PSYC 102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Cognitive Dissonance, Fundamental Attribution Error, Stanley Milgram

• School: UBC
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 102
• Professor: Simon Lolliot

Document Summary

Social psychology - the scienti c study of how we think about,in uence and relate to one another. After studying how people explain others" behaviour frtiz hedier came up wit. Attribution theory - the theory that we explain someone"s behaviour by crediting either the situation or the person"s disposition. Fundamental attribution error - the tendency for observers,when analyzing other"s behaviour, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition. Fundamental attribution error appears more ofter in some cultures than in others. When we explain our own behaviour, we are sensitive to how behaviour changes with the situation. (exception - we more often attribute our intentional and admirable actions not to situations but to our own good reason. ) We are also sensitive to the power of the situation when we explain the behaviour of people we know well and have seen in different contexts. The errors often come when a stranger acts badly.