Sociocultural cognition
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IB Syllabus Says: Describe the role of
situational and dispositional factors in
explaining behavior
Principles Demonstrated:
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Human beings are social animals and we want connectedness with, and
a sense of belonging to others
The social and cultural environment influences the individuals behavior
Humans are social animals and we construct our conceptions of the
individual and social self
Attributions………
• Imagine you are sitting in a restaurant, waiting for
your date to show up. He or she is late.
• Most people would look for explanations of why he
or she has not arrived yet….. What would these
be?......
• Make a comprehensive list of reasons why……in a
realistic way!
Attribution Theory
Attribution Theory
• Social Cognition: how we think and understand social situations
• Definition: Attribution is: “How people interpret and explain causal
relationships in the world. The process of deciding what caused
behavior.”
• Heider (1958) was one of the first people to study attribution theory.
He concluded that when people are trying to understand behavior,
they are acting like naive psychologists.
• We don’t simply passively observe our own and others actions, but
actively seek to explain them. From observing peoples actions people
make inferences about intentions and responsibility
Situational & Dispositional Factors
• People tend to make an attribution about behavior depending on
whether they are performing it themselves or observing somebody
else doing it. This is known as the actor-observer effect or The
Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
• When people discuss their own behavior they tend to attribute it to
situational factors – that is, something to do with external factors –
The social situation/ circumstances they were experiencing were
responsible, the cause seems to be due to some external influence –
i.e. environmental factors, other people, chance
• When people observe someone else's behavior, they are more likely
to attribute it to with dispositional factors – that is, something to do
with personal (internal factors) The person performing the actions
was responsible - The causes of the action are due to some aspect of
the individual - i.e. their personality, ability, mood (The Fundamental
Attribution Error (FAE)
Attributions in the restaurant…
1. Look at the list of reasons you made earlier
2. Put a “D” next to the reason if it is dispositional and put a
“S” next to the reason if it is situational
3. Which one do you have more of? Any cross cultural
differences?
4. Review: Using a real life example explain the difference
between situational and dispositional attributions
Attribution
Zimbardo’s et al. (1973) Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)
• This is a classic study which is still relevant today.
• In 2004 U.S. Military personnel committed numerous abuses against
prisoner held and the Abu Ghraib.
• How could the prison guards act in such a way even when they say
they would never do anything to harm another person.
• He argues that ‘belonging needs’ (A key principle of the LOA) of the
guards quickly turns into conformity to the ‘social norm’ of the group
they were in
• In his book The Lucifer Effect (2007) Zimbardo revisits the SPE in to
examine the power of the situation.
Attribution
Zimbardo’s et al (1973) Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)
• Zimbardo believes that most people underestimate the influence of the
situational factors on behavior.
• There is a tendency for western (individualist) (Eastern –collectivistsituational more important) societies to attribute behavior to
dispositional factors, and in everyday life it appears as if unacceptable
behavior must come from something inside the person.
• Zimbardo believes that people have a ‘good/evil’ dichotomy which
emphasizes fixed dispositional factors in explaining behavior
• Rather than viewing our personal attributes as fixed, Zimbardo believes
that it is more realistic to think of our attributes in degrees, such as the
degree of evil or honest the we show in different situations
• According to Zimbardo (2007) “people and situations are usually in a
state of dynamic tension. Although you probably think of yourself as
having a consistent personality across time and space that is likely not
be true”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsFEV35tWsg
Attribution
Zimbardo’s (1971) Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)
Activity:
• Read about the SPE and complete the key study sheet on the
topic
• Pay particular attention to the Essential Question: What does
the study tell us about the role of situational and dispositional
factors? (make reference to the results from the Comrey
Personality Scales and Mood Adjective Self-Report)
• We will then discuss this as a class
SAQ:
• (Define/Describe/Explain/Outline/State
/Analyze/ Distinguish between) the role
of situational and dispositional factors
in explaining behavior.