2. Fundamental attribution error

Question 1

What did Forgas (1998) believe in regards to negative moods? (FAEr Social)

Answer 1

Decrease FAE

Question 2

What did Forgas (1998) believe in regards to positive moods? (FAE Social)

Answer 2

Increase FAE

Question 3

What is attribution theory? (FAE Social)

Answer 3

Concerned with how people make casual explanations

Question 4

What term did Heider (1958) use and what does it mean? (FAE Social)

Answer 4

• Naive psychology

- People observe, analyse and understand behaviours by giving explanations

Question 5

How did Heider (1958) believe personal causes aided naive psychology? (FAE Social)

Answer 5

People infer that an event or behaviour is due to personal factors e.g. traits or feelings

Question 6

How did Heider (1958) believe impersonal causes aided naive psychology? (FAE Social)

Answer 6

People infer that behaviours or events are due to environmental situations

Question 7

How did Gilovich & Regan (1986) analyse dispositional and situational factors? (FAE Social)

Answer 7

• P’s kept a diary for a week and wrote a significant event that occurred each day
• They indicated on a 9 point scale how important their personal characteristics and environmental situation had been in producing the event
• Independent judges analysed the diaries

Question 8

What were the findings by Gilovich & Regan (1958)? (FAE Social)

Answer 8

• Action condition = higher rates of dispositional factors

- Experience condition = higher rates of situational factors

Question 9

What is the correspondent inference theory? (FAE Social)

Answer 9

Systematically accounts for perceivers inferences about what an actor was trying to achieve from an act

Question 10

How did Jones & Harris (1967) analyse the attitude attribution paradigm? (FAE Social)

Answer 10

• P’s read essays on Castro’s Cuba
• Informed a student had written as a criticism/defence/either (depending on writer)
• P’s asked to judge the attitude of author

Question 11

What did Jones & Harris (1967) find in regards to the attitude attribution paradigm? (FAE Social)

Answer 11

• Authors who had no choice and did have a choice were associated with pro-Castro attitudes
• But those with a choice were to a more significant extent

Question 12

What is correspondent bias? (FAE Social)

Answer 12

The tendency to draw inferences about a persons dispositions from behaviours that can be explained by the situation in which they occured

Question 13

What is the fundamental attribution error? (FAE Social)

Answer 13

The overestimation of personal characteristic, underestimating situational factors

Question 14

What were the procedures of Ross et al (1977) in regards to FAE? (FAE Social)

Answer 14

• P’s either quizmaster or contestant
• Masters asked to make 10 challenging questions
• Contestants had to answer
• Judgements made on own general knowledge and the average Stanford student

Question 15

What did Ross et al (1977) find? (FAE Social)

Answer 15

• Quizmasters rated their own intelligence as similar to the contestant and Stanford students
• Contestants rated quiz masters intelligence as above average Stanford student, but their own below

Question 16

What did Gilbert et al (1988) suggest? (FAE Social)

Answer 16

• Situational correction
• When people observe actions they may attribute dispositional factors and then make subsequent adjustments to situational factors

Question 17

What is another factor that significantly affects FAE? (FAE Social)

Answer 17

Political stance e.g. left wing = situational, right wing = dispositional