Attribution bias

Abstract: We examined social-information-processing mechanisms (e.g., hostile attributional biases and intention-cue detection deficits) in chronic reactive and proactive aggressive behavior in children's peer groups. In Study 1, a teacher-rating instrument was developed to assess these behaviors in elementary school children (N = 259). Reactive and proactive scales were found to be internally consistent, and factor analyses partially supported convergent and discriminant validities. In Study 2, behavioral correlates of these forms of aggression were examined through assessments by peers (N = 339). Both types of aggression related to social rejection, but only proactively aggressive boys were also viewed as leaders and as having a sense of humor. In Study 3, we hypothesized that reactive aggression (but not proactive aggression) would occur as a function of hostile attributional biases and intention-cue detection deficits. Four groups of socially rejected boys (reactive aggressive, proactive aggressive, reactive-proactive aggressive, and nonaggressive) and a group of average boys were presented with a series of hypothetical videorecorded vignettes depicting provocations by peers and were asked to interpret the intentions of the provocateur (N = 117). Only the two reactive-aggressive groups displayed biases and deficits in interpretations. In Study 4, attributional biases and deficits were found to be positively correlated with the rate of reactive aggression (but not proactive aggression) displayed in free play with peers (N = 127). These studies supported the hypothesis that attributional biases and deficits are related to reactive aggression but not to proactive aggression.

Abstract: Social Cognition: From Brains to Culture 1. Introduction a. Approaches to Studying the Social Thinker b. Ebb & Flow of Cognition in Psychology & Neuroscience c. What is Social Cognition? d. People Are Not Things f. Brains Matter e. Cultures Matter g. Summary Basic Topics in Social Cognition 2. Dual Modes in Social Cognition a. Automatic Processes b. Controlled Processes c. Motivations Influence Which Modes Operate d. Models of Both Automatic and Controlled Processes f. Summary 3. Attention and Encoding a. Salience: A Property of Stimuli in Context b. Vividness: An Inherent Property of Stimuli c. Accessibility: A Property of Categories in Our Heads d. Direct Perception: Not Just in Our Heads e. Faces: The focus of social attention 4. Representation in Memory a. Associative Networks: Organizing Memory b. Procedural and Declarative memory: What memory Does c. Parallel Versus Serial Processing: Coordinating Memory Processes d. Embodies Memory: Including Physical Representation e. Social Memory Structures: Why Social Memory matters F. Summary Topics in Social Cognition: From Self to Society 5. Self in Social Cognition a. Mental Representations of the Self b. Self-Regulation c. Motivation and Self-Regulation d. The Self as a Reference Point e. Summary 6. Attribution Process a. What is Attribution? b. Early Contributions to Attribution Theory c. Processes Underlying Attribution d. Attributional Biases e. Summary 7. Heuristics and Shortcuts: Efficiency in Inference and Decision Making a. What Are Heuristics? b. When Are Heuristics Used, and When Do They Lead to Wrong Answers? c. Judgments Over Time d. Summary 8. Accuracy and Efficiency in Social Inference a. Errors and Biases as Consequential: impoving the Inference Process b. Errors and Biases in Social Inference: Perhaps They Don't Matter? c. Are rapid Judgments Sometimes Better Than Thoughtfully Considered Ones? d. Neuroeconomics: Back to the Future? e. Summary 9. Cognitive Structures of Attitudes a. Background b. Cognitive Features of Two Consistency Theories c. Lay Theories and Attitude Change d. Functional Dimensions of Attitudes e. Summary 10. Cognitive Processing of Attitudes a. Heuristic Versus Systemic Model b. Peripheral Versus Central Routes to Persuasion: Elaboration Liklihood Model c. Motivation and Opportunity Determine Attitude Processes: The MODE Model d. Implicit Associations e. Embodied Attitdes f. Neural Correlates of Attitudes g. Summary 11. Stereotyping: Cognition and Bias a. Blatant Stereotypes b. Subtle Stereotypes c. Effects of Bias d. Summary 12. Prejudice: Interplay of Cogntive with Affective Biases a. Intergroup Cognition and Emotion b. Racial Prejudice c. Gender Prejudice d. Age Prejudice e. Sexual Prejudice f. Summary 13. From Social Cognition to Affect a. Differentiating Among Affects, Preferences, Evaluations, Moods, and Emotions b. Early Theories c. Physiological Theories of Emotion d. Social Cognitive Foundations of Affect e. Summary 14. From Affect to Social Cognitioncognition a. Affective Influences on Cognition b. Affect Versus Cognition c. Summary 15. Behavior and Cognition a. Goal Directed Behavior b. When Are Cognitions and Behavior Related c. Using Behavior for Impression Management d. Using Behavior as a Test Hypotheses About Others d. Summary References Cited Author Index Subject Index

Abstract: Researchers have suggested the presence of a self-serving attributional bias, with people making more internal, stable, and global attributions for positive events than for negative events. This study examined the magnitude, ubiquity, and adaptiveness of this bias. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 266 studies, yielding 503 independent effect sizes. The average d was 0.96, indicating a large bias. The bias was present in nearly all samples. There were significant age differences, with children and older adults displaying the largest biases. Asian samples displayed significantly smaller biases (d = 0.30) than U.S. (d = 1.05) or Western (d = 0.70) samples. Psychopathology was associated with a significantly attenuated bias (d = 0.48) compared with samples without psychopathology (d = 1.28) and community samples (d = 1.08). The bias was smallest for samples with depression (0.21), anxiety (0.46), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (0.55). Findings confirm that the self-serving attributional bias is pervasive in the general population but demonstrates significant variability across age, culture, and psychopathology.

Abstract: Three studies suggest that individuals see the existence and operation of cognitive and motivational biases much more in others than in themselves. Study 1 provides evidence from three surveys that people rate themselves as less subject to various biases than the “average American,” classmates in a seminar, and fellow airport travelers. Data from the third survey further suggest that such claims arise from the interplay among availability biases and self-enhancement motives. Participants in one follow-up study who showed the better-than-average bias insisted that their self-assessments were accurate and objective even after reading a description of how they could have been affected by the relevant bias. Participants in a final study reported their peer’s self-serving attributions regarding test performance to be biased but their own similarly self-serving attributions to be free of bias. The relevance of these phenomena to naive realism and to conflict, misunderstanding, and dispute resolution is discussed.