PSYCH 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Fundamental Attribution Error
Document Summary
Social perception: the processes by which we come to know and evaluate other persons. Attribution theory: a set of theories that describe how people explain the causes of behavior. Heider (1958) we are all intuitive scientists trying to come up with explanations of other people"s behavior. Personal (dispositional) attribution: jim is a clumsy klutz, drops stuff, trips all the time. Situational (stimulus) attribution: cord was in a bad spot, could have happened to anybody. For behaviors that are consistent, people make personal attributions when consensus and distinctiveness are low. People will make stimulus (situational) attributions when consensus and distinctiveness are high. Fundamental attribution error: when explaining the behavior of other people: overestimate the role of personal (or dispositional) factors and underestimate role of situational factors. We act as if other people are driven by personal factors but we are driven more by situational factors.
