Module 1: Intro

Conscious & unconscious judgements = social perceptions o Influence how you interpret your behaviour/others behaviours Hard to accurately attribute intentions to observed actions many possible motivating factors Important memory concept idea of attribution; how do you assign cause & effect?

Module 2: Attribution Theories

Intro How you interpret behaviour = impression that may not be accurately reflect circumstances o Observed behaviour due to personality trait that can be fixed, or current situation? Ex. In supermarket child and mother shouting at each other Mother = impatient person OR not enough sleep, so shes irritated Correspondent Inference Theory Theories explaining how you decide to attribute behaviour Jones & Davie Correspondent inference theory: analyze behaviour to make inferences based on three variables 1. Degree of Choice Did he chose to act in observed behaviour (debate example) Difficult appreciating role, may develop strong feelings for/against when assuming 2. Expectation How expected the behaviour is If behaviour is what is expected, no reason to infer underlying cause to behaviour 3. Intended consequence of behaviour Campaign advocating lower smoking levels sponsored by tobacco company vs sister Covariation Theory (Kelley) How you determine if behaviour due to individuals personal disposition OR situation Three Variables 1. Consistency same behaviour always in this situation? 2. Distinctiveness differently in different situations? (yes = situation; no =disposition) 3. Consensus do others behave similarly in this situation? (yes=situational; no= disposition) Ex. Chris has trouble getting computer to work problem due to Chris or computer? Consistency is he usually unable to get computer to work? Distinctiveness does he have trouble with other computers or just this one? o Every computer = disposition; just his computer = machine (situational) Consensus do others have trouble with his computer? o Yes= problem with his computer

Module 3: The Fundamental Attribution Error

Fundamental Attribution Error Interpreting underlying cause of behaviour in others o Overestimate dispositional factors & underestimate situational factors o Getting cut off by another car in traffic most people say aggressive driver rather than considering stress/challenges that come with heavy traffic Fundamental Attribution Error: tendency to overvalue dispositional factors for observed behaviours of others while undervaluing situational factors o Ross influential argument for the place of FAE in social psych o Jones wrote Rosss term overly challenging/misleading; angry he didnt think of it first Actor/Observer Effect more chances of making FAE when determining causes of others behaviours rather than own when attributing cause of own behaviour more aware of situational influences Fundamental Attribution Error assumes behaviour of others primarily due to dispositional factors Actor Observer Effect consider situational factors for own behaviour (difference in how you perceive your behaviour and that of others) Harre & colleagues 2004 young drivers asked to explain reason for their own & friends risky driving o More likely to attribute own risky driving to situational factors (hurry, pressure) o Friends driving attributed to personal factors (having fun, showing off) Cultural differences Fundamental attribution error = western society not universal finding; influenced by culture How likely American & Indian children/adults attributed negative behaviour to dispositional/ situational factors (Miller; 1984) o Situational attribution = dotted lines, personal/dispositional attribution = solid lines o American 8 & 11 year olds attributed behaviour to personal/situational causes equally Indian children have tendency to attribute behaviour to situational causes more than personal/dispositional causes by the time they were 11 o Comparing the adult groups Americans tend to make more attributions to personal/dispositional factors than situational...increases into adulthood In contrast, Indian tendencies moved in the opposite direction; attributions to situational factors than to personal/dispositional factors Morris & Peng (1994) attributions made by Chinese and American graduate students and newspapers o American students and newspapers more likely to make FAE o FAE diminished in collectivist societies less focus on individual behaviour; more focus on relationships/roles in society

American Olympic gold medal winners = more likely to attribute gold winning to determination and talent o Japanese gold medal winners attribute to success of coaching team/organization

Self Serving Bias Tendency to perceive yourself favourably Fundamental attribution error & actor-observer effect can lead to examples of self serving bias o Above Average Effect: identifying dispositional causes for your successes, but situational causes for your failures (exaggerated view of abilities) Cards won=strategy; lost=bad hand Positive events (A on exam) dispositional explanations (Im brilliant) Negative events (F of exam) situational explanations (Test = impossible) Observers would select dispositional explanation not smart Bias in your perception makes you think youre above average in important things to you o Attractiveness, intelligence, social skills

