Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Attribution463observable features, including cues we discern from the other person’s face, gender,age, and race. We also use mental shortcuts, such as social categories and implicitpersonality theories. Whether we react positively or negatively to the particularsocial category or implicit personality we associate with another person isinfluenced by our previous social and cultural experiences.Obviously, there are advantages and disadvantages to this process. On the onehand, relegating someone to a social category on the basis of superficial informationignores that person’s unique qualities. In effect, you’re jumping to sweeping conclusionsabout another person on the basis of very limited information. Sometimesthese conclusions are wrong, as Fern’s was when she categorized the scruffy-lookingSan Francisco man with a cup in his hand as homeless.On the other hand, relying on social categories is a natural, adaptive, and efficientcognitive process. Social categories provide us with considerable basic informationabout other people. Knowing that basic information helps us organize and rememberinformation about others more effectively. And from an evolutionary perspective,the ability to make rapid judgments about strangers is probably an evolvedcharacteristic that conferred survival value in our evolutionary past.AttributionExplaining BehaviorKey Theme• Attribution refers to the process of explaining your own behavior andthe behavior of other people.Key Questions• What are the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias?• How do attributional biases affect our judgments about the causes ofbehavior?• How does culture affect attributional processes?As you’re studying in the college library, the activities of two workers catch yourattention. The two men are getting ready to lift and move a large file cabinet.“Okay, let’s tip it this way and lift it,” the first guy says with considerable authority.The second guy sheepishly nods agreement. In unison, they heave and tip the filecabinet. When they do, the top two file drawers fly out, smashing into the first guy’shead. As the file cabinet goes crashing to the floor, you bite your lip to keep fromlaughing and think to yourself, “What a pair of 40-watt bulbs.”Why did you arrive at that conclusion? After all, it’s completely possible that theworkers are not dimwits. Maybe the lock on the file drawers slipped or broke whenthey tipped the cabinet. Or maybe someone failed to empty the drawers.Attribution is the process of inferring the cause of someone’s behavior,including your own. Psychologists also use the word attribution to refer to the explanationyou make for a particular behavior. The attributions you make stronglyinfluence your thoughts and feelings about other people.If your explanation for the file cabinet incident was that the workers were a coupleof clumsy doofuses, you demonstrated a common cognitive bias. The fundamentalattribution error is the tendency to spontaneously attribute the behavior of others tointernal, personal characteristics, while ignoring or underestimating the role of external,situational factors (Ross, 1977). Even though it’s entirely possible that situationalforces were behind another person’s behavior, we tend to automatically assumethat the cause is an internal, personal characteristic (Van Boven & others, 1999;Zimbardo, 2007).attributionThe mental process of inferring the causesof people’s behavior, including one’s own.Also refers to the explanation made for aparticular behavior.fundamental attribution errorThe tendency to attribute the behavior ofothers to internal, personal characteristics,while ignoring or underestimating the effectsof external, situational factors; an attributionalbias that is common in individualisticcultures.