Question

The study of attribution is most closely associated with ____.

conformity

impression formation

persuasion

social influence

Answer 1

• The study of attribution is most closely associated with impression formation
• In social psychology, attribution is the process of inferring the causes of events or behaviors. In real life, attribution is something we all do every day, usually without any awareness of the underlying processes and biases that lead to our inferences.
• For example, over the course of a typical day, you probably make numerous attributions about your own behavior as well as that of the people around you.
• When you get a poor grade on a quiz, you might blame the teacher for not adequately explaining the material, completely dismissing the fact that you didn't study. When a classmate gets a great grade on the same quiz, you might attribute his good performance to luck, neglecting the fact that he has excellent study habits.
• It is a part of human nature that we tend to form impressions of people, things and objects. We tend to classify people as good, bad, strong, weak, helpful, unhelpful and in fact into so many other categories. Similarly, we form impressions about things and objects. An excellent example of this is what is called ‘brand loyalty’.
• Some tend to form their impression on the basis of their own experiences and others tend to accept impressions from others. For example, if I tell my close friend that a particular individual is good and competent he is most likely to accept it.
• While on the one hand all of us tend to form impressions of people and things, there are people who, by the same logic stand to gain by creating impressions in the minds of others who matter. A young man appearing for an interview tries to be at his best when facing the interview board.