Factors That Distort Perception: Attribution Errors

 

Attribution Errors: How we cheat ourselves!

image credit:  medexec.org

People behave a certain way in certain situations either because of internal, built-in characteristics or because of external circumstances.

We make judgments about why we behave in a certain way or why others do things in another manner and allocate or attribute “internal” or “external” motifs to conduct.

More often than not, we have a self-serving bias: we credit ourselves and our internal characteristics in positive circumstances and blame external factors in cases of negativity or failure. When it comes to others, however, we tend to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate internal characteristics.

Often, we make errors in judgment and mishandle situations because these attribution errors cause perceptual distortions.