The group attribution error refers to people's tendency to believe either

  1. the characteristics of an individual group member are reflective of the group as a whole, or
  2. a group's decision outcome must reflect the preferences of individual group members, even when external information is available suggesting otherwise.

The group attribution error shares an attribution bias analogous to the fundamental attribution error.

In 2001, Corneille et al. conducted further studies that suggest that threatening groups are viewed as being both more extreme and more homogeneous.

Etymology

The group attribution error has been referred as a term since 1985 by Scott T. Allison and David M. Messick after evaluating numerous researches made between 1970 and 1985. These researches tie different attribution biases to an individual either 1) the individual's behavior or 2) the outcomes of the group that the individual belongs to. The first one is known as the fundamental attribution error, and the consequent one is known as the group attribution error.

Human development perception of group attribution

Infants develop the ability to categorize first by putting a gender label to other children. Then, the difference in color of the skin begins to play a role in their ability to distinguish different backgrounds. Consequently, group attribution biases towards members of different groups, either on race or gender, affect their ability to judge others. For example, the conception of children believing that "all boys are abusive" illustrates the influence of categorization and generalization to members of this group (boys).

Connections to different attribution errors

The fundamental attribution error is similar to the group attribution error in that it refers to the tendency to believe that an individual's actions are representative of the individual's preferences, even when available information suggests that the actions were caused by outside forces.

The group attribution error and the ultimate attribution error share the individual's tendency to draw different prejudiced conclusions between in-groups and out-groups. The individuals involved in an in-group would attribute positive conclusions about their group outcomes, yet they would attribute negative conclusions towards the out-group members.

See also

  • Attribution bias
  • Attribution theory
  • Fundamental attribution error
  • Ingroup bias
  • List of cognitive biases
  • Outgroup homogeneity bias
  • Outcome bias
  • Ultimate attribution error

References

Further reading