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    Social Attribution: Explaining Behavior

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    1) Attribution theory describes how people explain events and behaviors by inferring causes. People use information to ask "why" questions and make causal attributions that influence emotions and behavior. 2) When making causal attributions, people try to link behaviors to internal traits or external situations. They also consider whether causes are stable or unstable, and global or specific to certain domains. 3) People with pessimistic attribution styles, making internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events, are more likely to experience poorer outcomes later in life. Cultural differences also influence whether people emphasize internal traits or external situations in causal explanations.

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    Social Attribution: Explaining Behavior

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    jul
    44 views46 pages
    1) Attribution theory describes how people explain events and behaviors by inferring causes. People use information to ask "why" questions and make causal attributions that influence emotions and behavior. 2) When making causal attributions, people try to link behaviors to internal traits or external situations. They also consider whether causes are stable or unstable, and global or specific to certain domains. 3) People with pessimistic attribution styles, making internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events, are more likely to experience poorer outcomes later in life. Cultural differences also influence whether people emphasize internal traits or external situations in causal explanations.

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    Attribution

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    1) Attribution theory describes how people explain events and behaviors by inferring causes. People use information to ask "why" questions and make causal attributions that influence emotions and behavior. 2) When making causal attributions, people try to link behaviors to internal traits or external situations. They also consider whether causes are stable or unstable, and global or specific to certain domains. 3) People with pessimistic attribution styles, making internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events, are more likely to experience poorer outcomes later in life. Cultural differences also influence whether people emphasize internal traits or external situations in causal explanations.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    44 views46 pages

    Social Attribution: Explaining Behavior

    Uploaded by

    jul
    1) Attribution theory describes how people explain events and behaviors by inferring causes. People use information to ask "why" questions and make causal attributions that influence emotions and behavior. 2) When making causal attributions, people try to link behaviors to internal traits or external situations. They also consider whether causes are stable or unstable, and global or specific to certain domains. 3) People with pessimistic attribution styles, making internal, stable, and global attributions for negative events, are more likely to experience poorer outcomes later in life. Cultural differences also influence whether people emphasize internal traits or external situations in causal explanations.

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    Chapter 5

    Social Attribution: Explaining Behavior

    Explaining Events

    Attribution theory
    An

    umbrella term used to describe the set of


    theoretical accounts of how people assign causes
    to the events around them, and the effects of their
    causal assessments
    Attribution is the process where people use
    information to infer causes of behaviors or events
    (when and how people ask why questions)
    Influences

    behavior

    immediate emotions and subsequent

    From Acts to Dispositions: Inferring


    the Causes of Behavior

    Causal attribution
    Linking

    an event to a cause, such as inferring


    that a personality trait is responsible for a
    behavior
    Why does the student sleep in my class?
    The

    explanation depends on my attribution

    The Pervasiveness and Importance


    of Causal Attribution

    Importance of causal attributions


    The

    type of attribution made will influence


    how you respond to the situation
    E.g.,

    if your friend cancels plans to get together


    with you, thinking your friend must not be feeling
    well feels better than thinking your friend no
    longer likes you
    Emotional reactions and behavior

    Explanatory Style and Attribution

    Explanatory style
    A

    persons habitual way of explaining events,


    typically assessed along three dimensions:
    internal/external, stable/unstable, and
    global/specific

    Explanatory dimensions
    Internal

    versus external

    Degree

    that cause is linked to the self or to the


    external situation

    Explanatory Style and Attribution


    Stable

    versus instable

    Degree

    that the cause is seen as fixed or as


    something that is temporary

    Global

    versus specific

    Degree

    that the cause is seen as affecting other


    domains in life or is restricted to affecting one
    specific domain

    Explanatory Style and Attribution

    Pessimistic attribution style


    Internal,

    stable, global attributions habitually


    made for negative events
    Its

    my fault; Im never going to be able to;


    I am no good at anything

    Pessimistic

    attribution styles predict lower


    grades and poorer physical health later in life

    Insert Table 5.1 Here

    Explanatory Style and Attribution

    Attributions about controllability


    An

    individuals attributional style has a


    powerful effect on that persons long-term
    outcomes

    Gender and attributional style


    Boys

    are more likely than girls to attribute


    their failures to lack of effort,
    Girls are more likely than boys to attribute
    their failures to lack of ability

    The Processes of Causal Attribution


    The attribution process is not random but
    follows some predictable pattern.
    Functions;

    Help

    understand the past, illuminate the


    present, and predict the future

    Kurt Lewin pointed out that behavior is


    always a function of both the person and
    the situation

    Attribution and Covariation

    Covariation principle
    The

    idea that behavior should be attributed to


    potential causes that occur along with the
    behavior
    People try to see if a particular cause and a
    particular effect go together across situations
    Do

    they covary?

