ABSTRACT
One of the most important processes of social cognition is causal attribution. First, while people's attributions may appear to follow the covariation principle, this does not necessarily imply that they are governed by that principle. A number of criticisms have been made of correspondent inference theory. The process of making causal attributions about behavior is subject to a number of biases. A number of explanations have been proposed for the fundamental attribution error. For example, scientists have been shown to explain their belief in their own theories by referring to empirical evidence (situational), but opponents' theories in terms of personality or other dispositional factors. It was found that, as usual, people made more situational attributions about their own behavior when they viewed the other person, but that they made more dispositional attributions when they viewed themselves from the other’s perspective.
