This document discusses attribution theory and common errors in attribution. It begins with warm-up questions about successes and failures. It then defines attribution as how people explain behaviors and events. Two types of attribution are discussed: situational vs. dispositional. Common errors in attribution are explained, including the fundamental attribution error of overemphasizing dispositional factors and underestimating situational influences. Research studies are described that demonstrate these errors, such as overestimating the intelligence of someone in a position of authority. The document concludes with a discussion of the self-serving bias and how attribution differs across cultures.

1. ATTRIBUTION

2. WARM-UP GAME
Write 5 questions that are based on your own
knowledge?
 (Examples: Who played catcher for the Boston Red
Sox in 2004? What college did Mr. Hausman attend?
What is the TuHS Cross-Country Record?)

3. WARM-UP QUESTIONS
Describe a time when you or a team of yours
had a big victory/success in your life. Why did
this happen?
Describe a time when you or a team of yours
had a big loss/defeat/failure in your life. Why
did this happen?
Now consider…
 Compare the reasons behind each of these events? Are they
they same? Different? Do these reasons hold true for most
examples?

4. 2/4/2104
LEARNING OUTCOMES
 SC.2.A. Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors
in explaining behaviour.
 SC.2.B. Discuss two errors in attributions.
 Note…The studies that we will discuss today will help answer
both of these learning outcomes. You should make a note of this
and do not say that you do not have studies to answer either of
these standards.

5. SOCIAL COGNITION
How we process information in a social
world.
We take information in, make quick
judgments, and behave according to those
decisions.

6. ATTRIBUTION
The process of interpreting and explaining
the causes of behaviors and events in the
social world.
How we decide why a person does what they do.
Humans have a need to understand why something
happens.
Social Cognition We do this all the time!

7. TRY THIS…
 How do you attribute The Bieb’s tirades?

8. SITUATIONAL VS. DISPOSITIONAL
Situational Dispositional
External
environments cause
people to act the
way they do.
 Example: I wrote a bad
essay because I didn’t
get the prompt I wanted.
 Internal characteristics
cause people to act the
way they do.
 Example: I wrote a bad
essay because I decided not
to study.

9. YOUR INSTRUCTIONS: GROUP A
Imagine that you got a speeding ticket driving
to school. Explain why this might have
happened.

10. YOUR INSTRUCTIONS: GROUP B
Imagine a classmate of yours gets a speeding
ticket while driving to school. Explain why this
might have happened.

11. ACTOR-OBSERVER EFFECT
People tend to make an attribution about
behavior depending on whether they are
performing the it themselves or observing
somebody else do it.
Behavior of self: Situational Factors
Behavior of others: Dispositional Factors
Do we agree with this idea?

12. ERRORS IN ATTRIBUTION
We make mistakes with our attributions all the
time!
How can this impact our lives?
SC.2.B. Discuss two errors in attributions (the
studies for this standard also can be used for
SC.2.A.)

13. ERROR OF ATTRIBUTION #1:
FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION
ERROR
When people overestimate the role of
dispositional factors in an individual’s
behaviors and underestimate situational
factors.

14. OUR GAME SHOW
Who did you score as being more intelligent?
Why did you do this?

15. ROSS ET AL. (1977)
 Aim: To determine if an assigned social role would
affect the judgment of that person
 Method:
 Created an experiment where participants were either assigned the
role of host, contestant, or audience member.
 Host created questions based on their own knowledge.
 If the answer was not correct, the host provided the answer.
 After the game audience members ranked the intelligence of the host
versus the contestants.

16. ROSS ET AL. (1977)
FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS
Findings: The host was consistently ranked as
having higher intelligence by the audience.
Conclusion: The audience were looking for
dispositional factors of the participants and not
the situational factors…Fundamental
Attribution Error!
Critical Thinking: Ecological validity?
Representative sample? Role of authority
figure? Applications?

17. SUEDFELD (2003)
 Aim: To determine how Holocaust survivors use attribution to
explain their survival.
 Method: Gave a survey to Holocaust survivors asking them to
explain the reasons that they survived. Compared this with a
control group.
 Findings:
Survivors Control
Dispositional 34% 71%
Situational 91% 51%
 Conclusion: Holocaust survivors had a more accurate picture of
what happened and the reason why they survived. FAE in play for
Control group.

18. EVALUATION OF FAE
Strengths of FAE Limitations of FAE
• Promotes understanding
of a common error that
people make.
• Supported by many
research studies
• May be culturally biased
towards individualism
• Research is generally
done in labs using
college students.

19. ERROR OF ATTRIBUTION #2:
SELF-SERVING BIAS
When people take credit for their success,
attributing them to dispositional factors, and
disassociate themselves from their failures,
attributing them to situational factors.
Did this happen in your warm-up question?
Self-Handicapping-Individuals who expect to fail
openly make situational attributions before
attempting the task.

20. LAU AND RUSSEL (1980)
Aim: To determine if college football coaches
displayed SSB.
Method: Examined sports pages in current print
and archives to study whether football coaches
would display a self-serving bias.
Findings/Conclusions: Football coaches attribute
victories to dispositional factors- hard work and the
talent of the team- and explain failures to
situational factors – weather, refs, injuries.

21. SELF-SERVING BIAS
Do you agree with this theory?
Why would we do this? What would it
accomplish for us?

22. KASHIMA AND TRIANDIS (1986)
 Aim: To Determine if SSB is a culturally universal trait
 Method: Asked students from different cultures
(America and Japan) to try to remember information
from slides of unfamiliar countries.
 Findings:
 American Students: Success attributed to ability.
 Japanese Students: Failure Attributed to ability.
Conclusion:
 Culture led students to engage in different types of attribution.
 This is called the Modesty Bias

23. EVALUATION OF SSD
Strengths of SSB Limitations of SSB
Explains why some people
(mostly from individualistic
cultures) explain their
failures as being caused by
situational factors
The theory is culturally
biased. It does not explain
modesty bias.

24. ERRORS IN ATTRIBUTION SKITS
 In pairs, you will create a short skit that represents one of the
three errors in attribution.
 Create a naturalistic situation where errors in attribution could occur
 Clearly demonstrate your error in action
 Class will attempt to guess which error of attribution you are showing.