Studies that Illustrate Errors in Attributions IB Psychology I (1A)

Posey & Smith(2003) Karen Guerra

Aim/ Purpose The aim of this experiment was to determine whether second graders can express self- serving bias after completing an academic task

Characteristics of the Experiments The Participants Second graders ages males student and 16 female students and they were placed in partners with the same sex Half of the students from both groups had to be placed with either partners whom were friends and non- friends The Experiment The partners had to complete the most math problems in 3 minutes but despite they were in partners, they had to complete them on their own. When time was up, the partners score were added up. The experimenters came to tell the children if they passed or failed based on who many problems they completed

The Results Showed that children that worked with the friends and failed were less likely to show the SSB and more likely to give their friends credit. When they succeeded children who worked with a non-friend were most likely to demonstrate the SSB

Miller and Ross (1975) The experiment concluded If we expect to succeed and we do, we attribute it to our skill and ability. If we expect to succeed and we don't, it's because of bad luck/external factors. If we don't expect to do well, and we don't do well, we attribute it to dispositional factors. If we don't expect to do well, we attribute it to external factors and luck.

Self Serving Bias Can be seen in the common human tendency to take credit for success but deny responsibility for failure. For Example I got an A because I studied hard. I got an F because the teacher didn't like me.

Kashima & Triandis (1986) Aldo De Leon

Aim To determine if Self Serving Bias is a culturally universal trait

Participants 34 Japanese graduate students 202 American undergraduate students

Summary Asked the students from different cultures to recall information from. Slides shown previously to them of unfamiliar countries. Participants were randomly organized into the being correct, or incorrect

Results American students, linked their success to their ability Asian students, linked their failure to their ability Modesty bias Because of the more collective nature of many Asian societies

Chandler et al (1990)

Participants are 5th and 11th graders in a collectivist society - Japan- and an individualistic society - U.S. ● The author examined self-enhancement bias among 5th and 11th graders in the United States and Japan. After listening to stories describing aggressive, depressive, oppositional school-phobic behaviors of hypothetical peers ● participants rated the likelihood that they themselves and other students their age would act like the story protagonists. ● U.S. students generally showed no greater self-enhancement tendencies than did the Japanese students; ● in addition, the relationships between positive and negative self-concepts and ● ratings of self-similarity to \deviant exemplars were similar in both samples. ● In the depressed and oppositional stories, the 11th graders rated themselves less like the deviant characters and more different from their peers than did the 5th graders. Aim/Purpose of study

Explanation for modesty bias ● In collectivist societies, interdependence is more highly valued than independence ● People learn that they are more likely to be seen in a positive light if they are more self-effacing as opposed to self-enhancing o Bond, Leung, and Wan (1982) found that Chinese students who showed modesty bias rather than SSB were more popular with peers ● Kashima and Triandis argue that it is due to collective nature of Asian societies o If people enhance self-esteem with group identity rather than individual accomplishment, they will less likely use SSB

"IB Guides." IB Psychology Notes. IBGuides. Web. 29 Jan.2015.< usshttp://ibguides.com/psychology/notes/disc uss -two-errors-in-attributions-two-errors-in-attributions>. "Attributions of Deviance to Self and Peers by Japanese and U.S. Students."Taylor & Francis. Taylor Francis Online. Web. 30 Jan < 0022http:// #.VMuJffldVvB #.VMuJffldVvB>. Sources

Modesty bias - opp of self serving bias, where almost not taking credit/being humble about your accomplishments Which concept did this study measure?

Watkins & Regimi (1990) Raya Hartgrove

Experiment Nepalese Children Asked the children to remember a series of 15 slides about Israel,Greek, and Iran life Then they took a 5 minute recognition test about the slides Then they were shown 5 slides about India then they took a 3 minute recognition test on those slides

Experiment The participants were randomly assigned to a success group or a failure group

Results/ Conclusions The Americans tied their success to ability and talent The Nepalese tied their failure to lack of ability and talent They all responded the same when it came to situational information

Aim/ Purpose Researches suggest there are cultural differences in the fundamental attribution error, and people form individualistic cultures are more prone to the error while people from collectivism cultures commit less of it. This study measures Self- Serving Bias and Modesty Bias

Aim/Purpose Study Bias is when people attribute positive events to themselves and negative events to external factors Modest Bias is explaining success with reference to situational factors