Author Question: Compare the importance that behaviorist and Gestalt approaches attach to such mentalistic concepts ... (Read 71 times)

james0929 · **on:** Jun 22, 2018

Compare the importance that behaviorist and Gestalt approaches attach to such mentalistic concepts as thoughts and feelings. To which of these schools of thought is contemporary social psychology more closely related and why?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Define the term fundamental attribution error, and provide an example of this phenomenon that might occur in daily life.

What will be an ideal response?

flexer1n1 · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: Behaviorists have historically believed that to understand human behavior, there is no need to consider such subjective internal states as thinking or feeling; instead, they have focused on characteristics of the external environment (e.g., punishment and reinforcement). In contrast, Gestalt psychologists assert that it is not enough to understand the objective characteristics of the situation; one must understand how people perceive and interpret the situation. Given social psychology's focus on social cognition and subjective construals, it shares more in common with Gestalt psychology. Social psychologists often view behaviorist concepts as simplistic.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: The fundamental attribution error is defined as the tendency to overestimate the extent to which people's behavior is due to internal dispositional factors, and to underestimate the role of situational factors. One example of this is when you see someone trip and fall, you might assume that person is clumsy and may not take into account that it is icy outside.