tendency to explain our own behavior in terms of the situation while explaining other people's behavior in terms of their personality; also called actor-observer bias
attitudes
feelings that predispose us to react in a certain way to the people and events around us; often influenced by our beliefs about those people and events
attribution
the process of explaining the causes of someone’s behavior as a product of either the person’s internal disposition or the external situation
dispositional attribution
explaining someone's behavior in terms of internal personality traits
fundamental attribution error
an observer’s tendency to underestimate the impact of the situation on other people's behavior (and overestimate the role of stable personality traits)
personality
the enduring characteristics of an individual that distinguish him/her from other people
situational attribution
explaining someone's behavior in terms of the external circumstances
Making Attributions
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Learning Objectives:
Describe the process of forming attributions about people’s behavior.
Identify examples of situational and dispositional attributions.
Review
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1. Every day we try to make sense of our social world and to understand why other people act the way they do. Attribution is the process of explaining the causes of someone's behavior. We attribute that behavior either to internal causes (the person's disposition) or to external causes (the person's situation).
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2. Researchers have found an actor-observer difference in attribution: In general, we tend to attribute our own behavior to the situation (a situational attribution), but explain other people's behavior in terms of enduring personality disposition or character traits (a dispositional attribution).
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3. The fundamental attribution error occurs when we underestimate the impact of the situation on other people's behavior. We place too much emphasis on enduring dispositions as the causes of other people’s behavior, when, in fact, the person may simply be responding to the immediate demands of the situation.
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4.Attribution is important, because our judgments about the causes of people's behavior shape our attitudes toward them. If we see a person performing a hurtful or disgusting action, and assume that the small slice of behavior reveals the true nature of that individual, we may not want to help or befriend that person.
Practice 1: Exploring Attributions
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Practice 1: Exploring Attributions
Roll over each photo to see a dispositional attribution and a situational attribution.
Why do people do the things they do? When we look at other people's behavior, we instantly and unconsciously make judgments—called attributions—about those actions and those people. Depending on the circumstances, we could attribute the behavior either to the person's internal personality characteristics (a dispositional attribution) or the external situation (a situational attribution).
Why are they playing football?
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Why did the drivers crash?
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Why is she studying?
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Dispositional attribution: They love football and are having fun on the field. Situational attribution: It's just a job. They are paid a lot of money to play.
Dispositional attribution: The drivers must have been careless. Situational attribution: The weather conditions must have been hazardous.
Dispositional attribution: She is a studious person with no social life. Situational attribution: The professor has scheduled a test for tomorrow.
Practice 2: Kelley’s Model of Attribution
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Practice 2: Kelley’s Model of Attribution
Select the “Step” buttons to move through the sequence of attribution decisions.
Psychologist Harold Kelley proposed a model to explain how we make attribution decisions, using three types
of information:
consistency -- Does the person usually behave this way in this situation?
consensus -- Do others behave similarly in this situation?
distinctiveness -- Does the person behave differently in other situations?
Suppose you observe Jill coming late to history class. Why is she late? To what will you attribute her
behavior?
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Suppose you observe Jill coming late to history class. Why is she late? To what will you attribute her
behavior?
Consistency: Does Jill regularly come late to history class?
if No -- You have no basis for attributing her late arrival to either her personality or the situation. This behavior may be a fluke.
if Yes -- Go on Step 2.
Consensus: Do many other students arrive late for history class?
if Yes -- You would probably make a situational attribution, such as "That history class must be boring," and not assume that Jill's behavior is a reflection of some personality trait.
if No -- Go on Step 3.
Distinctiveness: Is Jill typically late for other appointments?
if Yes -- You would probably make a dispositional attribution about Jill's general personality traits, such as "Jill is not a reliable person. Don't count on her."
if No -- You would probably make a dispositional attribution about Jill's attitudes: "Jill doesn't like history. She'll probably major in something else."
The practice has two boxes in the middle of the screen, and a series of 5 buttons at the bottom of the screen. The 5 buttons move you through the sequence of making attribution decisions and are labeled, from left to right, as Begin, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, and End. The first box in the middle of the screen presents the text for each step, while the image on the right is of a classroom with an instructor and multiple students. When Begin is selected the box in the middle of the screen presents the following: Suppose you observe Jill coming late to history class. Why is she late? To what will you attribute her behavior? When Step 1 is selected the box in the middle of the screen presents the following: Consistency - Does Jill usually come late to history class? If No, There is no clear consistency for this behavior so it may be a fluke. We make no attribution. If Yes, Go to Step 2. When Step 2 is selected the box in the middle of the screen presents the following: Consensus - Do many other students arrive late for history class? If Yes, you would probably make a situational attribution, such as "That history class must be boring," and not assume that Jill's behavior is a reflection of some personality trait. If No Go to Step 3.
When Step 3 is selected the box in the middle of the screen presents the following: Distinctiveness - Is Jill typically late for other appointments? If Yes, You would probably make a dispositional attribution about Jill's general personality traits, such as "Jill is not a reliable person. Don't count on her." If No, you would probably make a dispositional attribution about Jill's attitudes, such as "Jill doesn't like history. She'll probably major in something else." When End is selected a flow chart appears in the middle of the screen. The flow chart begins with "Consistency: Jill does this behavior often". If no, then this leads to no basis for an attribution. If yes, then we move to "Consensus: Other people do this behavior often." If yes, then this leads to a situation that the history class is boring. If no, then we move to "Distinctiveness: Jill typically does this behavior in other situations." If yes, then this leads to personality and Jill being unreliable. If no, then this leads to personality and Jill not liking history.
Practice 3: The Fundamental Attribution Error
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Practice 3: The Fundamental Attribution Error
Select the PLAY button to view an example of the Actor-Observer difference in attribution.
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Because we know that our behavior varies from situation to situation, we tend to explain our own behavior in
terms of the external circumstances
(situational attribution).
However, when we look at other people's behavior, we typically explain their actions in terms of their internal
disposition or enduring personality traits
(dispositional attribution). This bias is
called
the actor-observer
difference.
Our tendency to underestimate the situational influences on the behavior of others is called
the fundamental
attribution error.
Quiz 1
dnd_test
Quiz 1
Drag a term for the type of attribution to the gray area in front of the appropriate scenario. When all the labels have been placed, select the CHECK ANSWER button.
Perhaps you should go back and review the two types of attributions.
Select the NEXT button and move to Quiz 2.
James kicked a dog, so he must be a mean person.
When a student asked a question, Professor Jones gave a rude, sarcastic reply. He likes to make students feel inferior.
Jiang failed her poetry class because the professor writes terrible exams.
Joshua made a lot of errors when making change for his customers today. He must be very worried about his sister's illness.
Juanita won the talent show because she practices every day.
Janel was elected to Student Congress, but only because the other candidates were jerks.
dispositional
dispositional
dispositional
situational
situational
situational
Quiz 2
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Quiz 2
Match the terms to their descriptions by dragging each colored circle to the appropriate gray circle. When all the circles have been placed, select the CHECK ANSWER button.
Perhaps you should go back and review the process of making attributions.
Select the NEXT button and move to the Conclusion.
actor-observer difference
dispositional attribution
fundamental attribution error
situational attribution
underestimating the impact of the situation on other people's behavior
explaining someone's behavior in terms of the external circumstances
explaining someone's behavior in terms of internal personality traits
explaining our own behavior in terms of the situation while explaining other people's behavior in terms of their personality
