PSYC 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 42: Fundamental Attribution Error

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Rebecca Jubis

Document Summary

Personality psychologists focus on the person, study their traits and dynamics that explain why people act differently in a situation. Social psychology the scientific study of how we think about influence and relate to one another. After seeing how people explain others behaviour heider proposed a attribution theory: the theory that we explain someone"s behaviour by crediting wither the situation or the person"s disposition. Ex: you may see that ann never talks in class and bob is talking nonstop during coffee breaks. You may just think that ann is shy and bob is outgoing but you have not taken the situation into consideration. Maybe bob is also quiet in class and ann is a party animal. To explain this there is the fundamental attribution error: the tendency for observers when analyzing others behaviour, to under estimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition. They may be a total different person outside of the classroom.