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cognition
You judge your actions by circumstances but others by character.
Research in the 1970s proposed an actor-observer asymmetry in attribution, though modern meta-analyses indicate this effect is often smaller, less consistent, or culturally dependent than early studies suggested.
The effect is not a universal psychological law but rather a phenomenon that varies significantly based on experimental design, cultural context, and the nature of the observed behavior.
Everyone you encounter is the protagonist of their own story.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Jones and Nisbett, 1971
- What the check found
- While the 1971 Jones and Nisbett study is the primary source, meta-analyses suggest the effect size is small or inconsistent across different contexts and populations.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.