Attribution Flashcards
Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
Tendency for people to make dispositional attributions about a person’s behaviour despite clear external or environmental factors.
Limited by unclear factors at times.
Attribution Definition
The way we explain people and the world. How we form cause and effect relationships. Links to first impressions as we attribute reasons for why they act a certain way.
Why does FAE occur?
Focus of attention: overlooking the factors as behaviour attracts more attention.
Differential forgetting: forgetting situational causes more than dispositional causes.
Cultural and developmental factors: normative way of thinking leads to FAE
Linguistic factors: language constructed in a way so it is easy to describe actions in same terms but not situation
Self Serving Bias
Things go well - attribute to themselves and take credit.
Things do not go well - attribute to external factors.
Example is football team winning losing. ‘Team’ mentioned more frequently when losing as attributing failure to whole team.
Optimism Bias
Ignoring facts around us when predicting things for ourselves. Shown through newly wed couples who rate their chance of divorce much lower than statistical average (Armor & Taylor, 2002).
Cognitive Dissonance
Mismatch between thoughts and actions. Doing something whilst knowing consequences. Leads to having to change thought or behaviour and is usually thought that gets changed. Changing thought despite consequence is a form of optimism bias.
Covariation Model
Kelly, 1973.
Making systematic decisions involving stages is how we attribute the things people do and say to certain factors. Includes whether characteristics are genuine or not.
Consensus stage: do other people do the same thing?
Consistency: is this action repeated by this person often?
Attribution: deciding what caused the behaviour either personal attribution (something about the person) or stimulus attribution (due to external factor).
Making Attributions - STUDY
Fritz Heider.
Shown animation of three shapes moving around a door shape. Majority made attributions about a story between the shapes. Believed it was because people all naïve psychologists. Cannot help explaining behaviour. Also believed behaviour was combination of person and environment B=f(P,E). Believed attributions are:
motivated not random,
predictable and controlled,
distinguished by personal/environmental factors.
Theory of Correspondent Inference
Jones & David, 1965.
Five cues used to decide is something is a true reflection of character, the act was:
freely chosen, not expected/produced non-common effect, not considered socially desirable, intended to affect us.
Limit: inferences about people are automatic and natural, not through stages.
FAE -STUDY
Ross, Amabile & Steinmetz, 1977.
Rated intelligence of game show host in comparison to other people and host always rated most intelligent despite clear environmental factor of them having the answers.
Locus of Control
Rotler, 1966.
Way we see control is on a scale: external to internal. External belief: thinks universe has control, cannot decide what happens to us (depressive symptoms).
Internal belief: we are in total control (motivated and ambitious). People vary between these and attribution style is determined by where we are on the scale.
