Studies
Numerous studies have been found supporting the ultimate attribution error:
• Duncan (1976) asked White participants to watch a video of a man shoving another man. One video had a Caucasian male shoving another Caucasian male and a second video had an African American male shoving a Caucasian male. When the participants watched the first video they concluded that the Caucasian male doing the shoving was attributed to having fun (a situational factor), but when they watched the second video they attributed the African American’s behavior to an aggressive personality. The results of Duncan's study demonstrates that ultimate attribution error is more likely to occur when there are negative associations with members of an outgroup due to previous conflict or certain situations that were experienced (Whitley & Kite, 2010).
• Morris and Peng (1994) found that American participants explained murders carried out by an American to be due to situational factors but when carried out by a Chinese man were due to personality factors. Meanwhile Chinese participants explained murders carried out by an American to be due to personality but murder by a Chinese man to be due to situational factor.
• Taylor and Jaggi (1974) found that participants (Hindus) predicted the ingroup (Hindus) made more internal attributions to positive behaviours whereas the outgroup (Muslims) made more external attributions to positive behaviours.
These studies support the fundamental attribution error and how it can affect people’s perceptions of outgroups.
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