SOC 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Santa Barbara City College, Fundamental Attribution Error
Document Summary
The fundamental attribution error is most likely to occur in north american and other. Western cultures that emphasize individual freedom and autonomy. Hindu participants preferred situational explanations for their friends" behaviors. Example: researchers made the situation info more salient by having the participants go through the same procedure as the target person they are judging. Made them write an essay, then read one. N. a still think it"s the persons fault. Actor/observer difference: the tendency to see other people"s behavior as dispositionally caused, while focusing more on the role of situational factors when explaining one"s own behavior. Observer attributions (perceptions of other"s behavior: we tend to attribute other people"s behavior to internal reasons and assume their behavior is caused by their disposition, fundamental attribution error. Actor attributions (perceptions of own behavior: we tend to attribute our own behavior to external reasons and assume that our behavior is caused by the situation. If you blow the test then it"s the teachers fault.
