ATTRIBUTION THEORY OF FRITZ HEIDER
Introduction
This article starts off by a man having his wife serve on a jury in a federal case involving conspiracy, racketeering, drug dealing, armed robbery, and extortion. There were seven defendants and one that escaped from police custody. The key government witness was an ex-gang member named Larry who was called “the Canary” by the defendants because he turned informer. For two months Jean, the wife, listened to Larry’s testimony and tried to figure out whether his account of the incident was credible or not. A question in her mind was that whether his behavior on the stand was that of pathological liar, a rejected pal seeking revenge, a petty crook who would say anything to save his own skin, or and honest witness dedicated to the truth?
All this falls into Fritz Heider’s attribution theory saying that we all tend to rationalize in the same way. Fritz said that the theory of attribution is the process of drawing inferences. This would be seeing a person act and immediately reaching a conclusion that goes beyond mere sensory information. Example: Larry yawns while on the stand. Your immediate conclusive reaction would be “is he bored, afraid, tired, or indifferent”. In the article it says that Heider would see us as naïve psychologist bringing common sense to bear on an interpersonal judgment. It also says that we can’t help it to make these judgments. This is because we make personality judgments in order to explain otherwise confusing behavior.
Heider says that there’s another reason for making causal inferences from behavior. The reason is because we want to know what to expect in the future. He says prediction is a survival skill. Example: Jean comes face-to-face with one of the defendants, in her jury trail, outside a train station. Mildly anxious, she quickly turned aside. Accurate attributions can help us know which people might do us harm.
The article also talks about attribution as being a three-step process through which we perceive others as causal agents. The three-step process talked about includes perception of the action (You saw it), judgment of intention (You/they meant to do that), and attribution of disposition (What you think of the action).
Analysis
To begin, in the case with Jean trying to figure out whether Larry’s story was credible and how to categorize his behavior. In my opinion I would think him turning informer
Attribution theory explains people motives by giving an option of disposition or situation, of which we decipher the motive to a behavior. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to link behaviors with personal characteristics, therefore if someone is murdered a suspect could be someone who really hates them because it gives them a motive. We can characterize a dispositional situation from a situational and come to a conclusion on why someone had a such behavior, and it helps to find a motive based on that. We can infer a motive from a behavior from things like external and internal attributions, so internal traits and responses to things.
Guilty or not guilty? This the key question during the murder trial of a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father. The play 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, introduces to the audience twelve members of a jury made up of contrasting men from various backgrounds. One of the most critical elements of the play is how the personalities and experiences of these men influence their initial majority vote of guilty. Three of the most influential members include juror #3, juror #10, and juror #11. Their past experiences and personal bias determine their thoughts and opinions on the case. Therefore, how a person feels inside is reflected in his/her thoughts, opinions, and behavior.
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
While scientists pursuing the progress of science today, it would be good if they do it for the benefits of human race. However, if their desires for scientific discovery are caused by their selfish ambition, and they do not take responsibility of them if fail, their creations might become threats for human. As an example of Frankenstein, written by the English author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, tells the story of a young science Victor Frankenstein who creates a grotesque creature in a scientific experiment, and that cause the tragedy for the rest of his life and the death of many innocent people. When people read this book, many of them might see the creature as a monster as the fact that it has a horrible
Attributions – Attribution is a theory or concept that explains how a person causes their own actions or even effects others behaviors in the social world (Aronson, 2013, 84).
In prisons today, rehabilitation, deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution are all elements that provide a justice to society. Prisons effectively do their part in seeing that one if not more of these elements are met and successfully done. If it were not for these elements, than what would a prison be good for? It is highly debated upon whether or not these elements are done properly. It is a fact that these are and a fact that throughout the remainder of time these will be a successful part of prison life.
