Tuesday, April 22, 2008

4

The three dimensions of casualties are Internal/ external, stable/ unstable, and controllable/ uncontrollable. The first dimension, internal/ external causes includes all causes internal to that person such as beliefs and personality traits. Where as external causes include things such as social pressure and other aspects of the social situations. The next dimension is the stable/ unstable cause and is both internal and external. They are more so about how you perceive a person actions if it is constantly recurring then it is a stable cause. Although if it seems to alter somewhat it is unstable. The last dimension of casualties is the controllable/ uncontrollable cause in which a person is perceived as one or the other. This can co-exist with any combination of the other dimensions. (1)The fundamental attribution error is the tendency for observers to overestimate the importance of traits and underestimate the importance of situations where they seek explanations of someone's behavior (1). The fundamental attribution error is simply saying that people tend to explain peoples reactions to their personalities rather than according to the situation. This has happened to me before, I was in a tough situation with my boyfriend recently and my friend thought that it was just my personality and really it was all about the situation. In fact I hardly doubt that in a normal circumstance that I would have acted the way I did. Although she still believes that my problems with my boyfriend and I were because of my personality, not the current situation. She even went as far as trying to get me to break up with him. I was appalled because this was none of her business in the first place and she was making a huge fundamental attribution error. This in turn affected my attitude towards her until she realized how wrong she truly was. We were both bitter at each other for awhile, but she realized she was underestimating the whole situation. Cognition, for the purpose of cognitive dissonance, may be thought of as a piece of knowledge. The knowledge may be about an attitude, an emotion, a behavior, or a value (2). A person who has dissonant cognitions is said to be in a state of psychological dissonance, which is known as unpleasant psychological tension (2). This state of tension internal drive like properties that are much like that of hunger and thirst (2). When a person has been deprived of food, they experiences unpleasant tension and is driven to reduce the unpleasant tension that results (2). Although reducing the psychological sate of dissonance is not as simple as eating or drinking (2). Another theory is self perception this theory is about the behaviors between individuals that stresses their references about their attitudes into perceiving their behavior (3). I have experiences cognitive dissonance in my life, all it seems to be is discomfort in your mind. Not like a headache but more so like an unpleasant situation that you can not get out of your head and everyone has experienced this before. I am currently experiencing this with my parents. We just do not agree on my new living arrangements, here. They were honestly hoping that I would hate it here and want to go home, but the truth is I couldn't be happier than I am here. I could use this new information in the situation with my parents by explaining to them how people's attitudes change, and this could also be very helpful in the workplace by understanding that the grumpy old man that comes into your store everyday may just be grumpy because of outside situations. Who knows he could be sweet guy, I need to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes. Works cited:1) Textbook2) http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/stephens/cdback.html3) http://www.sexualityandu.ca/professionals/older-women-8.aspxWords: 629

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