    Attribution and Covariation

    Psychologists believe that three types of


    covariation information are particularly
    significant
    Consensus
    A

    type of covariation information: what most


    people would do in a given situation; that is,
    whether most people would behave the same way,
    or few or no other people would behave that way

    Attribution and Covariation


    Distinctiveness
    A

    type of covariation information: what an


    individual does in different situations; that is,
    whether the behavior is unique to a particular
    situation, or occurs in all situations

    Consistency
    A

    type of covariation information: what an


    individual does in a given situation on different
    occasions; that is, whether next time, under the
    same circumstances, the person would behave the
    same or differently

    Insert Table 5.2 Here

    Attribution and Imagining Alternative Actors


    and Outcomes

    Prior knowledge about the world allows us


    to infer the likely cause of a behavior
    Judgments not always based on what
    actually happened

    What

    would happen

    Under

    different circumstances?
    If a different individual was involved?

    Attribution and Imagining Alternative Actors


    and Outcomes

    Discounting principle
    The

    idea that people should assign reduced


    weight to a particular cause of behavior if
    other plausible causes might have produced it

    Augmentation principle
    The

    idea that people should assign greater


    weight to a particular cause of behavior if
    other causes are present that normally would
    produce a different outcome

    Insert Figure 5.1 Here

    Attribution and Imagining Alternative Actors


    and Outcomes
    Causal attributions can be formed by
    comparing real outcomes to imagined
    alternatives
    Counterfactual thoughts

    Thoughts

    of what might have, could have, or


    should have happened if only something
    had occurred differently

    Insert Figure 5.2 Here

    Attribution and Imagining Alternative


    Actors and Outcomes

    Emotional amplification
    An

    increase in an emotional reaction to an


    event that is proportional to how easy it is to
    imagine the events not happening
    May

    feel more personally responsible for failure


    depending on how easy it is to imagine the
    alternative

    Attribution and Imagining Alternative Actors


    and Outcomes
    Counterfactual thinking at the Olympics
    Although

    it seems counterintuitive, bronze


    medalists are often more satisfied with their
    accomplishment than silver medalists
    Silver medalists may imagine a gold medal as
    the alternative
    Bronze medalists may imagine receiving no
    medal as the alternative
    SOCIAL4_Ch05_1_Behind_the_Citation.mov

    Attribution and Imagining Alternative Actors


    and Outcomes

    Another determinant of how easy it is to


    imagine an events not happening is
    whether it resulted from a routine action or
    a departure from the norm

    Errors and Biases in Attribution

    Our causal attributions are occasionally


    subject to predictable errors and biases

    The Self-Serving Attributional Bias

    Self-serving attributional bias


    The

    tendency to attribute failure and other


    bad events to external circumstances, and to
    attribute success and other good events to
    oneself
    For

    instance, athletes may attribute losses to bad


    referees but victories to talent and hard work

    The Self-Serving Attributional Bias


    External attributions
    Students tend to make external attributions
    for their failures (The questions were
    ambiguous; The professor is a sadist)
    Internal attributions
    Internal attributions for success (The hard
    work paid off; Im smart)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhkNVUZ
    4fVM

    Insert Box 5.1 Here

    The Fundamental Attribution Error

    Fundamental attribution error


    The

    failure to recognize the importance of


    situational influences on behavior, and the
    corresponding tendency to overemphasize the
    importance of dispositions on behavior
    For

    instance, inferences may be made about


    someones true personality even when we are
    aware that their behavior resulted from an
    assigned role

    The Actor-Observer Difference


    in Causal Attributions

    Actor-observer difference
    A

    difference in attribution based on who is


    making the causal assessment: the actor (who
    is relatively inclined to make situational
    attributions) or the observer (who is relatively
    inclined to make dispositional attributions)

