The group attribution error is a group-serving, attributional bias identical to the fundamental attribution error except that it occurs between different groups rather than different individuals. Group members are more likely to attribute the decisions of their own group to its decision rules, while they tend to attribute the decisions of another group to its
Correspondent inference theory is a psychological theory proposed by Edward E. Jones and Keith Davis that “systematically accounts for a perceiver’s inferences about what an actor was trying to achieve by a particular action.” Attributing intention The problem of accurately defining intentions is a difficult one. For every observed act, there are a multitude
Kelley’s covariation model (1967, 1971, 1972, 1973) is an attribution theory in which people make causal inferences to explain why other people and ourselves behave in a certain way. It is concerned with both social perception and self-perception (Kelley, 1973). The covariation principle states that, “an effect is attributed to the one of its possible
The hypothesis of an “actor–observer asymmetry” was first proposed by social psychologists, Jones and Nisbett in 1971. They hypothesized that “actors tend to attribute the causes of their behavior to stimuli inherent in the situation, while observers tend to attribute behavior to stable dispositions of the actor” (Jones & Nisbett, 1971, p. 93). Jones and
Egocentric bias occurs when people claim more responsibility for themselves for the results of a joint action than an outside observer would credit them. Besides simply claiming credit for positive outcomes, which might simply be self-serving bias, people exhibiting egocentric bias also cite themselves as overly responsible for negative outcomes of group behavior as well
Fundamentalists and political radicals often overestimate the number of people who share their values and beliefs, because of the false consensus effect. In psychology, the false consensus effect is a cognitive bias whereby a person tends to overestimate how much other people agree with him or her. There is a tendency for people to assume
Group-serving bias is identical to self-serving bias except that it takes place between groups rather than individuals, under which group members make dispositional attributions for their group’s successes and situational attributions for group failures, and vice versa for outsider groups. For instance, the fundamental attribution error is a self-serving bias, while the group attribution error
In psychology and cognitive science, hedonistic relevance is an observer’s tendency to attribute a behavior to a person’s disposition (rather than to their situation) when the behavior negatively affects the observer, their property, or those close to them. The effect of hedonistic relevance is to hold a person responsible for an event that might well
In psychology, the negativity effect is the tendency of people, when evaluating the causes of the behaviors of a person they dislike, to attribute the situations surrounding them as the cause of their positive behaviors and their inherent disposition as the cause of their negative behaviors. The negativity effect is the inverse of the positivity
A self-serving bias occurs when people attribute their successes to internal or personal factors but attribute their failures to situational factors beyond their control. The self-serving bias can be seen in the common human tendency to take credit for success but to deny responsibility for failure. It may also manifest itself as a tendency for
Trait ascription bias is the tendency for people to view themselves as relatively variable in terms of personality, behavior and mood while viewing others as much more predictable in their personal traits across different situations. This may be because our own internal states are much more observable and available to us than those of others.
The fallacy of the single cause, also known as causal oversimplification, is a fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of an outcome when in reality it may have been caused by a number of only jointly sufficient causes. Often after a tragedy it is
A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. Implicit in the concept of a “pattern of deviation” is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable facts. Cognitive biases are instances of evolved
A counter-stereotype, reverse stereotype, or anti-stereotype is the reverse of a stereotype. Although counter-stereotypes arise in opposition to stereotypes, they may eventually become stereotypes themselves if they are too popular. Spike Lee popularized the term magical negro, deriding the archetype of the “super-duper magical negro” in 2001 while discussing films with students at Washington State
Face-ism or facial prominence is the relative prominence of the face in the portrayal of men and women. Research showed that media tend to feature more on men’s face and women’s body. Origin and subsequent studies The term “face-ism” or “facial prominence” was initially defined by Archer, Iritani, Kimes and Barrios in their five
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. A scapegoat may be a child, employee, peer, ethnic or religious group, or country. A whipping boy or “fall guy” is a form of scapegoat. Etymology The word “scapegoat” is a mistranslation of the word Azazel. The Septuagint, an
Social stigma is a severe social disapproval of or personal discontent with a person on the grounds of their unique characteristics distinguishing them from others in society. Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms. Erving Goffman defined stigma as ‘the process by which the reaction of others spoils
Out-group homogeneity bias, also known as the out-group homogeneity effect, is one’s perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members. Thus “they are alike; we are diverse”. People have a more differentiated cognitive representation of in-groups than of out-groups. The out-group homogeneity bias relates to the social identity theory
A prejudice is a prejudgment, an assumption made about someone or something before having adequate knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy. The word prejudice is most commonly used to refer to preconceived judgments toward people or a person because of race, social class, gender, ethnicity, homelessness, age, disability, obesity, religion, sexual
Originating in sociology and criminology, labeling theory (also known as social reaction theory) was developed by sociologist Howard S. Becker. Labeling theory (synonymous to “identifying against”) holds that deviance is not inherent to an act, but instead focuses on the linguistic tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities or those seen as deviant from norms.
The ultimate attribution error is a term in Social Psychology which refers to a bias people commonly have towards members of an outgroup. Specifically, they view negative acts committed by outgroup members as a stable trait of the outgroup, and view positive acts committed by outgroup members as exceptions to normal behavior. The term is
The Minimal group paradigm (MGP) is a methodology employed in social psychology (e.g. Tajfel, 1970) to investigate the minimal conditions required for discrimination to occur between groups. Experiments using this approach have revealed that even arbitrary and virtually meaningless distinctions between groups (e.g. the colour of their shirts ) can trigger a tendency to favour
Realistic conflict theory dates back to the beginning of the 20th century as one of the earliest of social psychological theories regarding prejudice and discrimination. Realistic conflict theory proposes that intergroup conflicts arise between groups as they compete over the same limited resources. This is a possible cause of prejudice and discrimination development within a
Racism is the belief that there are inherent differences in people’s traits and capacities that are entirely due to their race, however defined, and that, as a consequence, justify the different treatment of those people, both socially and legally. Moreover, racism is the practice of the different treatment of certain a group or groups, which