Microsoft Word Chapter 1 done doc

correspondence bias ) describes the tendency to over-value 
dispositional or personality-based explanations for the observed 
behaviors of others while under-valuing situational explanations for 
those behaviors. It is most visible when people explain the behavior 
of others. It does not explain interpretations of one's own behavior - 
where situational factors are often taken into consideration. This 

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discrepancy is called the actor-observer bias. Fundamental 
Attribution Error refers to the tendency to make attributions to 
internal causes when focusing on someone else’s behavior. When 
looking at the behavior of others, we tend to underestimate the 
impact of situational forces and overestimate the impact of 
dispositional forces. Most people ignore the impact of role 
pressures and other situational constraints on others and see 
behavior as caused by people's intentions, motives, and attitudes. 
Self-Serving Attributions : 
Self-serving attributions are explanations for one’s 
successes that credit internal, dispositional factors and 
explanations for one’s failures that blame external, situational 
factors. Self-serving bias is a tendency to attribute one’s own 
success to internal causes and one’s failures to external 
causes. This pattern is observed in the attributions that professional 
athletes make for their performances. It has been found that less-
experienced athletes, more highly skilled athletes, and athletes in 
solo sports are more likely to make self-serving attributions.
One reason people make self-serving attributions is to 
maintain their self-esteem. A second reason is self-presentation, to 
maintain the perceptions others have of one self. A third reason is 
because people have information about their behavior in other 
situations, which may lead to positive outcomes being expected 
and negative outcomes being unexpected (and thus attributed to 
the situation). People often blame themselves for their own 
misfortune. Because otherwise, they would have to admit that 
misfortune was beyond their control, and they would be unable to 
avoid it in the future.