On Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:47:06 -0700, Michael Britt wrote: >Don't these two terms basically describe the same thing? I suppose you could >say that the FAE occurs when I observe you (you do it because of your >personality), whereas the A/O bias is a broader term describing what happens >when I observe you (you do it because of your personality) and you observe >yourself (I did it because of the situation). Can anyone clarify these two >very related terms? Because there's yet another related term: the self-serving >bias - which I suppose occurs only when I observe myself (I did it because of >the situation - when I fail - and I did it because of my talent/skill - when I >succeed).
I think the difference between the two concepts is highlighted in the quote below from Choi and Nisbett (1998): |Thus, it is lay dispositionist theory of behavior that |makes the classic studies classic. This "dispositionism" of |lay theory has been documented by innumerable studies. |For example, people tend to (a) offer dispositional |explanations for behavior instead of situational ones, |even when it should be transparent that the behavior is |produced by situational factors (the "the correspondence |bias" or "the fundamental attribution error" [FAE]) (for |reviews, see Gilbert & Malone, 1995;Jones, 1979; Ross, |1977; Ross & Nisbett, 1991); (b) make overly confident |predictions about behavior on the basis of a small |amount ofinformation concerning dispositions (Kunda |& Nisbett, 1986; Newton, Griffin, & Ross, 1988); and (3) |describe the self as well as others in terms of internal |dispositions rather than context-specific factors (Cousins, |1989; S. T. Fiske & Taylor, 1991). The tendency to |see behavior as dispositionally produced is somewhat |muted when the actor is the self; thus, there is an "actor-observer |bias" that shifts causal attributions toward situational |interpretations when the self is the object of |judgment (Jones & Nisbett, 1972). But self-perception |research shows that people often overattribute dispositions |even for their own behavior (Nisbett & Ross, 1980; |Ross, 1977). Choi, I., & Nisbett, R. E. (1998). Situational salience and cultural differences in the correspondence bias and actor-observer bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24(9), 949-960. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=21305 or send a blank email to leave-21305-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
