COUN1003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Fundamental Attribution Error, Fritz Heider, Social Cognition
Social Psychology
The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another
• They study the personal traits and dynamics that explain why different people may act
differently in a given situation
The Fundamental Attribution Error
• Our social behaviour arises from our social cognition
• Especially when the unexpected occurs, we want to understand and explain why people act as
they do
• After studig ho people eplai others’ ehaiour, Fritz Heider 15 proposed a
Attribution Theory: We a attriute the ehaiour to the perso’s stale, edurig traits a
dispositional attribution), or we can attribute it to the situation (a situational attribution).
• E.g. in class, we notice that Juliette seldom talks. Over coffee, Jack talks nonstop. That must be
the sort of people they are, we decide. Juliette must be shy and Jack outgoing. Such
attributions- to their disposition-can be valid, because people do have enduring personality
traits. But sometimes we fall prey to the fundamental attribution error (Ross, 1977): We
overestimate the influence of personality and underestimate the influence of situations. In
class, jack may be as quiet as Juliette. Catch Juliette at a party and you may hardly recognise
your quiet classmate.
• David Napolitan and George Goethals (1979) demonstrated the fundamental attribution error
in an experiment with Williams College students. They had students talk, one at a time, with a
young woman who acted either cold and critical or warm and friendly. Before the conversation,
the researhers told half the studets that the oa’s ehaiour ould e spotaeous. The
told the other half the truth – that they had instructed her to act friendly (or unfriendly).
• Did hearig the truth affet studets’ ipressios of the oa? Not at all! If the woman acted
friendly, both groups decided she really was a warm person. If she acted unfriendly, both
decided she really was a cold person. They attributed her behaviour to her personal disposition
even when told that her behaviour was situational – that she was merely acting that way for
the purposes of the experiment.
What factors affect our attributions?
• The FAE appears more often in some cultures than in others
• Idiidualisti Westerers ore ofte attriute ehaiours to people’s personal traits
• People in East Asian cultures are somewhat more sensitive to the power of the situation
• This difference has appeared in experiments that asked people to view scenes, such as big fish
swimming.
• Americans focused more on the individual fish, and Japanese people more on the whole scene
• We all commit the FAE. Consider: is your psychology instructor shy or outgoing?
• If ou aser outgoig, reeer that ou ko our istrutor fro oe situatio – the
classroom, which demands outgoing behaviour. Your instructor (who observes his or her own
behaviour not only in the classroom, but also with family, in meetings, when travelling) might
sa e, outgoig? It all depeds o the situatio. I lass or ith good frieds, es, I’
outgoing. But with professioal eetigs I’ reall rather sh
• Outside their assigned roles, professors seem less professorial, presidents less presidential and
managers less managerial/
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Document Summary
The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another: they study the personal traits and dynamics that explain why different people may act differently in a given situation. Attribution theory: we (cid:272)a(cid:374) attri(cid:271)ute the (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iour to the perso(cid:374)"s sta(cid:271)le, e(cid:374)duri(cid:374)g traits (cid:894)a dispositional attribution), or we can attribute it to the situation (a situational attribution): e. g. in class, we notice that juliette seldom talks. That must be the sort of people they are, we decide. Such attributions- to their disposition-can be valid, because people do have enduring personality traits. But sometimes we fall prey to the fundamental attribution error (ross, 1977): we overestimate the influence of personality and underestimate the influence of situations. In class, jack may be as quiet as juliette. Catch juliette at a party and you may hardly recognise your quiet classmate: david napolitan and george goethals (1979) demonstrated the fundamental attribution error in an experiment with williams college students.
