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Related Concept Videos

Fundamental Attribution Error01:14

Fundamental Attribution Error

According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is called the fundamental attribution...
Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory01:15

Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory

Correspondent inference theory, proposed by Jones and Davis in 1965, seeks to explain how individuals infer stable personality traits from observed behaviors. It suggests that people attribute actions to underlying dispositions rather than external circumstances, particularly when the behavior appears intentional and socially significant.Voluntary Behavior and Dispositional AttributionAccording to this theory, individuals are more likely to attribute behavior to personal traits when it appears...
Attribution Theory00:56

Attribution Theory

Behavior is a product of both the situation (e.g., cultural influences, social roles, and the presence of bystanders) and of the person (e.g., personality characteristics). Subfields of psychology tend to focus on one influence or behavior over others. Situationism is the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings. In contrast, dispositionism holds that our behavior is determined by internal factors (Heider, 1958). An internal factor is an...
Attribution01:26

Attribution

In social interactions, individuals frequently seek to understand the motivations and causes behind others' behaviors. This fundamental aspect of social perception, known as attribution, plays a crucial role in shaping interpersonal relationships and guiding future actions. Attribution refers to the cognitive process through which people infer the reasons behind others' behaviors, allowing them to assess character traits, intentions, and situational influences.Attribution Theory and Its...
Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory01:29

Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory

Attribution theory plays a crucial role in social psychology, helping to explain how individuals interpret the causes of behavior. One prominent model within this field is Harold Kelley's covariation theory, which provides a systematic approach to determining whether internal traits or external circumstances drive a person's actions. The model posits that individuals rely on three key types of information—consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness—to make these judgments.Consensus: Comparing...
Correspondence Bias01:17

Correspondence Bias

Correspondence bias, also referred to as the fundamental attribution error, describes the tendency to attribute another person’s behavior to internal characteristics rather than situational influences. This cognitive bias leads individuals to overlook external factors that may be influencing actions, thereby fostering potentially inaccurate assessments of others’ intentions and dispositions.Empirical Evidence for Correspondence BiasResearch has consistently demonstrated the prevalence of...

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The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
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When contributions make a difference: explaining order effects in responsibility attribution.

Tobias Gerstenberg1, David A Lagnado

  • 1Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, University College London, 26, Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP, UK. t.gerstenberg@ucl.ac.uk

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|May 16, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The order of actions influences how people assign blame or credit. A person acting last receives less responsibility if the outcome is already decided, especially if they know it.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Decision Making

Background:

  • Causal attributions are fundamental to social cognition.
  • Previous models suggest perceived contribution depends on an action's impact on the outcome probability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the order effect in responsibility attributions.
  • To test the influence of outcome determinacy and knowledge of determinacy on blame and credit assignment.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted using team challenges with sequential contributions.
  • Participants' responsibility attributions were measured under conditions of varying outcome determinacy and temporal order.

Main Results:

  • The last person in a sequential task received attenuated blame or credit if the outcome was predetermined before their action.
  • This attenuation effect was contingent on the individual's knowledge of the predetermined outcome, not merely the experienced order of events.
  • Responsibility attributions remained sensitive to performance differences even when the outcome was already determined.

Conclusions:

  • The findings support and extend Spellman's model of causal contribution.
  • Responsibility attributions consider both the actual difference made and the counterfactual difference an action would have made.