Attribution Theory
the theory of how people explain the behaviours of others (either internal attitudes or external situations)
Automatic Processing
implicit thinking that is effortless and without awareness (system 1)
Ex: Driving a familiar route without actively thinking about every turn
Availability Heuristic
judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory
Behavioural Confirmation
people’s expectations about someone lead them to act in ways that cause the other person to behave consistently with those expectations
Ex: If a teacher believes a student is gifted, they might give them more attention and encouragement, leading the student to perform better (proving the teacher “right”)
Belief Perseverance
tendency to cling to initial beliefs even after the evidence for them has been discredited
Confirmation Bias
tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions
Controlled Processing
explicit thinking that is deliberate, reflective, and conscious (system 2)
Ex: Learning to drive
Counterfactual Thinking
imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened but didn’t
Ex: After missing the bus by 2 minutes, you think: “If only I had left earlier, I’d be on time.”
Dispositional Attribution
when we explain someone’s behaviour by pointing to their personality, traits, or internal characteristics, rather than the situation
Ex: she failed the text because she’s lazy
Embodied Cognition
the idea that our thoughts, judgments, and emotions are influenced by the body and physical experiences
Ex: Holding a warm drink → judging someone as “warmer” or friendlier
Fundamental Attribution Error
the tendency to overestimate dispositional (personality/trait) factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining other people’s behaviour
Ex: Someone cuts you off in traffic → you think “They’re a jerk” (dispositional) instead of “Maybe they’re rushing to the hospital” (situational)
Heuristics
mental shortcuts or simple rules of thumb that help people make quick decisions or judgments without much effort
Illusory Correlation
when people perceive a relationship between two variables when none actually exists (or it’s weaker than they think)
Ex: “full moons cause strange behaviour”
Misattribution
mistakenly attributing a behaviour to the wrong cause
Ex: Thinking your heart is racing because you’re attracted to someone, when it’s actually from exercising
Misinformation Effect
incorporating misinformation into one’s memory of an event after receiving misleading info about it
Ex: How fast was the car going when it “smashed” into the other one
Overconfidence Phenomenon
the tendency to be more confident in our judgments, knowledge, or abilities than is objectively justified
Ex: thinking you aced a test
Priming
activating particular associations in memory
Ex: Seeing the word “yellow” → faster recognition of the word “banana.”
Regression Toward the Average
the statistical tendency for extreme or unusual scores/events to move closer to the person’s average
Ex: score really bad on a test one day then “fine” on the next
Representativeness Heuristic
the tendency to presume that someone or something belongs to a particular group if resembling a typical member
Ex: Thinking someone quiet and bookish is more likely to be a librarian than a salesperson
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
beliefs that lead to their own fulfillment
Ex: Expecting a relationship to fail → acting cold → the relationship actually fails
Situational Attribution
attributing behaviour to the environment
Spontaneous Trait Inference
automatic assumption that someone’s behaviour reflects their underlying personality traits
Ex: Seeing someone help an elderly person cross the street → immediately thinking, “They’re kind” without being told
System 1
the intuitive, automatic, unconscious, and fast way of thinking
Ex: recognizing a face
System 2
the deliberate, controlled, and slower way of thinking
Ex: Solving a challenging math problem step by step
