Attribution and Social Inferences PDF

**Slides Lesson 15: Attribution Processes** **What is Attribution?** Attribution is the process by which people explain the causes of behavior and events. For example: - \"Why didn't my friend invite me to dinner?\" - \"Why did my girlfriend break up with moi ?\" **Key Concepts from Lesson...

**Slides Lesson 15: Attribution Processes** **What is Attribution?** Attribution is the process by which people explain the causes of behavior and events. For example: - \"Why didn't my friend invite me to dinner?\" - \"Why did my girlfriend break up with moi ?\" **Key Concepts from Lesson 15** 1. **Causal Reasoning**: - People try to determine whether the cause of a behavior is: - **Internal (personal)**: A person's character or disposition. - **External (situational)**: Circumstances or external factors. - Example: Did someone fail an exam because they didn't study (internal) or because the test was unfair (external)? 2. **Early Theories of Attribution**: - **Heider's Attribution Theory (1958)**: - Focused on \"common-sense\" psychology. - Asked whether the cause of behavior is **dispositional** (internal) or **situational** (external). - **Jones and Davis' Correspondent Inference Theory (1965)**: - People infer stable traits (like kindness or dishonesty) from intentional behavior that is: - **Uncommon**: It stands out and doesn't follow norms. - **Not role-constrained**: It isn't required by a social role. - **Kelley's ANOVA Model (1967)**: - People look for **patterns** in behavior: - **Distinctiveness**: Is this behavior unique to the situation? - **Consistency**: Does this person behave this way often? - **Consensus**: Do other people behave the same way in this situation? 3. **Biases in Attribution**: - **Fundamental Attribution Error**: Overemphasizing internal traits and ignoring situational factors when judging others. - Example: Assuming a waiter is rude because of their personality, not because they're having a bad day. - **Actor-Observer Bias**: Attributing our behavior to the situation and others\' behavior to their disposition. - Example: \"I tripped because the floor was slippery, but they tripped because they're clumsy.\" **Slides Lesson 17: Social Inferences** **What Are Social Inferences?** Social inferences are the conclusions we draw about others based on their behavior or available information. **Key Concepts from Lesson 17** 1. **Rational vs. Biased Inferences**: - Early researchers believed human inferences were **rational** and goal-directed. - However, in reality, people often: - **Use heuristics** (mental shortcuts) to save time and effort. - Are influenced by biases and emotions. 2. **Examples of Biases**: - **Biased Hypothesis Testing**: - People seek evidence to confirm their preexisting beliefs and ignore disconfirming evidence. - Example: Believing someone is introverted and only asking questions like "Do you enjoy quiet activities?" instead of more neutral questions. - **Dilution Effect**: - Mixing irrelevant information with diagnostic (useful) information weakens the impact of the diagnostic information. - Example: Learning someone is unmarried and lives with a roommate might suggest they are gay. However, adding irrelevant details (e.g., their job, hobbies) might dilute this stereotype. 3. **Cultural Differences**: - Westerners are more likely to make **dispositional attributions**. - East Asians are more likely to consider **situational factors** due to holistic thinking. 4. **Motivated Inferences**: - Sometimes, biased inferences serve psychological needs, like: - Maintaining self-esteem. - Reducing anxiety about the future. ### **Lesson 16: Heuristics and Shortcuts** This lesson focuses on **heuristics**---mental shortcuts or decision-making rules we use to simplify complex problems. While heuristics are efficient, they can lead to **biases** or errors in judgment. Let's break it down step by step. ### **1. What Are Heuristics?** - **Definition**: Heuristics are mental shortcuts people use to make quick decisions without thoroughly analyzing all available information. - **Why We Use Them**: - **Time constraints**: There isn't enough time to evaluate everything. - **Cognitive overload**: The human brain has limited capacity to process information. - **Efficiency**: Heuristics help us make "good enough" decisions (satisficing) instead of perfect ones (optimizing). ### **2. Common Types of Heuristics** #### a. Representativeness Heuristic - **What it is**: Judging the likelihood of an event or category membership based on how similar it is to a prototype (e.g., stereotypes). - **Example**: - *Scenario*: Bob is described as shy, quiet, and detail-oriented. Is Bob more likely to be a librarian or a farmer? - *Typical Answer*: Librarian (because Bob fits our stereotype of a librarian). - *Error*: Ignoring base rates---statistically, there are more farmers than librarians, so it's more likely Bob is a farmer. - **Biases Related to Representativeness**: - **Conjunction Fallacy**: Assuming the probability of two events occurring together (e.g., being a bank teller and a feminist) is higher than one event alone (e.g., just being a bank teller). - **Misconceptions of Chance**: Believing random events, like coin flips, should \"look random\" (e.g., H-T-H-T feels more likely than H-H-H-H, even though both are equally probable). #### b. Availability Heuristic - **What it is**: Judging the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind. - **Example**: - *Scenario*: Which is more common, deaths by shark attacks or by car accidents? - *Typical Answer*: Shark attacks (because they are more dramatic and memorable). - *Reality*: Car accidents are far more common. - **Biases Related to Availability**: - **Salience and Familiarity**: We overestimate the frequency of things we hear about often (e.g., terrorism in the news inflates its perceived likelihood). - **Self-Centered Bias**: We remember our contributions to group tasks better than others\' contributions, leading us to overestimate our role. #### c. Simulation Heuristic - **What it is**: Predicting outcomes or explaining events by imagining how things could happen. - **Example**: - Missing a flight by 5 minutes feels worse than missing it by 30 minutes because it's easier to imagine scenarios where you could have avoided missing it. - **Counterfactual Reasoning**: - Thinking about how events could have gone differently often amplifies emotions like regret. - Example: "If only I hadn't taken that wrong turn, I wouldn't have missed my flight." #### d. Anchoring Heuristic - **What it is**: Starting with an initial reference point (anchor) and adjusting insufficiently from it. - **Example**: - If someone is asked whether the Mississippi River is longer or shorter than 500 miles, they might guess around 600 miles. If the anchor is 5,000 miles, they might guess closer to that. - **Applications**: - Anchoring influences negotiations, pricing, and social judgments (e.g., projecting your behavior onto others). ### **3. How Do Heuristics Lead to Errors?** - **Ignoring Base Rates**: Overlooking statistical probabilities in favor of vivid examples. - **Illusory Correlations**: Seeing patterns or relationships where none exist (e.g., associating minority groups with negative traits due to \"paired distinctiveness\"). - **Failure to Understand Regression**: Misunderstanding that extreme events often return to average over time (e.g., assuming a slump in sports performance is due to effort rather than natural variance). ### **4. When Do We Use Heuristics?** Heuristics are used: - **Under high cognitive load**: When we are distracted or multitasking. - **For routine tasks**: Where shortcuts are efficient and have worked in the past. - **For unimportant decisions**: When the stakes are low, and perfect accuracy isn't necessary. We rely on heuristics less when: - The stakes are high (e.g., important financial decisions). - We are held accountable for our decisions. - We distrust the information being considered. ### **5. Are Heuristics Always Bad?** - **Not necessarily!** Heuristics often produce good enough solutions for everyday problems. They only lead to errors when: - They are applied inappropriately. - Situational nuances are ignored. ### **6. Real-World Applications** - **Social Judgments**: - Stereotypes often arise from the representativeness heuristic. - Self-centered bias affects teamwork dynamics. - **Medical and Legal Fields**: - Heuristics can simplify complex decisions but may lead to diagnostic errors or unfair judgments. - **Behavioral Economics**: - Marketers use anchoring to influence consumer behavior (e.g., showing a high "original price" to make discounts seem bigger).