PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Electrodermal Activity, Startle Response, Implicit-Association Test
2 Jul 2018
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26/04/2018 Social Perception – Attributions and Attitudes
Social perception – process by which people come to understand and categorise the
behaviours of others
Social perception is about trying to understand a person and explain their behaviour
We are all acting as naïve psychologists in our daily lives – we make our own theories to
explain others behaviour – making inferences based on uncertainties – we don’t like
uncertainties so we try to think of a solution – we like closure
Attribution theory – we tend to give a casual explanation for someone’s behaviour, often
crediting either internal dispositions or external situations
Internal attribution – explaining behaviour as due to dispositional factors (personality)
External attribution – explaining behaviour as due to situational factors (environment,
circumstances)
Covariation model – we make inferences under conditions of uncertainty therefore we ask
ourselves abstract questions to find more concrete answers:
oConsistency information – does the actor behave the same toward the stimulus in
different situations?
oConsensus information – do other people behave the same toward the stimulus?
oDistinctiveness information – does the actor behave the same toward different
stimuli?
If something is not consistent of the actor, it is just an unusual situation, if it is consistent – is
it consensus and distinctive
Consistency Consensus Distinctive Attribution
High High High External (stimulus or
situation)
High Low Low Internal (person)
High Low High Interaction
People do not take situations into account when analysing others behaviour
Correspondence bias (CB): the tendency to infer that traits correspond to behaviour (Jones
& Harris, 1967)
Fundamental attribution error (FAE): the tendency to over-attribute behaviour to
personality traits and underestimate situational influences (Ross, 1977) – don’t give enough
weight to situation for person
This bias is so pervasive
Quiz show paradigm – Ross, Amabile & Steinmetz (1977) –
oParticipants randomly assigned to role of Contestant or Questioner
oQuestioner prepares 10 challenging questions
oSecond Study: added the role of an Observer
oDependent variable – ratings for Contestant and Questioner on general knowledge
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Social perception process by which people come to understand and categorise the behaviours of others. Social perception is about trying to understand a person and explain their behaviour. Attribution theory we tend to give a casual explanation for someone"s behaviour, often crediting either internal dispositions or external situations. Internal attribution explaining behaviour as due to dispositional factors (personality) External attribution explaining behaviour as due to situational factors (environment, circumstances) If something is not consistent of the actor, it is just an unusual situation, if it is consistent is it consensus and distinctive. People do not take situations into account when analysing others behaviour. Correspondence bias (cb): the tendency to infer that traits correspond to behaviour (jones. Fundamental attribution error (fae): the tendency to over-attribute behaviour to personality traits and underestimate situational influences (ross, 1977) don"t give enough weight to situation for person. Social perception attributions and attitudes: questioners did not see difference in knowledge between themselves and the.
