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• Attribution theory


  The theory of how people explain others' behavior, either by attributing it to internal dispositions (enduring traits, motives, and attitudes) or to external situations
• Dispositional attribution


  Attributing behavior to the person's disposition and traits
• Situational attribution


  Attributing behavior to the environment
• Fundamental attribution error


  The tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others' behavior
• Reasons for the fundamental attribution error:
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  A belief that leads to its own fulfillment
• Behavioral confirmation


  A type of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby people's social expectations lead them to behave in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations
• Conspiracy theory is defined as an attempt to explain harmful or tragic events as a result of the actions of a small powerful group. Such explanations reject the accepted narrative surrounding those events.
• Psychological motives underlying a conspiracy belief (Douglas, Sutton, & Cichocka, 2017)

  • Epistemic motive
  • Existential motive
  • Social motive