nly ones who are subject to attribution biases. Bernardo Guern (1999) cites research by Abramovitch & Freeedman (1981) that shows children also exemplify the attribution biases. Hewstone’s research (1989) on adults supported the idea that whether a behavior is seen as being caused by situational or dispositional conditions is dependent on whether the behavior is viewed as negative or positive, and what groups the person doing the behavior and the person attributing the behavior belong to. A behavior is more likely to be attributed to dispositional causes if it is a positive behavior belonging to someone in the in-group, or when it is a negative behavior performed be someone in the out-group. Situational attributions are more likely to be made when the negative behavior belongs to someone in the out-group, or when the negative behavior belongs to someone in the in-group (Guern, 1999). For example, a football player may attribute his teammate's fumble to the slippery grass, but the other team’s fumble to their lack of coordination. The idea of intergroup attribution has been heavily studied in adults, but little research has been conducted on children. Guern’s research on children’s intergroup attribution tests this idea in children (Guern, 1999).Guern studied thirty children from New Zealand on how they make attributions. Using someone the children liked and someone the children did not like he had them make attributions on both positive and negative behaviors. Positive behaviors by the friends and negative behaviors of those that the children did not like were considered dispositional by the children. When someone the children did not like performed a positive behavior or when someone the children did like performed a negative one the children considered the causes to be Situational. These results indicate that it is not only adults who exhibit intergourp biases (Guern, 1999). The attribution theory c...
