Question

On Monday, you were late to class and you told your teacher it was because your phone died overnight so your alarm didn't go off, and you hit every single red light on the way to school. On Wednesday, Sally walks in late to class and you think it's because she's lazy and does not care about school. This is an example of which of the following?

1) self-serving bias
2) reinforcement-affect model
3) equity theory
4) actor-observer bias

Answer 1

The situation described where you attribute your own lateness to external factors and Sally's lateness to her being lazy is an example of actor-observer bias, a bias where people attribute others' behaviors to their dispositions and their own behaviors to situational factors.

Step-by-step explanation:

When you were late to class and explained it by citing external factors like your phone dying and hitting every red light, and then attributed Sally's lateness to her being lazy, you displayed what is known as the actor-observer bias. This cognitive bias involves explaining other people's behaviors with internal factors, while attributing our own behaviors to external, situational forces. Essentially, as the actor of our own behavior, we often have more insight into the situational aspects that may influence us, but as observers, we lack this information about others and instead attribute their actions to their character or disposition.

In this case, you are the actor, aware of your own situation that caused the behavior of being late. Sally is another actor, whose situation you are less aware of, leading you to attribute her lateness to her character, namely being lazy. This biased judgement is a classic example of the actor-observer bias, as you are attributing Sally's behavior to internal factors rather than considering potential situational explanations.