SOCPSY 1Z03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Fundamental Attribution Error, Anchoring, Latanya Sweeney

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 1Z03
• Professor: Paul Glavin

Document Summary

Attribution is the process that an observer uses to infer the causes of another"s behavior. We observe another"s behavior and infer backward to its causes, (e. g. intentions, abilities, traits, motives, and situational pressures) Explain why people act as they do. ( why did watson act the way he did? ) Ex. sherlock: attributing some cause to walton"s behaviour. In the moment how they perceive a situation, make an attribution about a behaviour. Cause of behaviour is internal about individual (personality, etc. ) Focus on internal states of the person who performed it. More likely to focus on individual as cause than situation. Connect a behavior to factors in a person"s environment. Attributing the behavior to a factor that is: present when the behavior occurs, absent when the behavior fails to occur (a factor that covaries with the behavior) Ex. difference in mood for different days of classes - cause would be the day of the week.