TPR PSY Question Help!

[junemcat]

I was doing TPR review, but this question really confused me.

Suppose that when an individual behaves in a negative way, she tends to blame the situation for her negative behavior, and not her personality. What error is this person committing?
a. fundamental attribution error
b. actor/observer bias
c. self-serving bias
d. optimism bias

Well, D is obviously out of the window. I crossed out A (FAE is when you attribute dispositional factors to explain another person's behavior), B(there is no observer here, she did explain her negative behavior via situational factors, but she did not explain other's behavior dispositionally), and I picked C (She attribute her own failures to situational (other/environmental) factors).

But the answer choice says that the answer is B, actor/observer bias.

Anyone understand this? Did I confuse the terms?

Thanks in advance!!

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[taragon85]

Actor/observer bias is opposite of fundamental attribution error.

Actor/Observer blame on Situational instead of dispositional

she tends to blame the situation (situational) for her negative behavior, and not her personality (dispositional)

 

[junemcat]

she tends to blame the situation (situational) for her negative behavior, and not her personality (dispositional)

Yes. I agree, but I thought that for actor/observe bias, there actually needs to be someone being observed. Eg. When you see others steal --> they are breaking the law b/c they are a bad person.
When you steal --> Society (situational factor) pressured you

But for self-serving bias, there only needs to be one party. Eg. I got a good grade b/c I studied hard --> Attribute good behavior internally
I failed the test b/c the teacher is unfair --> Attribute negative events to external influence. [this is ONLY ABOUT YOURSELF. NOT how others are acting]

Self-serving: attribute good things to dispositional factors and bad things to situational factors
actor/observer: attribute behavior of self to dispositional factors and behavior of others to situational factors.
FAE: attribute other people's behavior (negative behavior) to their own (dispositional factors)

That's why I was confused with the question. Because the question only mentions how the person feels about HERSELF. So I thought it's self-serving bias.

Please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks!

 

[JustinM88]

Here:


Now, can someone explain how this^ differs from Fundamental Attribution Error?

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Hi @JustinM88 -

The fundamental attribution error is usually defined as being just about others, not about oneself.

Hope this helps clarify things !

 

[junemcat]

Hi @JustinM88 -

The fundamental attribution error is usually defined as being just about others, not about oneself.

Hope this helps clarify things !

Hi, so do you think my explaination make sense?

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Hi @junemcat -

Yep! Looks like you have it down.

 

[junemcat]

Hi @junemcat -

Yep! Looks like you have it down.

Thank you!