    The Actor-Observer Difference


    in Causal Attributions

    Attributions may differ between the person


    engaging in a behavior and a person
    observing the behavior
    The

    actor is disposed to explain behavior as due


    to the situation
    The observer is disposed to explain behavior as
    due to dispositional qualities of the actor

    The Actor-Observer Difference


    in Causal Attributions

    Like the fundamental attribution error, the


    actor-observer difference has no single
    cause
    Assumptions

    about what needs explaining can


    vary for actors and observers
    The perceptual salience of the actor and the
    surrounding situation is different for the actor
    and the observer

    The Actor-Observer Difference


    in Causal Attributions
    Actors

    and observers differ in the amount and


    kind of information they have about the actor
    and the actors behavior
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpDU8F1
    pnPM

    Insert Box 5.3 Here

    Culture and Causal Attributions

    Much of what psychologists know about


    how people understand the behavior of
    others is undoubtedly universal

    Cultural Differences in Attending to Context

    The fundamental attribution error may be


    affected by culture
    Westerners

    generally define themselves in


    terms of their relationships with others less
    often than do other people throughout the
    world
    Westerners

    think about themselves more in the


    context of personal goals, attributes, and
    preferences

    Cultural Differences in Attending to Context


    Non-Westerners

    think about themselves more


    in terms of the social roles they occupy and
    their obligations to other people and
    institutions
    Emphasize

    group autonomy
    Prefer situational explanations
    Think like social psychologists
    More likely to go on to the second step and less
    likely to do fundamental attribution error

    Insert Figure 5.8 Here

    Causal Attribution for Independent


    and Interdependent Peoples

    Given the pronounced difference between


    Asians and Westerners attention to
    context, it should come as no surprise to
    learn that Asians are more inclined than
    Westerners to attribute behavior to the
    situation
    Westerners

    see dispositions and internal


    causes, whereas Asians see situations and
    contexts

    Culture and the Fundamental Attribution Error

    The fundamental attribution error is more


    widespread and pronounced for
    Westerners than for Asians
    Westerners

    pay little attention to situational


    factors in circumstances in which Asians pay
    considerable attention to them and grant their
    influence

    Culture and the Fundamental Attribution Error

    Differences in attributions between some


    American subcultures
    For

    instance, Puerto Rican children use fewer


    traits when describing themselves than AngloAmerican children
    Less

    likely to use traits to describe other people

    Mexican-Americans

    were less likely to make


    trait inferences than Anglo-Americans

    Priming Culture

    For people who are connected to both


    independent and interdependent cultures,
    attribution styles may change depending
    on the cultural context

    Priming Culture

    Evidence from Hong Kong


    Hong

    Kong is heavily influenced by both


    China and Western countries like the United
    States and the United Kingdom

    Priming Culture
    Residents

    of Hong Kong can switch between


    independent and interdependent attributions
    styles
    Made

    more dispositional attributions after being


    primed with images related to Western culture
    Made more situational attributions after being
    primed with images related to Chinese culture

    Social Class and Attribution

    Social class
    The

    amount of wealth, education, and


    occupational prestige individuals and their
    families have
    Higher

    enjoy more wealth, higher education and


    prestige

    People

    from different levels on the


    socioeconomic ladder arrive at very different
    causal explanations for events
    SOCIAL4_Ch05_2_Behind_the_Citation.mov

    Dispositions: Fixed or Flexible


    Do Asians, Catholics, and people of lower
    social class think like social
    psychologists, putting great emphasis on
    situational determinants of behavior?
    Do Westerners, Protestants, and people of
    higher social class think like personality
    psychologists, putting more emphasis on
    dispositional determinants?

    Dispositions: Fixed or Flexible

    The Big Five dimensions of personality


    are the same cross-culturally
    For

    both interdependent people and


    independent people, personalities can be
    described along traits of openness to
    experience, conscientiousness, extraversion,
    agreeableness, and neuroticism

    Beyond the Internal/External Dimension

    Everyday causal analysis often requires


    people to determine whether a given action
    is mainly due to something about the person
    involved or to the surrounding situational
    context
    The

    person/situation question is not the only


    one we ask, and its not the whole story about
    everyday causal analysis
    Were

    often interested in understanding a persons


    intentions

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