Ch 4 Outline

1
Ch 4 Outline

• Attributions
• Types
• Factors that influence
• Biases
• In Intimate Relationships
• Self fulfilling prophecy
• Inaccuracies and Illusions in Judgments Regarding
  Partners

2
Social Cognition

• Social psychology is the study of how people
  influence our behavior
• Social cognition focuses on the individual
  patterns and biases in our perceptions about
  peoples behavior

3
Attribution

• Defined-process we use to assign causes to
  behavior (ours and others)
• Function-We tend to explain and understand
  behavior and the events that impact our lives

• Types Internal vs External
• Stable vs Temporary

4
Types of Attribution
Internal attributions based on individuals
dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings
External attributions based on situational
variables that everyone is influenced by
5
Attributions Why is My Spouse Late?
Temporary
Stable
Internal
S/he is inconsiderate
S/he is tired
Her/His boss often asks her/him to do something
at quitting time
Car trouble
External
6
How do we decide whether behavior is due to
internal or external causes?

• Consistency how the persons behavior varies
  over time in same setting (Is s/he late for
  family dinner often?)

• Consensus how the persons behavior compares
  with others behavior in same setting (Are others
  late for family dinner?)

• Distinctiveness how the persons behavior
  varies across settings (Is s/he late often for
  other activities?)

7
When do we spend a lot of time thinking about
attributions?

• When someones behavior affects us, especially if
  the effect is negative (Weiner, 1985)

8
Biases in Attribution

• Fundamental Attribution Error we tend to make
  internal attributions for others behavior (He
  was late because he is lazy or tired.)

• Actor-Observer Bias we tend to make external
  attributions for our behavior (He was late
  because he is lazy, BUT I was late because my
  alarm didnt go off.)

9
Biases in Attribution

• Self-Serving Bias we tend to attribute our
  success to internal factors and failure to
  external factors (I got an A in Psy because I am
  smart, I got a D in Math because the tests were
  unfair.)

10
Contextual Model of Attribution
Partner As behavior
Partner Bs processing
Partner Bs behavior
Partner As processing
11
Attribution Processing in Intimate Relationships
(Holtzworth-Munroe Jacobsen, 1985)

• Women spend more time processing attributions
  than men, regardless of how happy they are in the
  relationship
• Men in happy relationships invest much less time
  processing attributions than men in unhappy
  relationships

12
Attribution Processing in Intimate Relationships
(Holtzworth-Munroe Jacobsen, 1985 Brehm
Kassin, 1990)
13
Contextual Model of Attribution
Partner As behavior
Partner Bs processing
Good or Bad Deed
External/Internal Temp/Stable
Partner Bs behavior
Partner As processing
14
Attributions Affect Behavior (Bradbury Fincham,
1992)

• Distress-maintaining attributions predict less
  effective conflict resolution behavior (high
  rates of hostile and rejecting behavior)
• Distress-maintaining attributions make one likely
  to
• Reciprocate partners negative behavior
• Fail to respond to partners positive behavior

15
Contextual Model of Attribution
Partner As behavior
Partner Bs processing
Partner Bs behavior
Partner As processing
16
Attachment as Context Variable

• Securely attached people more likely to make
  relationship-maintaining attributions
• Remember positive past events
• Open to new information
• Accurate judges of partners thoughts feelings
• Insecurely attached people more likely to make
  distress-maintaining attributions

17
Schemas as Context Variables

• We all have a relationship schema or set of
  beliefs and expectations about how a relationship
  should be
• Romantic beliefs predict love, but not
  relationship success (Sprecher Metts, 1989)
• Each of us has only one true love
• Dysfunctional beliefs predict dissatisfaction and
  dissolution in intimate relationships (Eidelson
  Epstein, 1981, 1982)
• Disagreements are destructive

18
Attribution in Family

• Consensual validity-unified consensus information
  (you are the only one here acting differently)
  of family members about 1 member is powerful
  influence on self-concept
• Can lead to scapegoating-one member is alienated
  and blamed for all familys problems, no one is
  there to contradict
• Can lead to gaslighting-members consistently call
  into question 1 members perception of self and
  reality

19
Self-fulfilling Prophecies

• We follow cues about how we are expected to act

20
Self-fulfilling Prophecies

• Men expected to talk to hot babe or plain
  Jane, treated women accordingly

• Low self-esteem people elicit rejection

21
Attributions become Self-fulfilling Prophecies

• In close relationships, we maintain our reps
• Unhappy relationship over time Good deeds
  decrease and bad deeds increase (She never
  notices when Im on time so why should I
  hurry?!)
• Happy relationship over time Good deeds
  increase and bad deeds decrease (He thinks Im a
  great cook so Ill make my special lasagna
  tonight!)

22
How Accurately Do We Know Our Partners?

• We overestimate how similar we are to our
  partners
• Especially anxiously attached
• We overestimate how well our partners understand
  us and agree with us
• Perceived similarity associated with relationship
  satisfaction

23
What Factors Affect Accuracy?

• Type of relationship
• Living together leads to greater accuracy than
  length of acquaintance
• Married people are more accurate than daters and
  friends
• Newlyweds more accurately infer partners
  thoughts than oldyweds

24
What Factors Affect Accuracy?

• Perceiver traits
• Intelligence and open-mindedness predict accuracy
• Secure attachment predicts accuracy

25
Positive Illusions in Intimate Relationships

• We judge partners in idealized way
• We emphasize positive traits
• If we are aware of faults, we perceive them as
  less important than others do
• Relationships with positive illusions associated
  with greater satisfaction, love, and trust

26
Why are we the most knowledgeable but least
objective

• Ideals become mixed up with reality
• Illusions make us feel better about ourselves
• Illusions maintain commitment