PSY-B - Psychology PSY-B 356 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Dispositional Attribution, Fritz Heider, Leon Festinger
12 Apr 2017
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How we explain the causes of the behavior of others and ourselves. Fritz heider (1940s, 50s): founder of attribution theory. Na ve psychology: how an average person decides what causes behavior; na ve to the true or objective cause of the behavior. Behaviors can be attributed to: dispositions: consistent personality characteristics within the individual, situational factors: forces external to the individual. Bias toward personal causation e. g. , a man robs a bank dispositional attribution? situational attribution? e. g. , mock prison study: behavior of guards, prisoners usually thought to be internal (dispositional) We perceive ourselves as constantly trying to control our own behavior and assume that others are doing so too. But fail to realize how much our own behavior is controlled. The observer: person watching and judging another"s behavior. The actor: the person being watched and judged. The tendency of making internal attributions for other"s behaviors but situational attributions for your own behavior.
