Discuss_2_Errors_in_Attribution_Theory

ryanfierce Discuss Two Errors in Attribution Theory All that could be heard was the ticking of the clock. Jane was silently contemplating what was happening. It had been hours since the time John agreed to meet. Why wasn’t he here yet' Attribution is a concept that is associated with how people explain and interpret behavior and events in their lives. Humans have an innate desire to understand events that happen to them. According to Fritz Heider (1958), humans, such as Jane, automatically create conclusions on why certain events occur. There are 2 types of conclusions or attributions: dispositional and situational. In a dispositional attribution, the cause of a given event is attributed to another person’s character, behavior, personality, or attitude. “He’s late because he’s so lazy and forgetful,” is an example of Jane creating a dispositional attribution. A situational attribution would attribute the cause of a given event to the environment. “There must have been bad traffic. Maybe he missed the bus'” are 2 examples of situational attribution. This cognitive processing of attribution stems 2 habitual errors in one’s social life: fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias. Fundamental attribution error occurs when people gather information about a person and make a flawed conclusion about them. This happens when people place higher value on dispositional factors rather than situational factors. Attribution theory alludes to the idea that people have a higher probability of relying on dispositional factors when describing another person instead of using situational factors, which may be more accurate. If Andrew tripped over a rock, I would describe Andrew as a clumsy person. I wouldn’t take into consideration that his shoes were untied or that he was tired. I would attribute his clumsiness to his personality, rather than the fact that there were other factors involved. Thus, if I were to describe Andrew, I would say he was a clumsy person. According to psychologists, humans think of themselves as ductile and limber people, instead of a static “one type” person. When we think of ourselves, we often think that we are different people at different times, depending on our mood or how our day was. However, when we look at another, we often allot a “type” to that person. This is because there is no possible way one can know every single detail about another person. Because we can’t make a logical decision, we automatically create a flawed conclusion. Lee et al (1977) created a fascinating experiment to test whether participants would perform the fundamental attribution error despite knowing that all the other participants were staged actors. Participants were assigned to 3 different roles: game show host, members of the audience, or the game show contestant. A staged game show would be enacted, and at the end, participants would choose the “most intelligent” out of the participants. The host was consistently selected as the most intelligent despite the fact that the participants recognized that the host knew the answers and written the questions. The participants placed higher bearing on the performance, instead of acknowledging the fact that the host had the ability to choose the questions, thus performing the fundamental attribution error. This experiment emulates an everyday situation. People with social power usually dominate conversations. Their wide knowledge on just one field, can give a powerful impression that they understand material in a wider scope of fields. This can be seen in conversations involving doctors. Medical doctors study intensively on just the medical field. However, people often view doctors as experts on fields not related to their study. So when doctors release work that is not medical, it is often credited as a reliable source and never challenged. Self-serving bias, or SSB, is another error in attribution. SSB occurs when people attribute their achievements to their personality, or their dispositional factors, and attribute their failures to outside events outside their control, or their situational factors. If I got an excellent grade in a class, I would attribute that success to dispositional factors, such as hard work. If I failed or got a poor grade, I would attribute that failure to situational factors, such as the teacher personally hating me. According to Greenberg et al (1982), we apply SSB in order to shield our self-esteem. By employing SSB, we make ourselves feel better if we are successful and prevent us from feeling bad if we failed. However, it can also be reasoned that our mental cognition plays a part in SSB. Miller and Ross (1975), states that people will expect to be successful. If we plan on being successful and end up successful, we attribute that success to our skill. If we, however, expect to fail and end up successful, we will actually attribute success to external factors. Culture also plays a role in SSB. Kashima and Triandis (1986) carried out studies that showed that US and Japanese students have significant differences when explaining performance. When US students were given a test, and asked to explain their performance, they were describing their success as a result of their skill. Japanese students however, were describing their failures, rather than their success, as a lack of skill. This difference is known as the “Modesty Bias.” Bond, Leung, and Wan (1982) delve further with Kashima and Triandi’s results and discovered that Chinese students who exhibited the modesty bias were more socially popular with their peers. Kashima and Triandis discovered that Asian societies are more collective in nature. Their self-esteem stems from group identity rather than individual accomplishments. Therefore, the individuals who have roots in their group identity is more likely to use modesty bias. In conclusion, attribution is a concept that is associated with how people explain and interpret behavior and events in their lives. People automatically create conclusions on why certain events occur. There are 2 types of conclusions or attributions: dispositional and situational. A dispositional attribution, the cause of a given event is attributed to another’s character, behavior, personality, or attitude. A situational attribution would attribute the cause of a given event to the environment. However, attribution stems 2 errors. Fundamental attribution error occurs when people gather information about a person and make a flawed conclusion about them. This happens when people place higher value on dispositional factors rather than the situational factors. Self-serving bias is another error in attribution. This error occurs when people attribute their success to their personality, or their dispositional factors, and attributes their failures to outside events outside their control, or their situational factors. All in all, these errors add more questions to the constantly growing realm of human psychology.