Download You`ve Got an Attitude!

You’ve Got an Attitude!
PICK UP THE HANDOUT FROM THE
TABLE IN THE BACK!!!
Handout Time!
 Fill out the
questionnaire using
Miley Cyrus as your
inspiration.
What might this driver
be thinking about the
negative behavior
ahead of him?
Attribution Theory
 Situation =
 We tend to give a
environmental
causal explanation for factors
someone’s behavior;
 external
often crediting:
 Disposition = traits or
personality factors
 Internal/innate
Attribution Handout
 How many times did you circle “depends
on the situation” for yourself compared to
the other person?
 Why does this happen?
 Focus more on the person than situation.
 Culture – Collective vs. Individualistic
Fundamental Attribution Error
(FAE)
 (FAE) Tendency to over
estimate the Disposition/Trait
& under estimate the Situation
 The actor-observer bias
increases in situations where
the outcomes are negative.
 Actor-Observer Bias
 A-O Bias decreases if you
like someone.
 “We” (Actor) attribute our
behavior to the situation
 “They” (Observer) attribute our
behavior to our disposition.
Attributions Continued
 Self-Serving Bias
 The tendency to view
positives about ourselves as
dispositional (innate traits)
 Also the tendency to view
negatives about ourselves as
situational.
Why do we think like this?
 This helps to protect our ego.
It also enables us to confirm
that we are meeting our
goals.
How might the Self-Serving Bias
influence what each of these students
think contributed to their grade?
Self Fulfilling Prophecy
 Self Fulfilling
Prophecy: Negative
thoughts predict
negative behaviors.
 Pygmalion effect, or
Rosenthal effect
 Higher expectation =
higher performance
The Highway Man!
 Read the story and answer
the questions!
 Why do you think people have
a tendency to blame the
victim?
 If the story was about a widow
who was crossing the river to
work to support her children,
would that have changed your
ranking? Why or why not?
 How do attributions and
attribution errors explain your
ranking of these characters?
 How can individuals change
their errors in attributions?
Attributions Continued
 Just World Belief:
 We tend to believe that the world is,
on the whole, fair, and that wrongs
will be punished and rights
rewarded at some time in the future.
 “You get what you deserve, and you
deserve what you get!”
 A number of studies have shown
beliefs that people who suffer
deserve it and have brought their ills
upon themselves.

A common belief is that homeless
people are obviously lazy, while
rich people probably got their
wealth through hard work.
How Correlated are
Actions and Attitudes?
Attitudes & Behaviors may not
be as correlated as you think!
 Read the description of the
psychology experiment &
answer the question.
 When we feel less coerced &
more responsible for
troubling actions we feel
greater cognitive
dissonance.
 Rationalization: protects our
ego; If we choose to do/say
it, we must believe it.
 Cognitive Dissonance
Theory: When attitudes
and behaviors do not
match it creates stress.
Especially when you feel
responsible for your
behavior!!
 What causes changes in
our attitudes?




Persuasion
Credibility
Likability
Attractiveness