THE CAUSES FOR BEHAVIOR Attribution Theories, Factors and Errors

LO: Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behavior (SAQ)

Attribution Theories Attribution Theories: Look at how people interpret and explain causal relationships in the social world. Specifically, what reasons do we assign to our behavior and others’ behavior?

Heider’s Attribution Theory (1958) Based on the following assumptions: 1. People tend to look for causes or reasons for other people’s behavior because they feel there are motives behind their behavior. 2. People construct their own theories of why people act the way they do. 3. People do this because they want to understand, predict and control their environment.

Explaining Behavior To explain the behavior of others we look at: Dispositional Factors: Personal or internal reasons for behavior. For example: She stood me up because she is a selfish person. Situational Factors: External or environmental reasons for behavior. For example: She didn’t show up because she got into a car accident.

Discounting Principle (Kelley, 1972) We opt for the simplest explanation which means: 1. We discount other possible causes when we believe one is most likely and 2. We are more likely to give one factor all the credit for causing a behavior when, in fact, several factors may be at work.

Actor/Observer Effect People attribute their own behavior (as actor) to situational factors. For example, “I wanted to show up for dinner, but my friend wouldn’t give me a ride.” People (as observers) attribute others’ behavior to dispositional factors. HEIDER (1944)

When a granary doorway collapsed killing several people, the Azande people of central Africa believed that it was witchcraft that made the door collapse even though termites had eaten through it. Empirical Research (Evans-Prichard, 1976)

LO: Discuss two errors in attribution (essay)

Error #1: Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) When people overestimate the role of dispositional factors in an individual’s behavior and underestimate situational factors.

Example of FAE I attribute the qualities of being a kind, caring person to George Clooney after watching him play movie characters who are kind and caring. I attribute these characteristics to his personality (dispositional) not the fact that he is getting paid to play these roles (situational).

Reasons for the FAE When we don’t have enough information about a person to make a balanced decision it is easier to attribute their behavior to dispositional factors. Vice versa, we like to think of ourselves as flexible and not a certain “type” of person. Western culture tends to blame the individual. People are held responsible for their behavior, often without regard for situational factors, in our judicial system.

FAE Game Show Study (Lee et al, 1977) AIM: To determine if student participants would make the fundamental attribution error even when they knew all the actors were simply playing a role.

METHODS Participants were randomly assigned to one of three roles: a game show host, contestants, or audience members. The game show hosts were instructed to create their own questions. The audience then watched the game show. When it was over, participants were asked to rank the general knowledge of the people who had taken part.

RESULTS Participants consistently ranked the game show host as most intelligent, even though they knew he/she had written the questions. This means they attributed the game show host’s intelligence to disposition rather than situation.

Study Criticisms All participants were students and therefore:  Students might be more inclined to allocate dispositional factors to authority figures. That would make theirs a learned response rather than an attribution error.  Students might not be representative of the greater population.

Strengths of FAE The theory has promoted understanding of common errors in people’s explanations of things that happen in the world. It is supported by research.

Limitations of FAE Research has been primarily laboratory based and participants have been students (so may not be able to generalize to the general population) Cultural Bias: Individualistic cultures (eg. Western cultures) see the individual as the main cause for success and failure which can lead to dispositional attributions. Explanations based solely on personality are incomplete. They disregard the power of the situation.

Error #2: Self-Serving Bias (SSB) When people take credit for their successes, attributing them to dispositional factors, but attribute their failures to situational factors.

Reasons for the SSB Greenberg et al (1982) argues that the reason we use the SSB is to protect our self-esteem. Miller & Ross (1975) argue that cognitive factors play a role in SSB. We expect to succeed at a task, so when we do we attribute it to our skill because it makes us feel more in control. EXCEPTION: People who are severely depressed tend to make more dispositional attributions, thus blaming themselves for being miserable.

Lau & Russel Study (1980) FINDINGS: American football coaches and players tend to credit their wins to internal or dispositional (physically fit, hard work, talent) factors and their losses to external factors (injuries, weather, bad refs)

Cultural Differences in the SSB Cultures differ in whether participants in studies exhibit a self-serving bias. Kashima & Triandis (1986) found that when participants were asked to remember details of slides from scenes from unfamiliar countries, Americans attributed their success to ability while Japanese participants attributed their failures to ability.

Modesty Bias This attribution of failures to ability (disposition) is called the Modesty Bias. Other researchers have confirmed this modesty bias in other Japanese and Nepalese participants. Bond, Leung and Wan (1982) found that Chinese students who exhibited the modesty bias instead of the SSB were more popular with their peers. They reasoned that dispositional factors were mentioned in an effort to be more likeable.  Possible Explanation: Kashima & Triandis argue that it is because of the more collective nature of many Asian societies in which self- esteem comes more from the group identity than individual identity.

Strength of the SSB Explains why some people (especially from individualistic cultures) explain their failures as situational.

Weakness of the SSB The theory appears to be culturally biased. It doesn’t explain the Modesty Bias in some cultures.