Error in Attribution

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Discuss two errors in attribution Attribution theory is concerned with how individuals interpret events and how this relates to their thinking and behaviour. The attribution theory relates to the concept that people try to make sense of their surroundings on the basis of what they think is the cause and what the effect of the situation. There are two attributions. When people attribute cause of other people’s behaviour to their internal characteristics, they make a dispositional attribution. The term disposition refers to somebody’s beliefs, attitudes, and personality. When people attribute other people’s behaviour to external factors such as the immediate rewards and punishments in a social setting or social pressure, they are making a situational attribution. While making judgements about people’s behaviour, we tend to make errors. Attribution theory argues that people are more likely to explain another person’s actions by pointing to the dispositional factors, rather than to the situation. When people overestimate the role of dispositional factors in an individual’s behaviour and underestimate the situational factors, it is called the fundamental attribution error. Some psychologists argue that fundamental errors are made due to the fact that people are “lazy” to carefully think about the situation and what else could have affected the behaviour of another person and therefore just base the decision on dispositional factors. One study which supports the FAE was conducted by Jones and Harries in 1967. These researchers asked their participants to read essays written by felloe students. The essays were about Fidel Castro’s rule in Cuba and were either supportive or critical of Castro. The participants´ task was to guess what attitude the writers of the essays really held towards Castro and his government. Half the participants were told that the
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