Culture and Fundamental Attribution Error- An Essay

Culture and Fundamental Attribution Error

Chris Richards

“Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.”

Alan Alda

            A large part of human nature is attempting to gain control of the world around us. Sometimes this control is physical other times it is an emotional control. Human being seek to make sense of the situations around them. This control and this sense is the cornerstone of philosophy, science, and everyday life.

            In social situations human nature still attempts to make sense of people and their behavior. Discussed in the following essay will be truths and errors regarding the discovery of the cause of peoples behavior(Attribution Theory, 2011).

            Within social psychology there are many theories that attempt to explain human behavior within a social setting. One theory is the Attribution Theory. The attribution theory states that when a person makes an error they are more likely to attribute it to an outside factor. For instance if a person does not get a job, they may say “The interviewer asked dumb questions”. Distancing themselves from blame.

            The second half of the Attribution Theory is when a person is observed. When another has erred the error is often attributed to inward fault. For example, if a person is late it might be said that they are lazy and irresponsible. This assumption would be based on internal attributions as opposed to even considering any external factors like a sick child or traffic accident as the cause for the tardiness (Attribution Theory, 2011).

            When a person tries to explain or understand another’s behavior in a social setting by focusing on the abilities, personality traits, or skills and any situational or external factors are ignored, a fundamental attribution error has occurred.

            Fundamental attribution errors can occur in every walk of life and in nearly every situation, from in the home to in the work place. However an interesting phenomenon (Langdridge & Butt, 2004) regarding the fundamental attribution error is that it occurs more often in certain cultures. In cultures that are more individualistic, which are typically Western cultures such as The United States, Great Britain, and Australia (Hofstede’s cultural factors, 2011).

            Individualistic cultures value free thinking, autonomy, and individually. They are conditioned to prefer dispositional factors rather than situational factors when socializing. Due to the nature of individualistic cultures, they are more likely to commit fundamental attribution errors (Finkelstein, 2011)

            On the other hand, cultures that tend to be more collectivistic in nature, such as Asian cultures, will be less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error. Collectivistic cultures tend to see the individual as the whole group where in Western individualistic cultures tend to see the person as part of the group if not a separate entity (Bouncken & Lotter, 2008)

            Since collectivistic cultures see themselves as part of the group and equals with others in a group or situation they would be less likely to attribute errors in others as internal or dispositional factors.

            A firm understanding of this principle would be invaluable to those who may travel to cultures that are different from their own. Many business dealings would depend on an understanding of who a client may perceive a social satiation.

            It is not enough to understand human nature from the one perspective. In today’s every growing and expanding marketplace, the world is becoming a very small place. As the world gets smaller mankind will only strengthen its attempt to gain control and make sense of it.

References

Attribution Theory. (2011). Retrieved from

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/attribution_theory.htm

Bouncken, R. B., & Lotter, F. (2008). Intergrated Learning patterns: A comarison of          Individualism and collectivism cultures. Journal Of The Academy Of Business &            Economics, 8(2), 1-11.

Finkelstein M. (2011), Correlation of Individualism and collectivism: Predicting volunteer             activty. Social Behavior & Personality. Social Behavior & Personality: An International             Journal, 39(5), 597-606.

Langdridge, D., & Butt, T. (2004). The fundamental attribution error: A phenomenological            critique. British Journal Of Social Psychology, 43(3), 357-369.

Hofstede's cultural factors. (2011). Retrieved from

            changingminds.org/explanations/culture/hofstede_culture.htm.