On Mon, 1 Feb 1999, Michael Sylvester wrote:
> what is the esssential difference between the fundamental attribution
> error and the self-serving bias?(if any).
>
One big difference is the focus of the attribution. When we make the FAE
(a.k.a. the correspondence bias), an attribution is being made about
another person. It turns out that we overestimate dispositional factors
(internal factors) in these attributions of others. In other words,
Michael Richards acted goofy in Seinfeld because he really IS like Kramer
in his day-to-day life. Poor people are poor because they are lazy (I
know this example treads dangerously close to the Just World Phenomenon,
but the main point is that the attribution is internal and ignores
possible situational factors).
The Self-Serving Bias, on the other hand, focuses (not surprisingly) on
the self. Another difference is that internal attributions are made
only following success. I made that jump shot because I'm a skilled
basketball player. However, external attributions are made following
failure. I missed that jump shot because there was a soft spot in the
floor, I was fouled, and I think that there's something slick on the
bottom of my shoe. By the way, is that ball inflated to regulation
pressure? To oversimplify a little, take credit for success, find blame
for failure.
Of course this gets pretty muddy when you start bringing locus of control
and self-esteem into the equation, but you didn't ask about those. :)
Jeff
================================================ ____________________
Jeff Bartel Grad Student in Social Psyc | Manhattan >
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Dept of Psychology | x \_
www-personal.ksu.edu/~jbartel Kansas State U. | |
Syllabi page for psychology instructors: | |
www-personal.ksu.edu/~jbartel/syllabi.html | KANSAS |
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