Chapter Six

• Person perception


  The different mental processes used to understand and form impressions of other people
• Attribution


  An evaluation made about the causes of behaviour and the process of making this evaluation
• Internal attribution


  When we judge behaviour as being caused by something personal within an individual
• External attribution


  When we determine the cause of a behaviour as resulting from situational factors occurring outside the individual
• Fundamental attribution error


  Our tendency to explain other people’s behaviour in terms of internal factors, while ignoring possible external factors
• Attributional style


  Tendencies and repeated patterns in the way someone makes attributions
• Attitude


  An evaluation of something, such as a person, object, event, or idea
• Tri-component model of attitudes

  A model which illustrates the relationship between the affective, behavioural, and cognitive components of our attitudes
• Affective component


  Our emotions and intuitive feelings towards something, reflected in our attitude
• Behavioural component


  Our outward and observable actions that reflect our point of view about something
• Cognitive component


  Our thoughts and beliefs towards something
• Stereotype


  A widely held belief and generalisation about a group, such as people, animals or objects
• Cognitive dissonance


  The psychological tension that occurs when our thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviours do not align with one another
• Cognitive biases


  Unconscious, systematic tendencies to interpret information in a way that is neither rational nor based on objective reality
• Confirmation bias


  The tendency to search for and accept information that supports our prior beliefs or behaviours and ignore contradictory information
• Actor-observer bias


  The tendency to attribute our own actions to external factors and situational causes while attributing other people’s actions to internal factors
• Self-serving bias


  The tendency to attribute positive success to our internal character and actions and attribute our failures to external factors or situational causes
• Halo effect


  The tendency for the impression we form about one quality of a person to influence our overall beliefs about the person in other respects
• Heuristics


  Information-processing strategies or ‘mental shortcuts’ that enable individuals to form judgements, make decisions, and solve problems quickly and efficiently
• Base-rate fallacy


  A type of bias in which decisions, social perceptions, and judgements are influenced more by vivid memories and experiences than statistical fact
• Anchoring (adjustment) heuristic


  An information-processing strategy that involves forming judgements based on the first information received about an idea or concept
• Availability heuristic


  An information-processing strategy that enables individuals to form a judgement, solve a problem, or make a decision based on information that is easily accessible
• Representative heuristic


  An information-processing strategy that involves making a categorical judgement about an idea, event, or person based on their similarity to other items in that category
• Affect heuristic


  An information-processing strategy that involves using emotions to make a judgement or decision
• Prejudice


  An often negative preconception held against people within a certain group or social category
• Discrimination


  The unjust treatment of people due to their membership within a certain social category
• Stigma


  The feeling of shame or disgrace experienced by an individual for a characteristic that differentiates them from others
• Mental wellbeing


  An individual’s current psychological state, involving their ability to think, process information, and regulate emotions