From “Love Your Neighbor: How Psychology Can Enliven Faith and Transform Community” by Katherine M. Douglass and Brittany M. Tausen
According to attribution theory, our attempts to understand the behavior of others can lead us to draw one of two conclusions. Either they were in a challenging situation (situational attribution) or they behaved that way because of their disposition (dispositional attribution). A situational attribution focuses on the circumstances (or situations) someone was experiencing at the time of the behavior. For example, you might think “They did not send me a long thoughtful text back because that was the same day their whole family came down with a stomach bug.” A dispositional attribution, on the other hand, explains someone’s behavior in terms of their character or who they are as a person. An example of this is to think, “They did not send me a long thoughtful text because they are cold or overly self-involved” (their disposition).
It is clear from the examples that when we attribute someone’s behavior to their disposition, it can hurt our relationships because we label them with negative traits instead of assuming that outside circumstances led to their behavior. Unfortunately, our brains spontaneously jump to dispositional explanations when we try to understand the why behind another person’s unhelpful, unimpressive, or unpleasant actions. Why was this student late for class? Because they are disrespectful. Why did my coworker give a sloppy work presentation” Because they are lazy. Why did my brother forget my birthday? Because he is self-absorbed. Why is a child not following the rules? Because they are disobedient. Dispositional explanations erode our perceptions of another person’s competence and character. They are also biased.
How are dispositional attributions biased? From a psychological perspective, they are biased because they are not applied equally.