How do we explain the causes of our own and others' behaviour, and what biases distort these judgements?
Explain attribution theory, including internal and external attributions, and the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer bias and self-serving bias
WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3: attribution theory, internal (dispositional) versus external (situational) attributions, and the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer bias and self-serving bias.
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What this dot point is asking
SCSA asks you to define attribution, distinguish internal from external attributions, and explain the main attributional biases with examples. The marked skill is correctly identifying which bias is at work in a described scenario.
What attribution is
Attribution is the cognitive process of assigning a cause to behaviour, our own or someone else's. Fritz Heider, who founded attribution theory, argued that people act as intuitive scientists, constantly trying to explain why things happen so the social world feels predictable.
Every explanation falls into one of two broad types.
- Internal (dispositional) attribution locates the cause within the person: their personality, ability, effort or attitude. We say someone failed because they are lazy.
- External (situational) attribution locates the cause in the environment or circumstances: luck, task difficulty, other people or the situation. We say someone failed because the test was unfair.
The fundamental attribution error
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overestimate internal, dispositional causes and underestimate external, situational causes when explaining other people's behaviour. Seeing a driver cut us off, we conclude they are rude (disposition) rather than considering they may be rushing to a hospital (situation). We do this even when situational pressures are obvious.
The actor-observer bias
The actor-observer bias is the tendency to attribute our own behaviour to the situation but others' behaviour to their disposition. When we trip, we blame the uneven pavement (external); when someone else trips, we think they are clumsy (internal). This happens partly because we can see the situational pressures acting on ourselves more clearly than those acting on others.
The self-serving bias
The self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors and our failures to external factors, protecting our self-esteem. A student who passes says it was their hard work (internal); the same student who fails says the exam was unfair (external).
Why attribution matters
Attribution shapes relationships, conflict, prejudice and motivation. Blaming people for outcomes that are really situational fuels unfair judgements and stereotyping, while teaching people to consider situational causes can increase empathy. In the next dot points, biased attributions also help explain prejudice and intergroup conflict.