Overattribution and unit formation: When behavior engulfs the person
Conducted 2 experiments with 112 undergraduates to investigate whether there may be circumstances in which observers overattribute behavior to situational causes while adjusting insufficiently for information about an actor's dispositions. Although Ss were clearly informed of the prior attitude...
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| Published in: | Journal of personality and social psychology Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 593 - 607 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Washington, D.C
American Psychological Association
01-04-1982
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Conducted 2 experiments with 112 undergraduates to investigate whether there may be circumstances in which observers overattribute behavior to situational causes while adjusting insufficiently for information about an actor's dispositions. Although Ss were clearly informed of the prior attitude of a target person who wrote an attitude-congruent essay under free-choice instructions, they nevertheless attributed the essay in part to essay-congruent features of the target's situation. This did not depend on whether essays were composed by experimenters or by actual undergraduate target persons, although only essay readers, not essay writers, drew such essay-congruent situational inferences. Results are consistent with an anchoring/adjustment model of sequential attributional processes. (14 ref) |
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| ISSN: | 0022-3514 1939-1315 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/0022-3514.42.4.593 |