Behavior is shaped by both the situation (for example, cultural influences, social roles, and the presence of bystanders) and the person (for example, personality characteristics). Different subfields of psychology often emphasize one influence more than the other. Situationism is the view that behavior and actions are determined mainly by the immediate environment and surroundings.

In contrast, dispositionism holds that behavior is determined mainly by internal factors. An internal factor is an attribute of a person, including personality traits and temperament. Social psychologists have often emphasized the situationist perspective, while personality psychologists have often emphasized the dispositionist perspective. Many modern approaches to social psychology, however, consider both the situation and the individual when studying human behavior.

Attributing behavior to persons or situations

Attributional processes

• In the United States, we often assume people are in control of their own behavior. From that viewpoint, any behavior change is likely to be explained by something internal, such as personality, habits, or temperament. Some social psychologists argue that people tend to overemphasize internal factors when explaining - or making attributions about - the behavior of other people.

Fundamental attribution error

• We often assume that another person’s behavior - especially the behavior of someone we don’t know well - reflects a stable trait, and we may disregard or underestimate the power of the situation. In other words, we may fail to recognize when someone’s behavior is influenced by situational variables (a temporary state). This mistaken pattern is called the fundamental attribution error: we incorrectly attribute (often poor) behavior to what we think is a fundamental part of the person’s character.

Role of culture in attributions

• Do people in all cultures commit the fundamental attribution error? Research suggests they do not. People from an individualistic culture - a culture that emphasizes individual achievement and autonomy - show the strongest tendency to commit the fundamental attribution error. Individualistic cultures, often found in western countries such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, promote a focus on the individual. As a result, a person’s disposition is often treated as the primary explanation for behavior. In contrast, people from a collectivistic culture - a culture that emphasizes communal relationships with others, such as family, friends, and community - are less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error.

Characteristics of individualistic and collectivistic cultures

Individualistic culture	Collectivistic culture
Achievement oriented	Relationship oriented
Focus on autonomy	Focus on group harmony
Dispositional perspective	Situational perspective
Independent	Interdependent
Analytic thinking style	Holistic thinking style

Table adapted from OpenStax

The actor-observer bias is the tendency to attribute other people’s behavior to internal factors (similar to the fundamental attribution error) while attributing our own behavior to situational forces. As actors, we usually have more information about what was happening when we behaved a certain way. As observers, we have less information, so we may default to a dispositionist explanation.

For example, if you or a close friend causes a minor car accident, you might explain it by mentioning that you were tired, the sun was in your eyes, or the traffic light pattern was confusing. When someone else causes the same type of accident, you may be more likely to conclude that they’re a bad driver or irresponsible.

How self-perceptions shape our perceptions of others

• We often project our own feelings onto others by imagining ourselves in their position and assuming they experience emotions similar to our own. We may also assume their actions were motivated by the feelings we imagine they have.

  For example, many people report greater trust in faculty reviews when they’re told the reviews were submitted after all coursework was graded. If you would feel hesitant to give negative feedback before grades are finalized - because you worry the feedback could be linked to your identity - you might assume other students would feel the same way and therefore might not be fully honest. When you learn that all grades were already submitted, it becomes easier to imagine that reviewers felt safe being honest, which can make neutral and positive reviews seem more trustworthy.

How perceptions of the environment shape our perceptions of others

• The way you perceive an environment can shape how you perceive other people and can even change your judgments about them. For example, if you meet a student at a college football game and they’re yelling cheers, dancing with the band, and holding a beer, you might assume they’re a “party” student who doesn’t take much seriously. It might be surprising to learn that the same person is a PhD student in neuroscience who just won an NIH grant for a major project. That information would likely feel less surprising if you had met them at a STEM graduate student mixer, because that context would prompt different expectations about the individual.