attribution theory
The study of how we infer the causes of behaviors of others
internal attribution
believing that someone is acting a certain way due to something about themselves
- can be positive or negative
external attribution
believing that someone is acting a certain way because of the situation they are in
- can be positive or negative
covariation model
assumes that people make causal attributions in a rational and logical way
consensus information
how other people behave toward the same situation
“do other people act like this?”
high = most people act like this
low = not many people act like this
distinctiveness information
how other people respond to other stimuli
high = they don’t behave this way in other situations
low = they do behave this way in other situations
consistency information
The frequency in which observed behavior between the same person and the same stimulus occurs across time and circumstances
- difficult to make an attribution when this is low
“does this person always act this way?”
high = they frequently behave this way
low = they don’t frequently behave this way
low consensus + low distinctiveness + high consistency = ____ attribution
internal
high consensus + high distinctiveness + high consistency = ___ attribution
external
low/high consensus + low/high distinctiveness + low consistency = ____ attribution
no attribution
perceptual salience
the importance of the information that is the focus of peoples’ attention
- can influence FAE
two-step attribution process
1) make internal attribution
2) adjust by considering external factors
self-serving attributions
tendency to take credit for successes by making internal attributions, but blame the situation or other people for their failures
- keeps self-esteem up
bias blind spot
tendency to think that others are more susceptible to attributional biases
- not good at spotting these in ourselves
just-world phenomenon
people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
jones & harris study (1967)
IV: chosen position (pro or con castro)
DV: estimate of writers true attitude
- example of FAE
participants were asked to read an essay and some people knew the writer’s true opinion on castro and some did not, then they were asked to rate the writer’s opinion
RESULT: more people thought the essay had pro-castro backings
cultural differences in FAE
western cultures think more like personality psychologists (look at dispotional terms of behavior)
eastern cultures think more like social psychologists by thinking about the situational causes of behavior
cultural differences in self-serving bias
strongest in US, canada, australia,
lowest in japan, india, pacific islands
- due to individualistic vs collectivistic cultures
FAE
overestimate the internal factors and do not take into account external factors in terms of behavior as much
- more likely to occur in western cultures if someone is in cognitive overload because it lightens it and makes it easier to draw conclusions
