In relation to our preceding discussion of attributions for success and failure, if we can determine why we did poorly on a test, we can try to prepare differently so we do better on the next one. We have seen that person perception is useful in helping us successfully interact with others.

Describe victim-blaming attributional biases.Explore group-serving biases in attribution.

Outline self-serving attributional biases.

Explore the related concepts of the fundamental attribution error and correspondence bias.

Review a variety of common attibutional biases, outlining cultural diversity in these biases where indicated.

On the other hand, if your partner decides to call off the plan because she is tired, you call her lazy. You decide to call off the plan because you are tired. ❍ You make a dinner plan with your partner, but by the time you reach home in the evening, you are exhausted. However, when you yourself speed past another guy who is driving at normal speed, it’s unlikely that you would consider yourself foolish, because you are obviously in a hurry to get somewhere. ❍ When you are going at a normal speed, and another car speeds past you, you consider that person foolish for his rash driving. In this case, it’s unlikely that you will have any qualms about being late, because you had a genuine reason―whatever it maybe. Let’s say your friend makes it on time, but you are 20 minutes late. He does apologize for this, but his apology falls on deaf ears, and you have already concluded that this friend of yours has no regard for you or your time. You even reach 10 minutes before the scheduled time, but your friend turns up 20 minutes late. ❍ You come in contact with an old friend after a long time and decide to catch up. It’s worth noting that, it doesn’t come into the picture when we are dealing with people whom we know very well. We assume that other people are nearly always one-dimensional, and thus, predictable.Īctor-observer bias is mostly seen in the case of negative situations. When we are dealing with other people, we have no idea about the context, and therefore, we tend to assume that internal causes, i.e., their disposition, is responsible for their action. That we are well-versed with the context and prior experiences also helps. Therefore, we focus on the situation (external/environmental factor) as the reason of our behavior. We believe that other people’s behavior is all about their internal causes, but attribute our own behavior to external factors.Īs we are not able to observe our behavior directly, we cannot make internal attributions about our own behavior. As opposed to this, when we are judging our own behavior, i.e., when we are the actor, we attribute our actions to the prevailing situation. When we are judging other people’s behavior, i.e., when we are observers, we are more likely to attribute it to their character. In social psychology, actor-observer bias or actor-observer asymmetry refers to our tendency of attributing the other person’s behavior to his personal disposition, and his own behavior to the situation he is facing.

The actorobserver bias