Social Cognition
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Jim Mora Playoffs
After a loss, head coach Jim Mora was asked to comment during the customary post-game press conference. Coach Mora attributed the Colts loss to turnovers, interceptions and giving up field position. Were Coach Moras remarks internal attributions or external attributions? What type of attribution would he have made if he blamed the referees for the Colts losing effort?
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Fundamental Attribution Error
This video explains the concept of the fundamental attribution error. What example does the instructor offer to explain fundamental attribution error? How likely are people in more individualistic cultures or societies to commit such an error, versus people in more collectivist cultures?
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Women, Math, and Stereotype Threat
This video explores the idea that once a group of people expect a certain outcome, that outcome will occur. In this case, women were told that they do not perform as well as men on math tests, and then were given a test to take, and did poorly. What reasons do the researchers give for these results?
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Priming, Money, and the Effect on Us
In this clip, the BBCs Bang Goes the Theory Team conducts an experiment to see how priming works. They conduct an experiment with Dr. Peter Naish; two groups were asked to count. One group counts slips of paper and the other counts bank notes. Then, each group is given a bowl of candy. The group that counted slips of paper…
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Heuristic Childcare
In this animation project, a mother leaves her son at home under the care of a robot who keeps heuristics in mind while he watches him. The robot deems certain activities and objects too dangerous for the child according to those heuristics. Define heuristics. What uncertain events did the robot keep the child from falling victim to? What event was…
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Availability Heuristic
In this clip about estimating risk (the availability heuristic) ABC News describes how road rage is running rampant. Bob Lichter explains that the media over-dramatizes reckless driving. According to an AAA study, road rage is up 51%; however, these reports were based on media reports. The AAA representative explains that we are more likely to pay attention to salacious reports.…
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Responsibility of Strangers
In this ABC news clip editors from What Would You Do? conduct a social experiment about the attribution theory. In the first part of the experiment Havala, an actor, sits on the beach, sets up an iPod radio, and then leaves. While she is away, a man (part of the experiment) comes by and steals her iPod radio. Neighboring people…
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