Summary Myers Psychology Book - Chapter 13 Notes

Myers Ch 13

 Our Beliefs about Others
o Fundamental Attribution Error
 Heider
 Attribution Theory
 Attributed behavior to a person’s enduring traits (dispositional
attribution) or to the situation (situational attribution)
 Overestimate the influence of personality and underestimate the
influence of situations
 Dispositional attribution > situational attribution
 Someone may be shy in one situation and outgoing in another so
you cannot just categorize them by behavior in one situation
 Applicable to social issues
 Was violence malicious or self-defense?
o Actions and Beliefs
 2-way street
 Beliefs influence actions
 If we believe something, we act accordingly
 If we believe someone is threatening us, we act defensively
 Strong social pressures can weaken the connection between
beliefs and actions
o Do what we think others want rather than what we want
 Actions influence attitudes/beliefs
 Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
o Tendency for people who first agreed to a small request to
later comply with a larger request
o To get someone to do something big, ask them to do
something small first
 Cognitive Dissonance
o Festinger
o Theory that we act to reduce discomfort we feel when
thoughts are inconsistent
o To act against our beliefs, we change our beliefs
 Social Influence
o Mimicry
 Go with the group
 Behavior is contagious
 Mood contagion
 Copycat violence
o Conformity
 Adjusting our behavior to coincide with a group standard
 Asch’s experiment