Situational Factors Like Getting Reflective Journ
Day 1: Attributions Based on One’s Name – Do we form impressions of people based on their names? Provide a few examples. Does one’s name imply a certain set of attributes that they must possess?
Day 2: Reflect on the fact that people often make judgments about us based on our external appearance. In fact, many studies have shown that people are hired or paid based on one’s perception of their looks. As a result, in our youth-oriented culture, do you feel that it is appropriate or acceptable for one to utilize plastic surgery as self-enhancement tool to look younger or alter their facial or body features to fit those that are considered beautiful to society as a whole?
Day 3, 4 and 5: After the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, many people were left wondering “Why did this happen”. Explain the rationale for the events of September 11th based on the following social psychological theories:
Day 3 – (1) Fundamental Attribution Error: This occurs when we overestimate how much another person’s behavior can be explained by dispositional factors. It reflects failing to adequately consider the role of some situational factors that may affect a person’s behavior. As an example, let’s say you are in class and observe a student in the class that has been very quiet during the entire term. This classmate does not even talk during the class discussions. You conclude that the student is a very quiet and shy person. But, it is possible that you may wrongly assume that this quiet behavior reflects his or her personality, and you may fail to adequately consider some situational factors that could explain your classmate’s behavior. What if they’re bored? Or, just doesn’t feel like talking?
Day 4 – (2) Actor-Observer Effect: This is an effect in which people view their own actions as caused by the situational context, while others’ actions are seen as caused by personality or stable dispositions. Simply put, we judge others based on what we see, but ourselves based on what we think and feel. As an example, consider your reaction to a date who is late to a movie. We immediately think that this lateness is, undoubtedly, caused by the individual. We may even think that this person is rude and inconsiderate. But, what happens if you, yourself are late to a movie? You wouldn’t call yourself rude and inconsiderate. You would be more than likely to attribute it to situational factors like getting stuck in traffic or being unable to find parking, etc.
Day 5 – (3) Situational Attribution: This occurs when we infer that a behavior or event is caused by some factor relative to the situation, not the individual involved. In the case of our quiet student in the example above, if he or she is quiet on the first day of class we may infer that the lecture on the first day was boring, and that’s why the student is quiet…having absolutely nothing to do with the student specifically.