PY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Fundamental Attribution Error, Victim Blaming, Leon Festinger

• School: University of Alabama
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PY 101
• Professor: Natalie Dautovich

Document Summary

Dissonance occurs when our behavior contradicts our attitudes- causes anxiety and tension. Therefore, we are motivated to reduce the dissonance. By: change behaviors or attitudes, rationalize the discrepancies. Defined- a summary impression of a group of people in which all members of the group are viewed as sharing a common trait or traits . Problem is, stereotyping can be applied inappropriately to individuals. Attitude or affective response to someone because they belong to a certain group . Occurs at a personal level, racism occurs at the structural level. Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the self-fulfilling prophecy, our expectations of a person elicit behavior from the person that confirms our expectations. We prefer t think things happen for a reason. Personal: explaining behavior in terms of a person"s disposition/personal characteristics. Situational: explaining behavior in terms of a person"s circumstances/situation/ environment. When observing others we overestimate personal dispositional influences.