Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to talk about attribution bias. Let's start off by defining what attribution bias is.
It's a cognitive bias, so a mental bias that we all have, that affects determination of responsibility of actions or events. So this cognitive bias affects how we decide who or what is responsible for a specific action or event.
Attribution bias also manifests on an individual and group level. So in attribution bias, it also says that we are giving or assigning more positive traits or attributions to individuals or our own groups that are like us, and then assign more negative traits or attributions to the nonmembers or people who are not like us.
So we can have attribution bias manifest on many different levels. But we're going to look at this a little bit more broad in terms of that. So on the individual level, we are basically giving more positive attributions to people like us. And so we want to think of ourselves as being a positive-- that's normal. And so we then tend to give those positive traits or attributions to people like us, because we want to feel and be viewed in a positive light.
Also, we want to view or believe that our success is based upon skills, ability, and personal attributions. So we possess a certain scalability in order for us to be successful. While other's success, rather, is based upon external factors. So they needed something to help them out to get to where they are or to be successful.
So a good example or phrase is, in the right place at the right time. So it was success not based upon skills and ability, but rather by chance. Or again, being in the right place at the right time.
A further example could be, well, she got that job because she knows someone who works there. She didn't get the job because she had the right educational background or certain skills or experience. But rather, she had to have help from somebody that she knew in order to be successful in getting that job.
Now let's look at attribution bias on a group level. So as humans, we have a tendency to identify or self identify in groups. So we are in groups with people that are like us And this would be considered our in-group. So it's the group that we are a member of. And the out-group then would be the group that we are not a member of.
So when we identify with groups, we have these in-group/out-group dynamics that occur. And we then, just as we did on the individual level, we give more negative attributions to those people that are in the out-group. And we give more positive attributions to members of our own group, so our in-group.
And when we do this, these negative attributions can lead to stereotyping. And stereotyping is where we form a belief about certain general trends or traits of a group. So we are generalizing people as a whole group rather than looking at them as an individual member with their own personal attributions or traits.
Let's look at an example. I'm sure you're familiar with the high school clique example where we have a series of in-groups and out-groups. So for example, let's take the athletes. And they're an in-group of themselves.
And the out-group for them would be the band members. And they think that all of the band members are huge geeks and have no skills. And we the athletes are better because we're strong and we're fit.
And so they're creating these negative attributions towards the out-group, the band members. And in a sense, also stereotyping them as being a general group with general traits, rather than looking at some individual traits that each member of that group possesses.
So attribution bias really plays a part in when we are in conflict. So when we are in conflict with another individual or group, we then tend to, due to our attribution bias, inappropriately blame and have misperceptions or wrong perceptions about the others. And because of this, we can escalate the conflict further.
So for example, it's your fault the car broke down. You're the one who told me to buy it. So we're in conflict with another individual and we are blaming them for an event that they had nothing to do with. Is it really their fault that our car broke down? Probably not. It was probably a mechanical malfunction.
But because we are in conflict and our attribution bias, we are blaming them for events or situations that they have nothing to do with and they're not a part of. And so here, I might be offended that this person has blamed me for their car breaking down because I know I had nothing to do with it. And I'm already in a conflict with them. And this situation can only escalate our conflict outside of this further.
And I mentioned also that we have misperceptions. Or attribution bias can affect our perceptions. So let's say we're in a conflict with our neighbor and we say this to another neighbor, Bob is completely worthless and lazy. He never mows his yard and it looks like a jungle.
Well, we are perceiving that our neighbor Bob here is worthless and lazy. And this is due to our attribution bias. We want to think more highly of ourselves. And we then are giving those negative attributions to our neighbor.
And we are in a conflict over another matter. But in saying this to a person outside the conflict, it then gets over to Bob, who hears that I called him worthless and lazy. And because of this perception and my attribution bias towards him, our conflict on another matter is further escalated and we are going to have to work through so much more because of this in resolving that other issue.
Let's look at our key points here before we go on attribution bias. So attribution bias affects how we determine responsibility of who or what is responsible for a certain event or action. And we do this on an individual and a group level.
And because of this, we are creating an in-group and out-group dynamic. So we want to think more favorably of ourselves and our groups or in-group, which then leads us to giving more negative attributions to others, or the out-group.
And this can lead to stereotyping where we are making generalized statements about a specific group, rather than looking at the members of the group on an individual basis. And our attribution bias can escalate conflict. And it can affect our perceptions and have us inappropriately blame events to people that are unconnected to a specific conflict or event. So our car breaking down was that example. And then our perceptions being affected was with our neighbor.
So here are your key terms here before we go. Feel free to pause and look at them a little closer. Thank you so much for taking the time out to view this. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.
