Two Errors in Attribution Due to Dispositional and Situational Factors

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There are many studies done to examine how people use situational and dispositional factors to explain behavior. Psychology shows that people tend to make attribution about behavior depending on whether who’s performing or observing. When people discuss their own behavior, they tend to attribute it to situational factors, that is, something to do with external factors. When people observe someone else’s behavior, they are more likely to attribute it to depositional factors, that is, something to do with personal or internal factors. The Zimbardo Stanford Experiment serves a great example to see how change in situation affects ones behavior and participants’ conformity. Participants were randomly selected to either the role of prisoner or guard in a simulated prison environment. The simulation was kept as natural and as possible. The findings showed that within a very short time, both the guards’ and prisoners’ behavior changed. The guard who used to be kind and benevolent turned brutal and behaved in a sadistic manner. The prisoner’s who used to be vivacious in became taciturn and depressing. As a conclusion to Zimbardo’s study, it showed that situational factors are as like dispositional factors which both serve great effects altering human behavior. While people are seeking to understand human behaviors, in numerous times they make attribution errors, which are the self-serving bias vs. modesty bias. Self-serving bias (SSB) is when we take credit for success due to dispositional factor and explain failure to situational factors, whereas modesty bias means completely the opposite. According to Miller and Ross (1975), when we expect to succeed in certain tasks and if eventually we do, we attribute it to our skill and ability. If we expect to succeed and do not eventually, then we blame it on external or situational factors. Lee et all (1977) shows how

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