The researchers conducted a study using vignettes that provided character evidence or no character evidence to university law students and judges-to-be. “Legal scholars debate on which of these two systems is better…” (p. (2920), the European legal system relies on judges to arrive at verdicts, while the American system puts the responsibility in the hands of jurors:

It makes jurors more likely to see the defendant as responsible.Īccording to Dominioni et al. Presenting evidence regarding the character of the defendant can lead jurors to commit a fundamental attribution error. “The overall effect size of the attributional bias was large (d = 0.96) and may represent one of the largest effect sizes demonstrated in psychological research on cognition to date” (p. The results of the meta-analysis were robust: They looked at studies of how much people provide positive internal attributions and negative external attributions. The researchers were able to calculate an effect size for each study, which is essentially an index of how strongly one variable effects another variable. (2004) conducted a meta-analysis of 266 studies on self-serving attributions. “One is inclined to attribute to oneself good things, but one suffers when one has to attribute to oneself something that is not so good…” (p. Heider (1976) believed the self-serving attributional bias was pervasive. In fact, being negative towards oneself is a depressive symptom and can be psychologically unhealthy. People have a basic psychological need to view themselves in a positive light. Jones drives by the local food bank and blames corrupt politicians and greedy corporations for moving all the jobs overseas.Ĭase Studies of Attribution Theory 1.

Ben cannot understand why his “best friend” keeps talking bad about him behind his back.

Evita won another gymnastics competition, which her parents attribute to her excellent genes and natural talent.Years after going through a messy divorce, both Beth and Andrew blame each other for their failed marriage.Kumar earned the highest grade in class on the chemistry final, which he attributes to all the time he spent studying.They immediately blame the refs for bad officiating. The fans are really upset after losing a close match.Jasmine walks by a homeless person and speculates that they probably grew up in a very dysfunctional household.Rather than get upset, he just accepts the fact that punctuality is not one of his friend’s priorities in life. Stella believes her child is incredibly smart, but her teacher is not very good and is holding her back.After losing 9 out of their last 10 games, the team is beginning to doubt the coach’s leadership skills.Over the last 50+ years, attribution theory has played a prominent role in education, social psychology, clinical psychology, and management theory. It overcomes our cognitive dissonance.įor example, a person with a hostile attribution bias will attribute others’ behaviors as being hostile to themselves in order to prevent themselves from getting hoodwinked by strangers – better to think everyone is ill-intentioned so you’ll never let anyone fool you!Īttributional behaviors can also help us to come up with a course of action that can either maintain or improve that environment. It is believed that we attempt to attribute causation to events in order to feel a sense of control over the environment. References Why do we Attribute Causation to Behaviors?

According to the actor observer bias