Abstract
In four studies, this article investigates the impact of situational experience on social inference. Participants without firsthand experience of a situation made more extreme and erroneous inferences about the personalities of people behaving in that situation than did participants with firsthand experience. Firsthand experience, thus, appears to diminish dispositionism in social inference because it informs people about the situational constraints that guide behavior. Across all studies, participants also displayed holier-than-thou biases, overpredicting how generously they would act relative to predictions about their peers and also relative to how they actually acted when the situation came.
| Language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages | 102-114 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2008 |
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Keywords
- Correspondence bias
- Dispositionism
- Self-assessment
- Self-enhancement
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychology(all)
- Social Psychology
Cite this
A mile in moccasins : How situational experience diminishes dispositionism in social inference. / Balcetis, Emily; Dunning, David A.
In: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 1, 01.2008, p. 102-114.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - A mile in moccasins
T2 - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
AU - Balcetis, Emily
AU - Dunning, David A.
PY - 2008/1
Y1 - 2008/1
N2 - In four studies, this article investigates the impact of situational experience on social inference. Participants without firsthand experience of a situation made more extreme and erroneous inferences about the personalities of people behaving in that situation than did participants with firsthand experience. Firsthand experience, thus, appears to diminish dispositionism in social inference because it informs people about the situational constraints that guide behavior. Across all studies, participants also displayed holier-than-thou biases, overpredicting how generously they would act relative to predictions about their peers and also relative to how they actually acted when the situation came.
AB - In four studies, this article investigates the impact of situational experience on social inference. Participants without firsthand experience of a situation made more extreme and erroneous inferences about the personalities of people behaving in that situation than did participants with firsthand experience. Firsthand experience, thus, appears to diminish dispositionism in social inference because it informs people about the situational constraints that guide behavior. Across all studies, participants also displayed holier-than-thou biases, overpredicting how generously they would act relative to predictions about their peers and also relative to how they actually acted when the situation came.
KW - Correspondence bias
KW - Dispositionism
KW - Self-assessment
KW - Self-enhancement
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=36949031281&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=36949031281&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0146167207309201
DO - 10.1177/0146167207309201
M3 - Article
VL - 34
SP - 102
EP - 114
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
SN - 0146-1672
IS - 1
ER -