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Two errors in attribution (8) (JOHNSON ET AL. (1964) (taught in 2 phases,…
Two errors in attribution (8)
INTRODUCTION
dispositional eg. personality, beliefs, mood,
situational eg. weather, luck
according to Heider, when we observe someone's behaviour, we are inclined to attribute its cause to either dispositional (internal) / situational (external) factors
psychologists have discovered that when people attribute behaviours, they can often make errors / biases
humans are very social + have a need to understand why things happen + how / why people behave in certain ways
therefore, attribution error = false assumption / distortion in perception / judgement about the causes of our own / other people's behaviour
theories + studies have shown there are 2 main attribution errors
1.
fundamental attribution error (FAE)
2.
self-serving bias (SSB)
CONCLUSION
SSB = tendency to attribute success to disposition + failures to situation
maintains self-esteem
we possess the ability for things to occur in life
gives a sense of control over the world
FAE = tendency to attribute behaviour to disposition rather than situation
both errors in attribution propose flaws in how people explain behaviour
FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR (FAE)
occurs even when clear situational factors present
tendency to attribute people's behaviour to dispositional factors (internal)
JONES + HARRIS 1967
pp's had to guess attitude of writers towards Castro
1/2 pp's were told writers were free to choose their stance in essay (choice condition)
writers were told to write either pro/anti Castro
1/2 pp's were assigned a view to write from (no choice condition)
Method:
students read essays written about Castro
Aim:
to whether pp's would demonstrate FAE, even if they knew a specific role had been assigned
Results:
pp's assumed the writers viewpoint in essay reflected their disposition + true opinion
regardless of choice / no choice conditions
Conclusion:
although pp's knew viewpoint of writer was constrained by situation, they still opted for dispositional attribution
SELF-SERVING BIAS (SSB)
tendency to attribute success to dispositional factors + failures to situational
JOHNSON ET AL. (1964)
taught in 2 phases
phase 1 = multiply by 10
teaching was done via one-way intercom
phase 2 = multiply by 20
Method:
pp's taught 2 children how to multiply by 10 and 20
after each phase, pp's were shown worksheets to assess the children's learning progress
Aim:
investigate effect of pupils' learning on teacher's SSB
pupil A = all correct answers on both sheets
pupil B = did poorly on both sheets / did poorly on first + improved in second
worksheets manipulated
Results:
pp's attributed pupil B's improvement to their ability as a teacher (disposition)
pp's attributed pupil B's failures to their lack of ability (situational)
Conclusion
when attributing pupil's learning progress, teachers demonstrated SSB to enhance + protect the image of their own stability + self-esteem