Causal Attribution Error
Contents |
both a symptom and source of prejudice. If, for example, a single mother's homelessness is attributed to dispositional factors such as personal laziness, poor character, or lack of ability, prejudice toward single mothers is likely to causal attribution definition persist. In contrast, if her homelessness is attributed to situational factors such as job
Fundamental Attribution Theory
layoffs or domestic partner violence, prejudice toward single mothers may not come into play or may even be reduced. The problem, fundamental attribution error definition when it comes to prejudice, is that people often make uncharitable attributions for the behavior of outgroup members. They do this in at least three ways: Just-World Attributions in an Unjust World In many
Defensive Attribution
situations, causal attributions implicitly follow a "just world" ideology that assumes people get what they deserve and deserve what they get (Lerner, 1980; Montada & Lerner, 1998). For example, people who hold just-world beliefs are more likely than others to blame poor people for being impoverished and, to some extent, are more likely to blame women for being battered or raped (Cowan & Curtis, 1994; Cozzarelli, Wilkinson, & Tagler, 2001; fundamental attribution error examples Schuller, Smith, & Olson, 1994). The difficulty with such attributions is that the world is not always just; people often find themselves in unfair circumstances, whether by birth, happenstance, or other factors beyond their control. In such cases, a just-world ideology downplays the role of situational factors and says, in essence, that the problem of social injustice lies not in society but in the victims of prejudice. The Fundamental Attribution Error In addition to just-world beliefs, people have a more general tendency to attribute behavior to dispositional causes. Even when behaviors are undeniably caused by situational factors, people will sometimes favor dispositional explanations -- a misjudgment known as the "fundamental attribution error" (Ross, 1977). For example, in one of the earliest studies published on this topic, participants were presented with an essay written by someone who was either explicitly forced to take a particular position or someone who had free choice in selecting a position (Jones & Harris, 1967). Even when participants were expressly told that the essay's author was forced to take a certain position, they tended to believe that the author truly held that position. In the realm of prejudice, Elliot Aronson, Timothy Wilson, and Robin Akert (2002, p. 481) offer a textbook
of original research should be removed. (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In social psychology, attribution is the process by which individuals explain
Dispositional Attribution
the causes of behavior and events. Attribution theory is the study of
Ultimate Attribution Error
models to explain those processes.[1] Psychological research into attribution began with the work of Fritz Heider in situational attribution the early part of the 20th century, subsequently developed by others such as Harold Kelley and Bernard Weiner. Contents 1 Background 2 Types 2.1 External attribution 2.2 Internal attribution 3 http://www.understandingprejudice.org/apa/english/page9.htm Theories 3.1 Common sense psychology 3.2 Correspondent inference theory 3.3 Covariation model 3.4 Three-dimensional model 4 Bias and errors 4.1 Fundamental attribution error 4.2 Culture bias 4.3 Actor/observer difference 4.4 Dispositional attributions 4.5 Self-serving bias 4.6 Defensive attribution hypothesis 5 Application 6 In clinical psychology 6.1 Learned helplessness 7 Perceptual salience 8 Criticism 9 See also 10 References 11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_(psychology) Further reading Background[edit] Gestalt psychologist Fritz Heider is often described as the "father of attribution theory",[2] during the early years of the 20th century. In his 1920's dissertation Heider addressed the problem of phenomenology: why do perceivers attribute the properties such as color to perceived objects, when those properties are mental constructs? Heider's answer that perceivers attribute that which they "directly" sense – vibrations in the air for instance – to an object they construe as causing those sense data. "Perceivers faced with sensory data thus see the perceptual object as 'out there', because they attribute the sensory data to their underlying causes in the world."[3] Heider extended this idea to attributions about people: "motives, intentions, sentiments... the core processes which manifest themselves in overt behavior".[4] Types[edit] External attribution[edit] External attribution, also called situational attribution, refers to interpreting someone's behavior as being caused by the situation that the individual is in. For example, if Jacob's car tire is punctured he may attribute that to a hole in the road; by making attributions to the
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