Why did they do that? Three Attribution Traps: Fundamental Attribution Error, Actor-Observer Bias, and Self-Serving Bias
Online Course: Learn Social Psychology
In social psychology, attribution is the process of inferring the causes of behaviors. We attribute the behaviors to some causes. For example, when we failed on a quiz, we might think that we are just too stupid or we might blame the teacher for not teaching well.
There are two types of attributions: Dispositional Attributions (Internal) and Situational Attribution (External).
Dispositional Attributions is that we explain a person's behavior as being caused by internal characteristics. In other words, it is caused by something about the person. For example, when you see a guy bowling, you may think he's a guy who likes bowling.
Conversely, Situational Attribution is that we explain a person's behavior as being caused by external circumstances. That is, it is caused by something about the situation. For example, when you see a guy bowling, you may think his friends made him go bowling tonight.
In general, studies find out that people tend to overestimate the impact of dispositional attributions and underestimate the impact of situational attributions, which in social psychology is called The Fundamental Attribution Error.
Another two biases that people tend to have are Actor-Observer Bias and Self-Serving Bias. Actor-Observer Bias is referring to the tendency that people make dispositional attributions for others and situational attributions for themselves. Self-Serving Bias is referring to the tendency that people make dispositional attributions to success and situational attributions for failure. However, sometimes when people are depressed or have low self-esteem, their attribution style can be flipped.
There are a lot of phenomena that can be explained by these tendencies. Let me know if you have some interesting examples!