Attribution Biases

PPTs 8-9

what is fundamental attribution error?

the tendency to make internal attributions for the behaviour of others without attaching appropriate weight to external factors

describe the 1967 study of Jones & Harris

students read speeches about fidel castro by other students, who were given the stance to take before they started writing. the judging students were asked to infer the writers’ attitudes towards castro, and their inferred attitudes were widely different from the truth.

what are the four explanations for fundamental attribution error?

• FOCUS OF ATTENTION: the person performing behaviour attracts more attention than the situation does, meaning the internal is over-represented in attributions. drawing focus to the environment reverses this effect

• DIFFERENTIAL FORGETTING: over time people tend to forget some causes of behaviour more readily than others

• CULTURAL & DEVELOPMENTAL FACTORS: stereotypes may influence attributional bias, as well as cultural norms

• LINGUISTIC FACTORS: people tend to overemphasise internal and underestimate situational factors when verbally explaining another’s behaviour

what is actor-observer effect?

the tendency to make internal attributions for the behaviour of others and external attributions for our own behaviour

what are two explanations for the actor-observer effect?

• INFORMATIONAL DIFFERENCES: actors generally have knowledge of their own behaviour in every other context, whereas observer only has information on the actor’s behaviour in one/a limited range of contexts

• PERCEPTUAL SALIENCE: actors and observers have different perceptual perspectives: for the observer, the focus is on the actor, and for the actor the focus is on the situation as the self is not observable

what is the false consensus effect?

the underuse of consensus information within attribution formation due to the assumption that the behaviour of the self is the typical standard

what are self serving biases?

attributional distortions that enhance or protect self-esteem/self-concept

how are self-serving biases typically formed?

internal attributions are generally made for success/positive behaviour, while external attributions are made for failures/negative behaviour

how does self esteem impact self-serving biases?

people with high self-esteem tend to form self-protective biases, whereas those with low self-esteem tend not to

what are self-presentational biases?

tendencies to present the self in a way which is favourable to both the self and others, which often weaken self-serving biases

what are self-handicapping biases?

biases which, in the anticipation of failure, involve external attributions being made before failure has even taken place in order to self-protect if failure occurs, and self-enhance in the case of success