Self and Others
Psychology 410
Prof. Bertram Malle
Winter 1999

Actor-observer asymmetries
(Mar 4)

Preliminaries

  • Actor role/perspective: perceives self; Observer role/perspective: perceives other
  • Asymmetries:

    different perception, attention, prediction, inference, explanation, representation

The Classic Attribution Asymmetry

JONES & NISBETT (1972)
  • Actor: situation > disposition; Observer: disposition > situation
  • Problems with the claim: explanation vs. inference? person vs. disposition? intentional vs. unintentional? positive vs. negative?
  • Alternative approach: dividing into different behaviors, different explanation modes, and features of each mode --> several actor-observer asymmetries

Further Explorations

ROBINS ET AL. (1996)

Asymmetry in perceiving emotions

BARR & KLECK

Asymmetries in mental representations

ANDERSEN ET AL.

Which Behaviors People Explain

MALLE & KNOBE (1997b)
  • Domain: Objects of explanation (which behaviors)
  • Theory: 3 Conditions of wondering/explaining (awareness; non-understandingl relevance)
  • Behavioral Events: Intentionality x Observability (action, mere behavior, intentional thought, experience)
  • Predictions and Results
  • Other Levels of Asymmetries see Malle (1998)