PSYC 300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Fundamental Attribution Error, Fritz Heider, Dispositional Attribution

• School: American River College
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 300
• Professor: Fratello

Document Summary

Like scientists, people are interested in causality try to discern why people do things to make the world predictable and controllable. Personal causality behavior caused by person (internal traits or dispositions) Impersonal causality behavior caused by situational forces (external to the individual) Kelley (1967) extended scientist metaphor people use statistical logic in attribution. See if behavior covaries with person or with situation. Low distinctiveness (he falls on every hill) -> low consensus (no one else is falling) -> high consistency (he falls every time on this hill) Internal attribution (he is a bad skier) High distinctiveness (he only falls on this hill) -> high consensus (everyone else is falling too) -> high consistency (he falls every time on this hill) According to heider, behavior engulfs the field . People tend to underestimate the role of situational factors in attribution. People assume that hostile behavior indicates a hostile disposition even when plausible situational explanations for behavior exist.