Ch 4 Outline
• Attributions
–
–
–
–
Types
Factors that influence
Biases
In Intimate Relationships
• Self fulfilling prophecy
• Inaccuracies and Illusions in Judgments
Regarding Partners
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
people’s behavior
Attribution
• Defined-process we use to assign causes to
behavior (ours and other’s)
• Function-We tend to explain and understand
behavior and the events that impact our lives
• Types : Internal vs External
Stable vs Temporary
Types of Attribution
Internal attributions based on
individual’s dispositions, traits, abilities,
and feelings
External attributions based on situational
variables that everyone is influenced by
Attributions: Why is My
Spouse Late?
Stable
Internal
External
“S/he is
inconsiderate”
“Her/His boss
often asks her/him
to do something at
quitting time”
Temporary
“S/he is tired”
“Car trouble”
How do we decide whether behavior
is due to internal or external causes?
• Consistency – how the person’s behavior varies
over time in same setting (Is s/he late for family
dinner often?)
• Consensus – how the person’s behavior
compares with other’s behavior in same setting
(Are others late for family dinner?)
• Distinctiveness – how the person’s behavior
varies across settings (Is s/he late often for
other activities?)
When do we spend a lot of time
thinking about attributions?
• When someone’s behavior affects us,
especially if the effect is negative (Weiner, 1985)
Biases in Attribution
• Fundamental Attribution Error – we tend to
make internal attributions for other’s 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 didn’t go off.”)
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.”)
Contextual Model of Attribution
Partner A’s
behavior
Partner A’s
processing
Partner B’s
processing
Partner B’s
behavior
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
Attribution Processing in Intimate
Relationships
(Holtzworth-Munroe & Jacobsen, 1985: Brehm & Kassin, 1990)
Contextual Model of Attribution
Partner A’s Good or Bad Deed
Partner B’s
behavior
External/Internal; Temp/Stable processing
Partner A’s
processing
Partner B’s
behavior
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 partner’s negative behavior
– Fail to respond to partner’s positive behavior
Contextual Model of Attribution
Partner A’s Bad deed
behavior Good deed
Partner A’s
processing
Partner B’s
External, temporary processing
Internal, stable
No deed
Bad deed
Partner B’s
behavior
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 partner’s thoughts &
feelings
• Insecurely attached people more likely to
make distress-maintaining attributions
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”
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 family’s problems,
no one is there to contradict
– Can lead to gaslighting-members consistently
call into question 1 member’s perception of self
and reality
Self-fulfilling
Prophecies
• We follow cues
about how we are
expected to act
Self-fulfilling Prophecies
• Men expected to talk to “hot babe” or “plain
Jane”, treated women accordingly
• Low self-esteem people elicit rejection
Attributions become Selffulfilling Prophecies
• In close relationships, we maintain our reps
– Unhappy relationship over time = Good deeds
decrease and bad deeds increase (“She never notices
when I’m on time so why should I hurry?!”)
– Happy relationship over time = Good deeds increase
and bad deeds decrease (“He thinks I’m a great cook
so I’ll make my special lasagna tonight!”)
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
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 partner’s thoughts
than “oldyweds”
What Factors Affect Accuracy?
• Perceiver traits
– Intelligence and open-mindedness predict
accuracy
– Secure attachment predicts accuracy
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
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