The Fundamental Attribution Error Exploring Social Psychology by David G. Myers The Fundamental Attribution Error Module 6 Copyright © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Attribution Researchers Study how we explain others’ behavior - Fundamental Attribution Error

. One of social psychology’s most important concerns is how much our social environment affects us. Our internal state depends on the situation and what we bring to the situation. Yet often we fail to understand the importance of the situation when explaining the behaviors of others.

. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional (personality) influences upon other’s behavior.

Why Do We Make The Attribution Error? Perspective and situational awareness

Why Do We Make The Attribution Error? Perspectives Change With Time Immediately after hearing someone argue an assigned position, people assume that’s how the person really felt. A week later they are much more ready to credit the situational constraints (Burger, 1991).

There are other kinds of attribution errors: Fundamental attribution error is committed to explaining other people’s behavior. However, we often explain our own behavior in terms of the situation, but explain others’ behavior in terms of their personality.

. A teller in a bank or a cashier in a supermarket says to you: “Have a nice day!” Do you believe this person is really nice and truly cares whether you have a nice day?

Why Do We Make The Attribution Error? Culture - Eastern versus Western worldview

. More individualistic cultures are more inclined to fundamental attribution error. Some languages promote situational or personal attributions. In Spanish, one can say, “The clock caused me to be late.”

. OK, so if we often make attribution error—but why do we do so? Michael Storms’ experiment suggests the answer. Storms set 2 students facing one another, each with a video camera beside him or her, aimed at the other student. They proceeded to have a discussion. An observer watched the discussion.

Observer Person A and the Observer make what kinds of attributions about the causes of A’s behavior in the discussion?

Person A attributed his/her own behavior to the situation. Observer Person A attributed his/her own behavior to the situation. The Observer attributed Person A’s behavior to Person A’s personality and discounted the importance of the situation.

Suddenly the attribution changes. Observer What will happen when the Observer watches the video from Camera A? (When the Observer sees Person A’s point-of-view?) Suddenly the attribution changes. The Observer attributes Person A’s behavior to the situation.

What will happen when Person A watches the video from Camera B? Observer What will happen when Person A watches the video from Camera B? Suddenly the attribution changes. Person A attributes his/her own behavior to his/her personality, not the situation.

The importance of focus: So, what does Storm’s experiment tell us about the cause of fundamental attribution error? The importance of focus: What are you looking at?

. When we are in a situation we focus on the situation, not ourselves. When we look to explain our own behavior, we therefore explain it in terms of what we have focused on – the situation we are in.

. When we are looking at another person, we are focusing on them, not their environment. When we look to explain their behavior, we do so in terms of what we have focused on – them as a person, not their environment or situation.

Lassiter and Irvine’s experiment When S’s viewed a suspect’s confession they believed it if the focus of the camera was on the suspect. When S’s viewed a suspect’s confession with the camera focused on the detective, they perceived it as coerced (given under pressure) and tended not to believe it. Then, a more impartial videotape would show both the interrogator and the suspect.

Is the fundamental attribution error all that fundamental? Fundamental attribution error affects our views of many social situations—such as attitudes to the poor and the unemployed. For example, those with higher incomes are more likely to attribute poverty to the behavior of the poor. (“The poor create their own problems!”) The poor are more likely to attribute their poverty to their situation.

. The fundamental attribution error can remind us that often, behavior that we do not like in others may arise from their situation—given the same situation, many of us may act in the same way.