Hours 1 and 2 - What social factors account for how we explain and justify our actions?

Social Psychology 2

Social determinants of behaviour cont:The Stanford Prison Experiment (Philip Zimbardo)Break

Attributional biases• The fundamental attribution error• The actor-observer bias• The self-serving bias

Explaining and justifying our behaviour: • Cognitive consistency• Cognitive dissonance

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Attributional Biases

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overemphasize internal causes and personal responsibility and underemphasize externalinfluences when observing the behaviour of other people

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Cultural Differences in Attribution

Attributional Biases

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overemphasize internal causes and personal responsibility and underemphasize externalinfluences when observing the behaviour of other people

Special cases of the fundamental attribution error

• Actor-observer bias• Self-serving bias

Cognitive Consistency• The match between one’s attitudes and behaviours

Explaining and justifying our behaviour when it goes against our belief system

Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger)• The mismatch between ones attitudes and behaviours

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Ratingof task

How willing am I to do the task again?

How enjoyable is the task?

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Payment for “selling” the task to others

Cognitive dissonance: Festinger’s “boring task” experiment

Cognitive dissonance happens when:

•One freely chooses the behaviour•You have firmly committed to that particular behaviour•Your behaviour has consequences for other people