Discuss the Role of Situational and Dispositional Factors in Explaining Behavior

Discuss the Role of Situational and Dispositional Factors in Explaining Behavior

Fritz Heider was an Australian researcher who stated that all humans have a need to explain our behavior. He stated that all people are motivated by two primary needs; to form a coherent worldview and to gain control over the environment. He stated that all humans’ behavior is caused by two factors, dispositional factors and situational factors. Situational factors include such as when social groups or classes cause and influence the way one behaves. However, dispositional factors mean that genetics, inheritance or natural characteristics are what causes a person to behave a certain way.

Both these factors affect behavior, and it can be debated which one has the larger influence, but after studies we can conclude that people often have a tendency to explain others behavior by dispositional factors over situational factors. This is known as FAE (fundamental attribution error). FAE was shown in experiments such as the one conducted by Bierbauer (1979) where the participants were asked to watch a video of the Milgram experiment conducted in 1963. The participants where then asked what they thought of the experiment and where asked to list reasons as to why the participants in the Milgram study went through with the experiment. They found that the participants often explained the “teachers” behavior on dispositional factors, saying they were “naturally cruel”. A study that supports this study and the FAE is the Ross et al experiment in 1977. The participants were selected as a ‘answerer’ or a ‘questioner’. Questioners were asked to ask questions to test the answerers. As these tests were going on other participants were asked to observe their behavior and asked who were the more intelligent, the answerers or the questioners. Ross et al found that the observers had a tendency to list the questioner as the