Infographic 15.1: Errors in Attribution

There are four sections, each illustrating an example of one of the four most common errors in attribution. Text under the title “Errors in Attribution” reads “Attributions are beliefs we develop to explain human behaviors and characteristics, as well as situations. We can explain behaviors in many ways, but social psychologists often compare explanations based on traits or personality characteristics (dispositional attributions) to explanations based on external situations (situational attributions). But as we seek to explain events and behaviors, we tend to make predictable errors, making the wrong assumption about why someone is behaving in a certain way. Let’s look at four of the most common types of errors in attribution.” The first section is titled “Fundamental attribution error”. Text under the title reads “Observer tends to think actor’s behavior is caused by internal characteristics, ignoring the role of the situation.” An illustration under the text shows an observer watching an actor, pretending to be a waiter who spills a tray of wine. The Observer thinks “That waiter is so clumsy!” Text attached to the observer’s thought bubble reads “Observer ignores external circumstances, such as a slippery floor. The second section is titled “Just-world hypothesis.” Text under the title reads “Observer tends to think people get what they deserve.” An illustration under the text shows an observer, watching the actor who is playing a waiter told by another actor “You’re fired!” The observer thinks “He must be a really lousy waiter to get fired. “ Text attached to this thought reads ‘Observer ignores other reasons, such as that the manager would rather hire a friend instead.” The third section is titled “self-serving bias”. Text under the title reads “We tend to attribute our success to internal characteristics and our failures to external situation. There are two illustrations under this text. The first shows a jar full of tips and a waiter saying “Success! I got a lot of tips tonight.” The waiter thinks “I’m an excellent waiter so I earn good tips.” In the second illustration, there is a jar with no tips. The waiter says “Failure! I hardly earned any tips.” The waiter thinks “Diners were really stingy tonight, so I wasn’t tipped well.” The fourth section is titled “False consensus effect.” Text under the title reads “Observer tends to assume the actor is behaving similarly to how she would act in that situation.” An illustration below the text shows an observer watching an actor who is pretending to be a waiter that has just dropped a tray of wine. The observer thinks “Oh no, he’s going to start crying! I cry when I’m embarrassed.” Text attached to the observer’s thought bubble reads “Observer ignores the fact that the actor may not react similarly; he could instead laugh nervously, swear angrily, or remain calm as he cleans up the mess.”