Chapter 7

• Attribution is the process by which people explain the causes of their own and other people's behaviour
• Attribution - explaining behaviour
• Internal attribution

  • Explanation of behaviour due to the characteristics of the person involved
  • Personality, ability, attitude, motivation, mood or effort
  • Internal factors - sourced within the person
• External attribution

  • Explanation of behaviour due to factors external to the person involved
  • Actions of another person, environment, the task, luck and fate
• Fundamental attribution error

  Tendency to overestimate the influence of internal factors and overestimate the impact of external factors on other people's behaviour
• Attitudes are ideas we hold about ourselves, others, objects and experiences
• Tri-component model of attitudes

  • The affective
  • The behavioural
  • The cognitive
• Affective component

  The emotional reactions or feelings an individual has towards an object, person, group, event or issue
• Behavioural component

  The way in which an attitude is expressed through our actions
• Cognitive component

  The beliefs we hold about an object, person, group, event or issue
• A stereotype is a collection of beliefs that we have about the people who belong to a certain group, regardless of individual differences among that group
• Stereotyping leads to prejudice
• Prejudice is holding a negative attitude towards the members of a group, based solely on their membership in that group
• Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort that a person experiences when there is inconsistency between their attitudes and behaviours
• Cognitive biases are systematic errors in judgement that occur when we try to simply the info we are processing
• Heuristics are mental shortcuts used to make quicker and more efficient decisions
• Availability heuristic

  Using the info that you first think of to make a judgement
• Representative heuristic

  Estimating the likelihood of something occurring or being true based on whether it fits our expectations
• Affect heuristic

  When a person's decision making is influenced by their current emotional state or mood
• Heuristics are helpful because:

  • They reduce cognitive load required in decision-making
  • We can make snap judgements that save time and mental effort
  • Simplify complex info
• Fundamental attribution error occurs:

  • Belief that internal factors are the main cause of the behaviour + we see the behaviour as a reflection of who the person is (not external factors)
  • Aren't aware of external factors and events that have occurred in the past that might influence another persons behaviour
• Limitation of the tri-component mode

  The components don't always align
• Actor - observer bias

  Tendency to attribute your own behaviour to external factors while attributing other people's behaviour to internal factors
• Self-serving bias

  Tendency for a person to attribute a positive outcome to internal factors yet attribute negative outcomes to external factors
• Conformation bias

  Occurs when a person focuses on and favours info that support their perspectives while ignoring contradictory info or views
• Anchoring bias

  Tendency to rely on the first piece of info offered when making decisions
• False consensus bias

  Tendency for people to assume that their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours are relatively common and are more widely shared by other than is the case
• Methods to reduce prejudice

  Intergroup contact - members of opposing groups should be encouraged to spend time with each other to breakdown sterotypes and recognise shared beliefs and values
• Methods to reduce prejudice

  Sustained contact - member of opposing groups should spend prolonged periods of time cooperating to achieve a goal
• Methods to reduce prejudice

  Superordinate goals - members of opposing groups should have shared goals that individuals or groups can only achieve with the cooperating of others
• Methods to reduce prejudice

  Mutual independence - members of opposing groups should be reliant on each other to achieve own goals
• Discrimination is the actions of being prejudiced or treating other in an unfair manner based on the negative attitude held about them or the group they belong to
• Direct discrimination occurs when someone is un-fairly treated and is disadvantaged because of a personal characteristic protected by the law
• Indirect discrimination occurs when treating everyone the same way disadvantaged someone because of a personal characteristics
• Person perception is the process we use to form impressions and draw conclusions about the personal characteristics of other people
• Components that contribute to person perception

  Physical cues

  A persons physical appearance, facial expressions and overall demeanour act as signals that allow us to draw conclusions about a peron
• Components that contribute to person perception

  Saliency detection

  We tend to notice physical features that are unique. These features capture our attention and we tend to spend longer looking at salient features
• Components that contribute to person perception

  Social categorisation

  Process by which we group individuals based upon the perceived social category they belong to
• Cognitive biases reduce the experience of cognitive dissonance as we process info or arrive at decisions that justify our behaviours or beliefs