Transcript Causal Attributions Stable Unstable Internal External Ability, Intelligence, Personality Traits Task difficulty Effort, Mood Luck, Transitory weather conditions Also, there are 2 other dimensions: Global versus Specific.

Causal Attributions
Stable
Unstable
Internal
External
Ability, Intelligence,
Personality Traits
Task difficulty
Effort, Mood
Luck, Transitory
weather conditions
Also, there are 2 other dimensions: Global versus Specific
Kelly’s Cube Model of Attribution
The behavior to be
explained: Seymore makes
a pass at Lolita
(Consistency)
In a classroom
At a party
At work
(Distinctiveness)
Sister Mary Teresa
Lolita
At a bar
Marcie
Susie
Seymore Tom Dick Harry (Consensus)
Kelly’s Cube Model of Attribution (cont.)
Typically, we do not have complete information about people on all
three of Kelly’s dimensions. Also, research has shown that the
dimension of “consistency” is used quite a bit, whereas “consensus” is
not used frequently.
Sue receive an A on the final paper for Professor Adams. Half the
class got A’s on this paper, and the other half got B’s. This is the 1st
time that Sue has received an A on a paper; in her other courses she
has obtained B’s on her papers. On the last paper for this class, Sue
also received an A. Why did Sue get an A?
She is an excellent writer
Consistency:
High or Low
Her teacher is an easy grader
Consensus:
High or Low
This paper was especially good
Distinctiveness: High or Low
Joan received an A on her final paper for Professor Downs. No one
else in the class received an A. Joan gets A’s on almost all of her
papers she writes in other classes. On the last paper for this class,
Joan also received an A. Why did Joan get an A?
She is an excellent writer
Consistency:
High or Low
Her teacher is an easy grader
Consensus:
High or Low
This paper was especially good
Distinctiveness: High or Low
Actor-Observer Effect (Difference)
The actor/observer effect: The tendency to see
other people’s behavior as dispositionally caused
(e.g., ability, personality), while focusing more on
the role of situational factors (e.g., task difficulty,
bad luck) when explaining one’s own behavior.
Reasons for the Actor-Observer Difference
•
Perceptual salience: Actors notice the situations around them that
influence them to act, while observers notice the actors
Observer’s focus is
on the actor
Actor’s focus is on the task (the basket)
Information access: Actors have more information about themselves
than do observers (e.g., how consistent present behavior is to past
behavior) Actor: “That’s the first free throw I’ve missed in 4 games”
•
Motivational bias: Explanations for one’s successes that credit
internal, dispositional factors, as opposed to failures, which are
explained by external, situational factors (e.g., bad luck)
[Self-esteem maintenance; self-presentation reasons]
Quiz Show Game Study (Power of social roles)
Questioner (writes a set of 10 reasonably difficult questions
Contestant (has to answer the questions by the questioner)
Told that this
assignment
was random; it
wasn’t
Observers
Ratings of others on a general knowledge rest
• Questioner perceived as more knowledgeable by contestants and
observers
GPA and External Attributions for Failure
Training session
to address issues
facing new student,
How to cope with
Problems, Where to go
for help, etc.
Giving students realistic
reasons for possible poor
1st year performance
(e.g., new setting,
more adjustments, harder
classes)
• Higher GPA
• Less absenteeism
• Lower dropout rate
• Greater satisfaction with school
Attributions in the Sports Pages
Overview
• Success is attributed to internal factors (Self-Enhancement Strategy )
• Failure is attributed to external factors (Self-Protective Device)
• Prevalence of internal outcomes for both success and failure (especially
unstable ones)
• Unexpected outcomes lead to a greater number of attributions
(e.g., need for greater attributional searching for possible explanations)
Attribution Examples in Sports
Self-Attributions
Internal & Unstable (most common)
• "I could not be as aggressive as I wanted to be and kind of flinched a couple of
times" -- Golfer Ernie Els on a wrist injury and his 77 final round score
"For this fight I had to lose a lot of weight. I wasn't that strong … “
--- Boxer Floyd "Pretty Boy" Mayweather on beating Jr. Jesus Chavez
• “It was one of those nights. I felt like I couldn’t miss” – Michael Jordan
Self-Handicapping Behavior
Early assumptions:
A) People wish to have accurate information/feedback regarding their
abilities
B) Role of achievement motivation (high versus low)
Definition of self-handicapping strategies; behavior that:
A) Enhance external attributions for failure
B) Allows internal attributions for success
(e.g., Kelly’s augmentation principle)
Self-Handicapping Behavior (cont.)
"Cause" of self-handicapping
A) Non-contingent reinforcement history, especially
for success (e.g., Success not due to one’s ability or effort)
B) Perception that successful performance cannot likely be repeated
The belief that one deserves or has partially earned their success (e.g., due
to themselves) has to exist
Self-Handicapping Behavior (cont.)
Insolvable Task-2
(stakes raised)
Insolvable Task
“Success”
Private
Public
Drug Choice
Ability attributions
Males
Females
Males attributed
their “success” to
ability more than
females
Enhancing
drug
Impairing
drug
Males much more
likely to choose
impairing drug –
even when only
they were told of
their initial success
(private condition)
Misattribution and Speech Anxiety
Placebo usage ---
a) Cause of one’s arousal is not obvious
b) Misattribution source is salient (obvious, easily observable)
c) Misattribution source is perceived as plausible
Giving a speech (anxiety
arousing event)
Subliminal noise to
increase anxiety
Less mistakes
made during
speech
Subliminal noise to
decrease anxiety
Accurate information; e.g.,
it’s common to be anxious
• Anxiety is partially explained by the noise as well as the person
Intrinsic Motivation
Overall Motivation = Internal + External Rewards
Individuals who
intrinsically
enjoy their work
Why?
Increase extrinsic
(external) rewards
(e.g., pay)
Intrinsic
Motivation
Extrinsic
Motivation
Can lead to
lowered
intrinsic
motivation
• Extrinsic (external) factors now
partially account for why
individuals are motivated to
perform a given task
• External rewards limit people’s
sense of self-determination
Tangible extrinsic rewards reliably undermine intrinsic motivation under most circumstances.
The most detrimental reward contingency involves giving rewards as a direct function of people's
performance. This is the one most often used in life, and it seems to be the one that is most
detrimental to the motivation, performance, and well-being.
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/cont_reward.html
Seligman’s Suggestions
A) Allow external attributions for failure (when reasonable)
B) Develop strategies for improvement after failure
C) Failure is not “the end of the world” (learning experience, feedback)
D) Allow development of personal control in early years of life
The six major (universal) emotional expressions
• Anger
• Fear
•Happiness
• Sadness
• Surprise
• Disgust
What two emotions are hard to distinguish?
Non-Verbal Communication
1) Emblems: Gestures that have specific
meanings within a given culture (e.g., “OK” sign)
2) Illustrators: Gestures that emphasize a point
3) Affect displays: Basic emotional expressions (e.g., sad, happy)
4) Regulators: Gestures that help to foster communication (e.g., opening
mouth to indicate one wants to speak, nodding head in agreement, raising
eyebrows to indicate interest)
5) Adaptors: Nonverbal behavior (often habitual) that occur under stressful
situations (e.g., twirling hair, tapping fingers)
Non-Verbal Communication (cont.)
Eye contact:
Length of gaze (too little, just right, too much)
Personal space:
• Relationship to the other person
• Cultural differences
• Status differences (high status = more personal space)
Touching:
• Cultural differences
• Gender Differences
• Status differences