Chapter 3 covers how we process information (automatic versus controlled thinking), the mental shortcuts (heuristics) we rely on, the biases that distort our judgement (confirmation bias, belief perseverance), and attribution theory, which explains how we account for other people's behaviour. Chapter 4 explores attitudes: what they are, how they are measured, when they predict behaviour, and the major theories that explain attitude change, including cognitive dissonance, self-perception theory, and the overjustification effect.
Difficulty: Introductory to Intermediate. Prerequisites: Chapters 1–2 notes (research methods vocabulary, self-serving bias).
Chapters 3 and 4 move from "How do I see myself?" (Chapter 2) to "How do I see the world, and how does the world shape what I believe?" Chapter 3 introduces dual-process thinking (System 1 vs System 2), the heuristics that make fast judgement possible, and attribution theory, which is central to almost every later topic in the course. Chapter 4 connects beliefs to action: what attitudes are, how they form, and why behaviour sometimes changes attitudes rather than the other way round. If you missed these chapters, later material on persuasion, conformity, and prejudice will be harder to follow.
Automatic processing (System 1)
Implicit, effortless thinking based on intuition. It operates quickly and outside conscious awareness.
Controlled processing (System 2)
Deliberate, conscious thinking. It is slower, effortful, and rule-based.
Confirmation bias
The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms pre-existing beliefs. This is a System 1 judgement.
Belief perseverance
The persistence of initial beliefs even after the evidence supporting them has been discredited. Once a belief takes root, it is surprisingly hard to demolish.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A belief that leads to its own fulfilment. For example, a teacher who believes a student is capable gives that student more attention, and the student performs better, confirming the teacher's original belief.
Heuristic
A thinking strategy (mental shortcut) that enables quick, efficient judgement, sometimes at the cost of accuracy.
Representativeness heuristic
Judging the likelihood that something belongs to a particular category based on how closely it resembles a typical member of that category.
Availability heuristic
Judging the likelihood or importance of an event based on how easily examples come to mind. After seeing news about an aeroplane crash, for instance, people tend to overestimate the danger of flying.
Attribution theory
The study of how people explain others' behaviour.
Dispositional attribution
Attributing behaviour to internal characteristics such as personality, beliefs, or traits.
Situational attribution
Attributing behaviour to external or environmental factors.
Misattribution
Mistakenly attributing behaviour to the wrong source.
Fundamental attribution error (FAE)
The tendency to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences when explaining other people's behaviour.
In simple terms, we assume people do things because of who they are, when the situation may be the real driver.
System 1 (automatic) is fast, intuitive, and runs in the background. System 2 (controlled) is slow, deliberate, and requires effort. Most of our daily judgements rely on System 1, which is efficient but prone to bias.
Confirmation bias drives us to seek out evidence that fits what we already believe. Because it operates at the System 1 level, we often do not notice it happening.
Belief perseverance means that once we have formed a belief, contradictory evidence does surprisingly little to dislodge it.
Self-fulfilling prophecy closes the loop: our beliefs shape our behaviour, which shapes other people's behaviour, which confirms our beliefs.
Heuristics are mental shortcuts that trade accuracy for speed.
The representativeness heuristic leads us to categorise things based on resemblance to a prototype. This is useful most of the time, but it can cause us to ignore base rates (how common something actually is).
The availability heuristic leads us to judge frequency or probability by how easily examples come to mind. Vivid, recent, or emotional events feel more likely than they are.
Attribution theory asks: why did that person behave that way?
A dispositional attribution points to the person's character ("She is generous").
A situational attribution points to circumstances ("She tipped well because the service was excellent").
The fundamental attribution error is our default tendency to favour dispositional explanations for other people's behaviour, even when the situation is a better explanation.
This error is stronger in individualist cultures and weaker in collectivist ones.
Attitude
A favourable or unfavourable evaluative reaction toward something or someone, expressed through beliefs, feelings, or intended behaviour.