Module 4: Cognitive Heuristics

Cognitive Heuristics Problem Solving & Intelligence heuristics (quick decisions used automatically about new info) Social perceptions shaped by similar heuristics limited ability in analyzing behaviour Representativeness Heuristic Classify people by considering how well behaviour fits with certain prototype o Ex. Jenifer: 27, outspoken, single, intelligent, live in Oakville, majored in psych, as student she was concerned with social issues, recently participated in anti nuclear demonstrations. What statement is more likely? A) Jennifer is a bank teller B) Jennifer is a bank teller who is active in the feminist movement If you chose B making use of representativeness heuristic o Hoe many bank tellers do you think are in Oakville? o How many do you think are feminists? Even if large amount of bank tellers in Oakville, fewer are also feminists Rules of probability should pick option A; more likely Because of description, seemed more representative of feminist Availability Heuristics Ex. 2 different instructors for a course o Dr. First 1st semester enthusiastic/energetic/attending all classes When thinking of prof, + experiences o Dr. Second 2nd semester made it to only 1 lecture per week Not positive memories o Both professors equally effective, but different experiences readily available to memory Availability of positive memories & rate Dr. First as better instructor Experiment by Craig Fox uni students given survey rate course on 7 point scale o Same questions, one exception list 2 or 10 ways in which course could be improved o Easy to recall 2 problems, making it relatively available memory impression there may be problems with course

10 improvements difficult; impression that problems with course not readily available impression that there arent many problems overall Group asked to list 10 improvements rated course highly compared to other group asked to list 2 improvements

Conclusion # of social cues needed to process, judgements made, responses must decide o Overwhelming without short cuts Humans good at processing social info because of heuristics o These shortcuts lead to biases and perceptions that may not reflect reality

Module 5: Relationships
Introduction Attraction research important application of impressions you form of other people Attraction not sexual attraction; instead means good impression, desire their company o Four Factors making it more likely to be attracted to someone Proximity, Familiarity, Physical Attractiveness, Peer opinions Proximity More likely to be attracted/ friends with those you live /work closely with Not physical, but functional distance: how often you interact o Two 1st year students at McMaster, physically close, but never interact tend to like those you anticipate interaction with o John Darley & Ellen Berschuied (1967) o Subject reads bios of 2 people & told after they read it that they would be able to talk intimately with 1 of them o Asked to rate biographies, rated the person she expected to meet higher than others Familiarity Mere exposure effect: tendency to be more positive towards things that are familiar o Even if seen only once or twice previously English subjects exposed to Turkish words words were either high or low frequency o Then saw list of new words, asked to guess what each meant Positive like beautiful; negative like monster o More likely to guess positive if previously exposed to word with higher frequency Familiarity explains why you tend to rate faces of people you have seen as more attractive o Famous persons face more attractive because its famous o Rate self as more attractive than picture of the corrected non-mirror image orientation More familiar with mirror image o Family would rate non-reversed picture more attractive because thats how they see us Physical Attractiveness Presumption that what is beautiful is also good Physically attractive = kinder, warmer, intelligent, sensitive, outgoing

Classic Study by Margaret Clifford & Elaine Hatfield (1973) o Grade 5 teachers given student description attached with a photo of attractive or unattractive child o With same description, different groups rated attractive child as more intelligent Correlation studies attractive people make more money, date more attractive people

Liking those who like us How much people like us influences impressions of them true when you need self esteem boost Walster (1965) women given personality test with positive or negative results predetermined o After getting result, women waited in hall while experimenter got ready for last phase o While waiting attractive grad student walked to them and seemed interested o Final phase; rate attractiveness of male faces (one was grad student from hall) Women with self esteem lowered rated grad student with high attractiveness compared to women with raised self esteem and control group with no self esteem manipulation o Someone who likes you when your self esteem is low = more effect on impression than when self esteem is high or normal What people previously thought of you is important Aronson & Linder (1965) o Subjects read many evaluations of people who knew then for a while o 4 types of evaluations Positive then end negative Negative and remain negative Negative and turn positive Positive and remain positive

Subjects rated how much they liked the people who rated them Highest ratings went to people who had the evaluation negative then positive People always positive was rated high as well not as high though

Those who remained negative was second poorest Worst rating person who started positive then ended negative