How Do We Explain Others

1
How Do We Explain Others?

• Attribution Theory
• Analyze how we explain peoples behavior
• Abbey (1987, 1991)
• Heider (1958)
• Contribute to internal or external causes
• Jones Davis (1965)
• Others intentions and traits correspond to their
  actions
• Theory of correspondent inferences

2
It Makes Sense, Doesnt It?

• Use consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus
• Ignore alternate explanations once we identify
  one or two potential causes

3
How Do We Combine The Information?

• Traits that are personally relevant or important
• First impressions matter!!
• Focus on negative information

4
Fundamental Attribution Error

• Attribution bias
• Underestimating situational influences and
  overestimating dispositional influences
• Stronger when it serves our self-interest

5
So, Why Do We Do This?

• Actor-observer difference
• Perspectives change over time
• Self-awareness
• Cultural differences

6
Perception and Interpretation of Events

• We hear and apprehend only what we already half
  know. Henry David Thoreau
• Belief Perseverance
• Persistence of beliefs ever after the
  discrediting of the evidence that caused the
  belief

7
Are Our Memories Accurate?

• We construct memories at the time of withdrawal.
• Rosy retrospection
• Our memories improve our behavior.
• Misinformation effect
• Incorporating misinformation into memory of
  event once receiving misleading information about
  it
• Priming
• Activating particular associations in memory

8
Do We Really Need To Think At All?

• Our intuition is powerful..and adaptive.
• Not fool-proof and, actually, not that reliable.
• Overconfidence phenomenon
• Tendency to be more confident than correct
• Confirmation bias
• Tendency to search for information that confirms
  preconceptions

9
Increasing Our Mental Speed?

• Heuristics
• Simple, efficient thinking strategies
• Three forms
• Representativeness
• Availability
• Counterfactual thinking

10
Order, Order!!!

• Illusory correlation
• Perception of a relationship where none exists or
  a stronger relationship than truly exists
• Illusion of control
• Idea that uncontrollable events can be controlled
  by us
• Regression toward the average
• Statistical tendency for extreme scores or
  behavior to return toward the average

11
How Do You Feel?

• Our moods strongly influence our judgments.
• Self-fulfilling Beliefs
• Perceptions can subtly influence reality.
• Teachers and students
• Behavioral confirmation