There is much research that contributes to both points of view; whether pornography contribute to sexual behavior or if it does not have any effects. My opinion on this is that pornography like any other particular phenomenon that can cause addiction, sooner or later is going to have side effects. For example, researchers that believe that pornography does not have any effect on the individual argue that the pornography user, use pornography in order to space their reality and that they will not harm some other person because they live in a virtual world, however that individual will get tired at some point of living that virtual world and pornography will not be sufficient in order to achieve the desire pleasure that the individual is seeking. As many researches have shown also a person past experience can affect their sexual behavior; if the individual grew up in an environment where women where seen as sexual objects and less than men, this mentality can create some more aggressive behaviors towards women and
Fundamental Attribution Error is one of the social psychology theories. This error explains the inappropriate judgment of other individuals (Wortman & Loftus, 1992). People would rather describe behavior of others according to their internal force without thinking about external reasons. Usually, people do not know many factors, which can affect someone and they would like to make a conclusion based on stereotypes or other experiences before. There are might be two phases of Fundamental Attribution Error. The first one is to make quick reasoning about someone’s behavior based on his or her personality. If the person sees a mistake in judgment, he or she can go the next level of analyze. The second phase is to understand deeper and more accurate the reasons for behavior of others. Because of this time taking process people do not consider the second phase as necessity.
This book explains all there is to know about the subject of forgiveness. It meticulously explains what forgiveness is, why it can be challenging, the psychological and spiritual benefits to forgiveness, how to forgive, and gives many examples of true forgiveness. The authors express in detail what true forgiveness looks like and how letting go of the pain others inflict upon you can provide a chance at renewing the relationship and healing. The book explains how unforgiveness can spin you into a traumatic cycle of hatred and bitterness and how to break the cycle, even in the most difficult of situations. McCullough, Sandage, and Worthington’s To Forgive is Human: How to Put Your Past in the Past was published in 1997 (InterVarsity Press [Downers
As the deliberation continues it becomes obvious that the members of the jury are basing their findings on their past experiences. Juror #1 Martin Balsam, #2 John Fiedler, and #9 Joseph Sweeney, do not like to deal with confrontation so these laid back slackers just go with the flow. E.G. Marshall, Juror #4 is a stock broker that only knows how to rationaliz...
Porn according to the dictionary is defined as a printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate erotic rather than an emotional feeling. A word described as so is what has lead porn to becoming a money making business, that has come to grow over the years quite a bit. An empire that many were afraid to even talk about ,but now want to be apart of. Now porn or as they would call it now as the Adult Film business is seen every where, from DVD’s to magazines and late night television shows to the internet. It can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. Adult film wasn’t something that was new to society, but yet society is acting new towards it. Many are saying that this is something that has affected their lives, or that it should not be around at all.
Day by day children are being exposed to these images intentional or unintentional but how do these images affect them. Scientists at Cambridge University conducted a researched that showed sexually explicit images affect the brain the same way as alcohol or drugs. Dr. Voon discovered that when exposed to these images the pleasure center of the brain known as the ventral striatum is activated, and stimulated the same way it will when an alcoholic sees a drink. The Ventral striatum, a subcortical structure of the brain is known for emotional and behavioral function which makes it a very important part of the brain, if compromised in any way it could lead to mental problems including obsessive compulsive disorder and depression .(Can pornography use become an actual brain addiction). This can be even more damaging to children as their brain is still developing.
Pornography is defined in the Encarta Encyclopedia as films, magazines, writing, photographs, or other materials that are sexually explicit and intended to arouse sexual excitement in their audience. Deriving from the Greek words porne ("prostitute") and graphein "(to write"), the word pornography originally referred to any work of art or literature dealing with sex and sexual themes, or meaning "depictions of the activities of whores." Pornography is one of the most controversial forms of expression.
We make inferences about the actions of people that we do not make about inanimate objects. People have beliefs, motives, or intentions. Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual's behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused. That determination depends largely on three factors:
Pornography is defined as a collection of pictures, writings, videos, or other material that is sexually explicit and sometimes associates sex with power and violence. Porn can have some negative effects on society, even though some people argue that porn is beneficial. I think that watching porn would have a negative impact on my sex life because porn can lead to high expectations, no intimacy, and addiction that leads to negative consequences.