What is Attribution Bias?
Attributional biases in social psychology are a class of cognitive errors triggered when people evaluate the dispositions or qualities of others based on incomplete evidence. For instance, in one famous 1967 study, participants observed two groups of people reading essays aloud – one reading essays in favor of Fidel Castro, others against Castro. Even though the observers were told that the readers were assigned to the groups entirely randomly, watching them read the essays caused them to attribute greater probabilities that those reading the pro-Castro essays were in fact pro-Castro and those reading the anti-Castro essays were in fact anti-Castro. This is an example of the so-called fundamental attribution error, where people overemphasize dispositional (personality-based) explanations for behavior over situational explanations. Attribution biases are ubiquitous in psychology, and one famous researcher even called them the bedrock of modern social psychology. The attribution bias cau
Attributional biases in social psychology are a class of cognitive errors triggered when people evaluate the dispositions or qualities of others based on incomplete evidence. For instance, in one famous 1967 study, participants observed two groups of people reading essays aloud — one reading essays in favor of Fidel Castro, others against Castro. Even though the observers were told that the readers were assigned to the groups entirely randomly, watching them read the essays caused them to attribute greater probabilities that those reading the pro-Castro essays were in fact pro-Castro and those reading the anti-Castro essays were in fact anti-Castro. This is an example of the so-called fundamental attribution error, where people overemphasize dispositional (personality-based) explanations for behavior over situational explanations. Attribution biases are ubiquitous in psychology, and one famous researcher even called them the bedrock of modern social psychology. The attribution bias c
Be able to identify several different types of attribution bias. What are accounts? Be able to identify and discuss the various sources of conflict. What are the stages of conflict according to Pondy? Be able to identify and discuss conflict management styles. Be able to distinguish between competitive and cooperative approaches to negotiation.
