Observers on the other hand, are outsiders in the situation. No one likes to look bad, so to protect their self-esteem, actors are more likely to blame the situation than take responsibility. The actor-observer bias mostly arises in negative situations, when the behavior is blame-worthy. An example of such a motive is the need to enhance or protect one’s self-esteem. Motivational differencesĬollecting and processing information doesn’t only serve the purpose of understanding and structuring our reality. As observers, if a stranger is rude to us, we will probably blame their personality, rather than thinking that they just were having a bad day. Due to this lack of information, we have a tendency to assume the behavior is due to an internal characteristic. The only information we have is what is observable to us. The opposite is true from the observer’s standpoint. Because we know that we don’t always behave that way, we associate our behavior with the situation, rather than our personality. If we are rude to someone, we are more inclined to think that this was an exception, rather than the rule.įor instance, we may recall very few instances when we insulted anyone, and we may believe that in most of these instances we were provoked. We know how we behaved in the past, our emotional state, and our intentions.

When we are trying to explain our own behavior as actors, we have much more information available to us. As observers, we focus our attention on the actor’s behavior, and take it more or less at “face value”, i.e., suggesting fixed personality traits. On the contrary, from the observer’s viewpoint, the environment is stable, and functions as a mere background or context. Therefore, we are more likely to seek the cues that shape our behavior in our environment or the situation.

For this reason, our attention as actors tends to be directed outwards. In other words, we cannot see ourselves behaving. However, there are three particular explanations, which are very intertwined with each other:Īs actors, we cannot easily perceive our own behavior. Human behavior is a complex phenomenon, leading to several possible explanations of the actor-observer bias. Due to this, they are more likely to seek a broader perspective, also taking into account situational factors when explaining someone’s behavior. In contrast, people from collectivist cultures, which tend to be found in East Asian, Latin American, and African countries, are more group or relationship-oriented. Here, a person’s character is thought to be the primary explanation for their behavior. Individualistic cultures, which tend to be found in countries such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, are more achievement-oriented. Culture impacts the way we perceive the world, which in turn influences the attributions we make.

Note: Attribution & cultureThe idea behind attribution is that all people think more or less in the same way, and thus are equally prone to actor-observer bias.

Internal (or dispositional) attribution interprets someone’s behavior to their personality or disposition.Īs a result of actor-observer bias, the attributions we make depend directly on whether we are the actor or the observer.

External (or situational) attribution interprets someone’s behavior as being caused by their environment, or by factors outside of their control.

Because we are usually unaware of this process, it is prone to bias. On a typical day, we make numerous attributions about our own behavior and the behavior of others. In psychology, attribution refers to how we perceive and explain the causes of behavior.

This erroneous, or mistaken, assumption on the observer’s part is called fundamental attribution error. However, when we are in the role of the observer explaining the behavior of others, we are more likely to blame their character. More specifically, it is a type of attribution bias, a bias that occurs when we form judgments and assumptions about why people behave in certain ways.Īccording to the actor-observer bias, we are more likely to attribute our actions to external circumstances, rather than to our personality. Actor-observer bias (or actor-observer asymmetry) is a type of cognitive bias, or an error in thinking.

Actor observer bias psychology quizlet