Actor-Observer Bias in Close Relationships: The Role of Self-Knowledge and Self-Related Language

Abstract

Attributional biases are studied in the context of close relation ships. Whereas the actor-observer bias implies more partner attributions than self-attributions, the egocentric bias predicts more self-attributions. Both phenomena can be reconciled within a language-based approach. Partner attributions prevail at the abstract level of adjectives, whereas self-attributions are more likely at the concrete level of action verbs, reflecting a rule to talk in less abstract terms about the self than about others. An alternative explanation based on multifaceted self-knowledge is refuted in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 replicates and extends the opposite attribution biases at different language levels, using free-format self- and partner descriptions. A comparison between short-term and long-term couples reveals a temporal decline in dispositional attributions. These findings support the role of language in addition to self-knowledge and perceptual determinants of attribution biases.

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