Discuss two errors in attributions.

But we are human and seem to make a lot of mistakes when attributing other people’s behavior…..

1. Fundamental Attribution ErrorRoss 1977

• We tend to overestimate the role of dispositional factors.

How do you view your teacher’s behavior?

You probably attribute it to their personality rather than their profession.

But do you really know?

We think that because Mr. Hertzig is calm and focused in the classroom…then that must be his disposition.

Maybe that is his situation. Maybe he acts this way outside of school.

Some research to back up FAE…..Ross et al. 1977

Procedure:• 18 pairs of students at Stanford U

participated in a simulated quiz game where they were assigned roles of the questioner or contestant.

• 24 people watched the show.• The questioner was privately asked to

compose 10 questions to ask the contestant and give the participant 30 sec to answer the question.

• If the participant did not give the right answer, the questioner gave it.

• After the quiz show all the participants and observers were asked to rate the “general knowledge” (how smart) they thought the questioners and participants were.

Who do you think the rated as smarter?

Results• Both the contestants

and the observers rated the questioners as being much smarter than the contestants.

• Is the fair?• How is this FAE?

2. Self-Serving Bias (SSB)

• A self-enhancing strategy.

• Refers to the tendency for people to evaluate themselves positively by taking credit for their success.

• While attributing failures to situational factors.

We won the game because I am awesome!!!

We lost because our coach sucks!!!

How I see SSB…..• I see a version of SSB called

“self-handicapping”• If you expect to fail an test,

you will openly make situational attributions before the exam.

• “No time to study”, “Relationship issues”, “You never taught us that”

Why does SSB exist?• Could be a way to uphold

self-esteem.Or• We tend to expect to

succeed.• Could be that people just

lack information when they fail and look for a reason?

• We tend to think we have more control over our lives than we do.