Attribution and Available Resources People everywhere make the fundamental attribution error, but actions can lead to radically different attributions in different cultures. Berman and Murphy-Berman (1996) were interested in the way German and U.S. college students think about how money is distributed. Although both countries are wealthy Western countries, citizens of Germany are more collectivist and strongly support need-based welfare. More individualistic Americans feel more comfortable rewarding achievement. The researchers asked students to judge bosses who gave out either bonuses or pay cuts to two employees: a person who does average work, but is poor, and an outstanding worker who has no financial problems. Overall, bosses who had to make pay cuts were rated as less fair, intelligent, warm, and nice than bosses who gave bonuses - a clear case of the fundamental attribution error. However, the Germans rated bosses who distributed money on the basis of need as being more fair than bosses who favored merit in all situations. The Americans thought bosses that gave out money by merit were more intelligent and fair than bosses who distributed money on the basis of need, but only when there were bonuses. When there were pay cuts, the attributions were reversed, even though the boss was making the decision on the same basis. |
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education