forces control outcomes (e.g., "The teacher grades unfairly").

Person Perception

  • Process of forming impressions about others.

  • Mere Exposure Effect: Increased familiarity leads to increased liking.

  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Expectations influence behavior toward others, causing expectations to manifest.

Attitude Formation

  • Stereotypes: Oversimplified beliefs about groups, contributing to prejudice and discrimination.

  • Attitude Components: Affective (emotion), Behavioral (action), Cognitive (thought).

Implicit Attitudes

  • Unconscious evaluations that affect behavior without awareness.

  • Examples: Just-World Phenomenon, In-Group Bias, Ethnocentrism.

Belief Perseverance

  • Tendency to cling to beliefs despite contradictory evidence.

Cognitive Dissonance

  • Discomfort from conflicting beliefs/attitudes that leads to attitude change to maintain consistency.

Persuasion

  • Central Route: Logic-driven; requires motivation and capability to process.

  • Peripheral Route: Cues such as attractiveness and emotion influence decisions.

Conformity and Obedience

  • Conformity: Adjusting beliefs/behaviors to match group norms.

  • Obedience: Compliance with authority.

  • Experiments: Milgram showed extreme obedience to authority; Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment demonstrated situational influence.

Group Dynamics

  • Social Loafing: Reduced effort in groups compared to individual work.

  • Groupthink: Suppression of dissenting opinions to maintain group harmony.

  • Deindividuation: Loss of self-awareness in groups leads to atypical behavior.

Prosocial Behavior

  • Altruism: Selfless helping without expectation of reward.

  • Social Norms: Influence helping behavior; e.g., reciprocity norm and social responsibility norm.

Theories of Motivation

  1. Drive-Reduction Theory: Motivation to reduce biological needs.

  2. Arousal Theory: Motivation to maintain optimal arousal levels.

  3. Self-Determination Theory: Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation.

  4. Incentive Theory: Motivation driven by external rewards/punishments.

  5. Instinct Theory: Behavior driven by innate biological instincts.

  6. Lewin's Conflicts: Decision-making conflicts between approach and avoidance.

  7. Sensation-Seeking Theory: Need for high levels of stimulation for motivation.

Theories of Emotion

  1. James-Lange: Physiology first, then emotion.

  2. Cannon-Bard: Emotion and physiology occur simultaneously.

  3. Schachter-Singer: Arousal followed by cognitive label for emotion identification.

  4. Facial Feedback: Facial expressions can influence emotional experiences.

  5. Broaden-and-Build: Positive emotions broaden thinking, while negative emotions narrow focus.