Trait ascription, causal attribution and the actor-observer hypothesis
Date
1984
Authors
O'Connor, Brian
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study is an attempt to clear up some confusions which have been prevalent in the research on Jones and Nisbett's (1972) actor-observer causal attribution hypothesis. The central theme is that there is an important difference between trait ascription and causal attribution which has been ignored in past research and which may account for the weak and mixed evidence for the hypothesis. A study was designed to determine whether these two processes are independent phenomena and to test the importance of interpersonal distance as a manipulation of salience. Both strangers and friends were studied. The results provide tentative support for the main hypothesis but no support for the role of distance or level of familiarity. Important differences were found between the actor-observer method and the self-other method, in addition to some unexpected correlations between the age and year at university of subjects and the dependent variables. The significance of these findings and their implications for future research are discussed.