Third, we need to examine whether the behavior was socially desirable or undesirable. If only one outcome resulted from the behavior, then we can determine a motive with greater confidence. If several outcomes have been produced it will be hard to discern the motive of the individual. Second, we need to consider the outcome produced by the person’s behavior. Either reporter may have been tasked with writing the article by his/her editor, meaning that the information presented was situationally driven and not necessarily reflective of the reporter’s personal beliefs (i.e., not dispositional). Likewise, if the article was critical of his performance, this does not mean that the reporter is against him. For example, President Trump was a controversial figure in the United States and the reader of an article showcasing his successes in the first two years should be careful not to assume that the reporter supports him. If the behavior was freely chosen, then we use it as evidence of the person’s underlying traits. First, we seek to understand if the person made the behavior of their own volition or if it was brought on by the situation. The correspondent inference theory (Jones & Davis, 1965) provides one way to determine if a person’s behavior is due to dispositional or situational factors and involves examining the context in which the behavior occurs. According to attribution theory, people are motivated to explain their own and other people’s behavior by attributing causes of that behavior to either something in themselves or a trait they have, called a dispositional attribution, or to something outside the person called a situational attribution. Simply, it comes down to the question of why. Have you ever wondered why the person driving down the road is swerving in and out of traffic, why your roommate does not clean up behind him or herself, why your kids choose to play video games over studying for the SAT, or why your boss seems to hate you? If so, you are trying to explain the behavior of others and is a common interest many students have in pursuing psychology as a major and career. Outline types of cognitive errors we make in relation to explaining behavior.Explain the correspondent inference theory.Describe the two types of attributions we might make.Clarify what social dilemmas are and how they are resolved.Describe factors affecting whom we are attracted to and how we select a mate.Define attitudes and clarify how they can be changed.Clarify how attribution theory explains the reason why a behavior was made. Note to WSU Students: The topic of this module overviews what you would learn in PSYCH 350: Social Psychology at Washington State University. This links to a discussion we began in Module 10 on prosocial behavior. So, my goal will be to present you with novel information as it relates to explaining why a certain behavior was displayed, attitudes and conscious efforts to change them, factors affecting who we are attracted to, and finally an incredibly novel body of information which I will spend considerable time on pertaining to social dilemmas. I say begin because topics falling under social psychology will come up in Module 15, too, and have already appeared at other places throughout this book. In Module 12 we will begin a discussion of how social factors affect our motivated behavior.
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