PSYC 215 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Fundamental Attribution Error, Explanatory Style, Dispositional Attribution

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 215
• Professor: Mark Baldwin

Document Summary

Psyc 215 chapter 5: social attribution explaining behaviour. We are told the story of bill gates and how he came to start microsoft at age 19. Most ppl thi(cid:374)k he is a ge(cid:374)ius (cid:271)ut he (cid:449)ould(cid:374)"t sa(cid:455) that a(cid:271)out hi(cid:373)self. The observer is inclined to attribute a(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s to p(cid:396)ope(cid:396)ties of the (cid:862)a(cid:272)to(cid:396)(cid:863), su(cid:272)h as pe(cid:396)so(cid:374)alit(cid:455) t(cid:396)aits a(cid:374)d a(cid:271)ilities. The actor is more inclined to attribute the same action to situational factors. Attribution theory = the study of how people understand the causes of events. From acts to dispositions: inferring the causes of behaviour. Causal att(cid:396)i(cid:271)utio(cid:374) = the (cid:272)o(cid:374)st(cid:396)ual p(cid:396)o(cid:272)ess people use to e(cid:454)plai(cid:374) (cid:271)oth thei(cid:396) o(cid:449)(cid:374) a(cid:374)d othe(cid:396)s" (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iou(cid:396) Understanding causal attributions is crucial to understanding everyday social behaviour: they can greatly affect our thoughts, feelings and future behaviour. Asking someone out and you get rebuffed (cid:862)i (cid:272)a(cid:374)"t, i ha(cid:448)e a (cid:272)old(cid:863)