Components of attitude: affective, cognitive, behavioural
Affective = feelings. Cognitive = thoughts and beliefs. Behavioural = actions and intentions.
Explicit attitudes
Attitudes you are aware of and can report. Measured with tools like the Likert scale or behavioural observation. Linked to System 2.
Implicit attitudes
Attitudes you hold without conscious awareness. Measured through eye-tracking, response time, language use, or physiological indicators (sweating, fMRI). Linked to System 1.
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
A computer assessment that uses reaction time to measure how quickly people associate concepts. Research with the IAT shows that implicit biases are pervasive and vary across individuals.
Impression management
Adjusting what we say or do based on what others will think of us. Part of self-presentation theory.
Cognitive dissonance
The uncomfortable tension that arises when behaviour and attitudes conflict, or when a person holds two inconsistent cognitions. People reduce dissonance by adjusting their beliefs to match their behaviour.
Insufficient justification
When external rewards for a behaviour are small, people experience more dissonance and are more likely to change their attitude to match the behaviour.
Sufficient justification
When external rewards are large enough to explain the behaviour, dissonance is low and attitudes remain unchanged.
Self-perception theory
When attitudes are weak or ambiguous, we infer them by observing our own behaviour, much as we would observe someone else.
In simple terms, "I must like it, because I keep doing it."
Overjustification effect
When an external reward is given for an activity, people infer that their motivation is external rather than intrinsic, and their genuine interest in the task decreases.
Specific attitudes predict specific behaviours better than general ones. For example, your attitude toward jogging predicts whether you jog more reliably than your attitude toward "health and fitness" in general. Strong, consciously considered attitudes are also better predictors than weak or unexamined ones.
People adjust what they say and do to manage others' impressions. This means self-reported attitudes can be distorted by social desirability. Researchers address this by measuring implicit attitudes alongside explicit ones.
Leon Festinger's theory holds that when behaviour contradicts attitudes, the resulting discomfort (dissonance) motivates attitude change.
The Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) experiment:
Participants performed a boring task, then were paid either $1 or $20 to tell the next participant it was fun.
Those paid $1 (insufficient justification) experienced more dissonance and changed their attitude, rating the task as more enjoyable.
Those paid $20 (sufficient justification) had an external reason for lying and did not change their attitude.
The key insight: the less external justification you have for a behaviour, the more you shift your internal attitude to match.
Daryl Bem proposed that when we have no strong prior attitude, we infer our attitudes from our behaviour. If you notice yourself volunteering every weekend, you conclude you must care about community service.
Self-perception theory and cognitive dissonance theory make similar predictions, but self-perception theory applies better when attitudes are weak or newly formed, while cognitive dissonance theory applies when behaviour clearly contradicts a strong existing attitude.
Adding an external reward to an activity people already enjoy can undermine intrinsic motivation.
Lepper (1982) study:
Preschoolers were given two drawing tasks (A and B).
In the control condition, children could do Task A and then Task B.
In the experimental condition, children were told they could do Task B only if they did Task A first, making Task A a requirement.
When later given free choice, children in the experimental condition spent less time on Task A than controls.
The takeaway: turning a voluntary activity into a prerequisite or tying it to a reward reframes it as work, reducing the person's intrinsic interest.
Students often believe the fundamental attribution error means we always make dispositional attributions. We do not. The FAE describes a tendency, especially for other people's behaviour; we are much more willing to invoke situational explanations for our own actions (the actor-observer asymmetry).
Students frequently confuse cognitive dissonance with self-perception theory. The two make overlapping predictions, but they apply in different situations: dissonance when a strong attitude is violated, self-perception when no strong attitude exists yet.
Students sometimes think the overjustification effect means all rewards are bad. It applies specifically when an external reward is added to something a person already finds intrinsically motivating. Rewards for activities people would not otherwise do are a different matter.
Students mix up the representativeness heuristic and the availability heuristic. Representativeness is about resemblance to a category prototype; availability is about how easily examples come to mind.
