Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

ATTRIBUTION BIASES: TO ERR IS HUMAN 
If we always processed information in the rational manner that attribution theory 
suggests, the world might run a lot more smoothly. Unfortunately, although attribu-
tion theory generally makes accurate predictions, people do not always process infor-
mation about others as logically as the theory seems to suggest. In fact, research 
reveals consistent biases in the ways people make attributions. Typical biases include 
the following: 
• The halo effect . Harry is intelligent, kind, and loving. Is he also conscientious? 
If you were to guess, your most likely response probably would be yes. Your 
guess refl ects the halo effect , a phenomenon in which an initial understanding 
that a person has positive traits is used to infer other uniformly positive 
characteristics. The opposite would also hold true. Learning that Harry was 
unsociable and argumentative would probably lead you to assume that he was 
lazy as well. However, few people have either uniformly positive or uniformly 
negative traits, so the halo effect leads to misperceptions of others (Goffi n, 
Jelley, & Wagner, 2003; Dennis, 2007).
• Assumed-similarity bias . How similar to you—in terms of attitudes, opinions, 
likes, and dislikes—are your friends and acquaintances? Most people believe 
that their friends and acquaintances are fairly similar to themselves. But this 
feeling goes beyond just people we know to a general tendency—known as 
the assumed-similarity bias —to think of people as being similar to oneself 
even when meeting them for the fi rst time. Given the range of people in the 
world, this assumption often reduces the accuracy of our judgments (Lemay, 
Clark, & Feeney, 2007; Lemay & Clark, 2008).
dispositional causes (of behavior) 
Per-
ceived causes of behavior that are based 
on internal traits or personality factors.
Study Alert
The central question in 
making an attribution is 
whether the cause of be-
havior is due to situational 
or dispositional factors.
The assumed similarity bias leads us to 
believe that others hold similar attitudes, 
opinions, and likes and dislikes.
halo effect 
A phenomenon in which 
an initial understanding that a person 
has positive traits is used to infer other 
uniformly positive characteristics.