1. Warm Up:
Imagine you are sitting in a restaurant waiting for your date to show up. You agreed with your date to meet at the restaurant at 6:00. It is now 6:10.
What would you think?
Take out a sheet a paper and number 1-6 on it.

2. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Husband
Wife
Lover 1
Lover 2
Ferryboat Captain
Highwayman

3. Warm Up: Fill out both sides of the the Attribution Scale Survey
On one side do it for yourself, on the other do based on your observations of me
Answers will be anonymous
After completing both sides, count the number of times you circled “depends on the situation” on each side of the sheet and record that number at the bottom of the page.
Which side do think has depends on the situation circled more? Why?

4. IB Questions:
Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behavior. Be sure to provide examples in order to support your answer.
Describe two errors in attribution. Be sure to provide examples in order to support your answer.

5. Attribution Theory how we explain the causes of behavior
both our own behavior and the behavior of others.

6. Situational (External) Factors Dispositional (Internal) Factors
Explain an outcome by looking outside of an individual (fate, luck, chance)
people usually use this in explaining their own behavior
Examples:
“I was unable to accomplish my goal because I had to help a family member who needed my assistance.”
“I did not perform well on the test because we were not told what to study.”
Dispositional (Internal) Factors
Explain an outcome by looking within an individual (personal characteristics)
people usually use this in explaining someone else's behavior
Examples:
“I was able to accomplish my goal because I was able to break the larger goal into mini-goals that I could manage.”
“I performed will on a test because I studied hard for the exam.”

7. Actor-observer Effect
People tend to make an attribution about behavior depending on whether they are performing it themselves or observing somebody else doing it.

8. Two Accounts of the The Who Concert Tragedy in 1979
“The violently destructive message that The Who and other rock groups deliver me little surprised that they attract a mob that will trample human beings to death to gain better seats. Of greater is a respected news magazine’s adulation of this sick phenomenon.” -Letter-to-Editor, Time Magazine
“While standing in the crowd at Riverfront Coliseum, I distinctly remember feeling that I was being punished for being a rock fan. My sister and I joked about this, unaware of the horror happening around us. Later, those jokes came back to us grimly as we watched the news. How many lives will be lost before the punitive and inhuman policy of festival seating at rock concerts is outlawed?” –Fan at concert

9. How could attribution theory be used to explain this?
Seinfeld…

10. Fundamental Attribution Error (Correspondence Bias)
Overestimating internal (dispositional) influences and underestimating external (situational) influences when judging the behavior of others.
More likely to happen when we do not know the person well.
Placing blame on the individual is common practice in western culture
e.g.: “He's poor because he's lazy.”

11. Fundamental Attribution Error (Lee et al., 1977)
Had people observe a game show.
After watching, people surveyed on average rated the Host of the Game Show as being the most intelligent

12. Story Time!

13. Who's Responsible???
Please list all the characters in descending order of responsibility for this woman's death.
Husband
Wife
Lover 1
Lover 2
Ferryboat Captain
Highwayman

14. Just World Hypothesis
Tendency to believe that good people are rewarded, and bad people are punished.
Blaming-the-victim effect
e.g.: “She deserved to be assaulted because she wore revealing clothes.”

15. False Consensus Effect
Tendency to think other people share our attitudes more than they actually do
e.g.: “I really like Dancing with the Stars, so I assume most of my peers like it as well.”

16. Self-Serving Bias (SSB)
Tendency to attribute success to internal (dispositional) factors and failures to external (situational) factors.
Lau & Russell (1980) studied football coach tendencies:
Wins credited to being in good shape, hard work, talent
Losses credited to injuries, weather, penalties, bad referees

17. Why do we tend to employ SSB?

18. Reasons for SSB: Protects our self-esteem
Serves as a means of self-protection
Greenberg et al. (1982)

19. Cognitive Factors in SSB
People who are optimistic & succeed attribute it to internal factors
If they fail, they blame situational factors
People who are pessimistic & succeed attribute it to situational factors
If they fail, they blame internal factors
Severely depressed people tend to make more internal attributions, blaming themselves for feeling miserable
Miller and Ross (1975)

20. Cultural Differences Western Cultures More individualistic
Exhibit SSB much more
Eastern Cultures
More collectivist
Exhibit modesty bias more
Explaining failures in terms of dispositional (internal) factors.
“If people derive their self- esteem not from individual accomplishment but from group identity, they are less likely to use SSB.” (Kashima & Triandis, 1986)