The Festinger and Carlsmith study ($1 vs $20) is one of the most-tested experiments in social psychology courses. Know the procedure, the results, and why insufficient justification produces more attitude change.
Be ready to identify which heuristic is at work in a scenario question.
The fundamental attribution error is a favourite exam topic. Expect questions that present a behaviour and ask whether the explanation offered is dispositional or situational.
Self-perception theory versus cognitive dissonance theory: know the conditions under which each applies.
Lepper's overjustification study may appear as a scenario where you must explain why rewarding an enjoyable activity backfired.
True or False: Confirmation bias is a System 2 judgement. (False. It is System 1.)
Fill in the blank: The ___ heuristic causes us to overestimate the probability of events that are easy to recall. (Availability)
True or False: In the Festinger and Carlsmith experiment, participants paid $20 showed more attitude change than those paid $1. (False. Those paid $1 showed more attitude change because of insufficient justification.)
Fill in the blank: According to self-perception theory, when attitudes are ___ , we infer them from observing our own behaviour. (weak or ambiguous)
True or False: The fundamental attribution error applies mainly to how we explain our own behaviour. (False. It applies mainly to how we explain other people's behaviour.)
Q: A friend says, "That driver cut me off because he's a reckless person." What error is your friend likely making, and what alternative explanation might apply?
A: The fundamental attribution error. The friend is attributing the behaviour to the driver's personality (dispositional) when a situational factor (running late, medical emergency, road confusion) could explain it.
Q: You notice that you always choose the vegetarian option at lunch. According to self-perception theory, what might you conclude about your attitudes?
A: You might infer that you care about vegetarianism or prefer vegetables, even if you had no strong prior attitude. Self-perception theory says we read our own behaviour the way we would read someone else's.
Q: In Festinger and Carlsmith's study, why did the $1 group rate the boring task as more enjoyable?
A: $1 was insufficient justification for lying. With no good external reason, participants experienced dissonance between their behaviour (saying it was fun) and their true attitude (it was boring), so they adjusted their attitude to reduce the dissonance.
Q: A child loves painting. Her parents start paying her $5 for every painting. Over time, she paints less often when no payment is offered. Which concept explains this?
A: The overjustification effect. The external reward led the child to attribute her painting to the payment rather than to intrinsic enjoyment, reducing her motivation when the reward was removed.
Q: After watching several news reports about shark attacks, you refuse to swim in the ocean. Which heuristic is at work?
A: The availability heuristic. The vivid, easily recalled news coverage makes shark attacks feel more probable than they actually are.
Attribution theory from Chapter 3 connects directly to Chapter 6 (Conformity and Obedience). The fundamental attribution error helps explain why people underestimate the situational pressure in Milgram's obedience study: observers assume participants obeyed because of personal weakness, not because of the powerful situation.
Cognitive dissonance from Chapter 4 connects to Chapter 7 (Persuasion). Attitude inoculation works partly because exposing people to weak counterarguments creates mild dissonance that they learn to resolve, building resistance to stronger persuasion later.
The distinction between explicit and implicit attitudes in Chapter 4 builds on the IAT introduced in Chapter 2 (self-esteem measurement) and recurs whenever the course discusses prejudice and stereotyping.
automatic processing, controlled processing, System 1, System 2, dual-process theory, confirmation bias, belief perseverance, self-fulfilling prophecy, heuristic, mental shortcut, representativeness heuristic, availability heuristic, attribution theory, dispositional attribution, situational attribution, misattribution, fundamental attribution error, FAE, correspondence bias, attitude, affective, cognitive, behavioural, explicit attitude, implicit attitude, Likert scale, IAT, Implicit Association Test, impression management, self-presentation, cognitive dissonance, Festinger and Carlsmith, insufficient justification, sufficient justification, self-perception theory, Daryl Bem, overjustification effect, Lepper 1982, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, NYU social psych midterm 1