The Study of the Ways People Explain Their own Behavior

Causal attribution is the study of the ways people explain their own and other people's behaviour. Many research studies have shown there is a cultural divide between western and non-western countries (Earley, 1993). Non-western countries are described as ‘collectivist’ proposing that people within this culture define themselves as a member of a collective group. The person has their own role within the group with little freedom or personal control over their lives but not necessarily wanting or needing this (Gilovich, Keltner, & Nisbett, 2010). In contrast, western countries are described as individualistic as individuals within this culture strive to be unique, work independently and choose their own path throughout their life. This cultural difference is the paradigm used for the majority of the research discussed in this essay. The fundamental attribution error (FAE) is a key concept which refers to the failure to recognise the importance of situational influences on behaviour as well as the tendency to overemphasise the importance of dispositions (Gilovich et al., 2010). This essay evaluates research which has shown that personality traits are no less important to East Asians than to Americans, but they are understood differently (Norenzayan, Choi, & Nisbett, 2002). This essay also discusses how East Asians emphasise both personal and situational factors in causal attribution, whereas Americans tend to neglect situational factors (Morris & Peng, 1994). Furthermore, how attributions are influenced by: the perceived changeability of personality, holistic and atomistic views (Choi, Dalal, Chu, & Park, 2003) and prior information (Jen & Lien, 2010).

Researchers have investigated whether cultural differences differ the way peo...

... middle of paper ...

...annot be oversimplified. Other research has shown personality traits are no less important to East Asians than to Americans, but they are understood differently. East Asians emphasise both personal and situational factors in causal attribution, whereas Americans tend to neglect situational factors. In addition, East Asians view personality as more changeable than Americans do (Norenzayan et al., 2002). East Asians’ tending to be holistic and Americans’ tending to be more atomistic leads to the prediction that East Asians will consider more information in causal attributions than Americans will (Choi et al., 2003). When the amount of information deemed relevant was controlled, the effect of culture on causal attribution was no longer significant, indicating culture affects attribution by influencing how much information people judge to be relevant (Jen & Lien, 2010).