An area of social cognition which has been influenced by the cognitive approach is the process by which we interpret the causes of behaviour ― our own, and that of other people.
The inferences we make about the causes of behaviour are called attributions, and the model used to explain the interpretations we make is called attribution theory.
As Fritz Heider, the founder of attribution theory, said, we are all ‘psychologists,’ in that we all try to make sense out of people’s actions.
Heider, like Lewin a Gestalt psychologist, suggested that we tend to interpret behaviour in terms of internal (personal) and/or external (situational) factors.
For exam– ple, if you see someone frowning, you may decide they are angry, and speculate about the source of their anger.
Depending on the circumstances and the information you have, you may attribute it to internal factors, such as the person having a hostile nature, or you may attribute it to something in the external situation, such as the person having received bad news.
Trying to understand why someone is acting in a particular way can obviously be useful ― assuming our interpretations are accurate.
Given that we often have incomplete information, however, errors are also quite possible.
As a result, researchers studying attributions have been interested in the types of errors that people make, particularly those that might represent a consistent tendency, or bias.
One such error, called the fundamental attribution error, is the tendency to underestimate the importance of situational influences, and overestimate the importance of internal factors in interpreting other people’s behaviour.
Thus, if we encounter a sales clerk who is unhelpful, we are likely to assume that the person is unfriendly, rather than consider whether the working conditions or other situational factors might be responsible (for example, the person may have sore feet after standing for several hours).
Similarly, it has been suggested that people find the results of Milgram’s study of obedience surprising, because it emphasizes that, contrary to our intuitions, situational factors are often more powerful than internal factors.
The fundamental attribution error suggests there is a basic bias in the way we perceive other people.
However, ⇨ attribution theory also applies to the way we interpret our own behaviour.
Not surprisingly, there is evidence that errors can also occur in this contexts; one such error identified by researchers is called the self–serving bias.
The self–serving bias reflects a desire to see ourselves in the best possible light; in practice, it is expressed as a tendency to attribute our successes to personal factors (that is, our own ability), but blame our failures on situational factors (for example, distraction, lack of time).
Thus, if Marie does well on a test, she may say it is because she studied hard, but if she does badly, she may complain that the test was unfair.
The end result is a distortion of Marie’s self–image in a favourable way.