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Online Community Unconference East 2009 | What's New | Tags | Search

Fundamental attribution error; Correspondence bias
 Edward E Jones, Richard Nesbit, Lee Ross
--ways to handle – communicate directly with the person
Actor-observer bias
 --related to fundamental attribution error
 --you excuse yourself of circumstances, but not others
Confirmation bias
--tendency to remember or look for evidence that confirms our beliefs
 --“magical” thinking
 --the person may feel shame stubbornness or hope in facing or changing the belief
 --“Morton’s Demon” – belief filter
Performance anxiety
 You will tend to worse in something you have not done before in front of an audience
 Provide incentives and rewards
Social Loafing
 --when our work is not being noticed
 Marc Smith, usenet – effects of turning info back to the users
 ‘This person has posted this many times or voted this many times,” as opposed to ‘ this person has voted this way”
The bystander effect
less willing to offer help when other people are merely “present”
groups do not tend to handle conflict management well when they think someone else is going to handle it
--social influence: in a situation when we are unsure what to do, we look for cues
--there is an assumption that others will intervene
--fear of being evaluated when they step in
--concerns that if they do step in, someone else will step in and do it better
--

csnyder@globalgiving.com

(Scott's speaking notes)
Intro

(Additional notes: there is a community manager in Poland named Darek Kłeczek who blogs at Leadership in Social Networks. I came across his post, 10 Social Psychology Tips for Managing Online Communities while searching if anyone else had approached this topic yet. He's worth keeping an eye one as he develops ideas about how we can encourage leaders to develop in our communities.)

Fundamental Attribution Error
-----------------------------
Definition:
People tend to presume the actions of others are indicative of the "kind" of person they are rather than their actions being caused by a situation.

Based on experiment by Edward E. Jones and Victor Harris (1967). Coined by Lee Ross (1977). Sometimes called "correspondence bias", but not by all social scientists.

Examples:

Reducing the Effect:
The attribution error occurs usually because there is not enough information about the situation. Studies have shown that when victims of crime learn more about the criminal's circumstances views tend to shift from desiring harsh penalties to compensation for losses.

To prevent yourself from committing the fundamental attribution error, gather situational information:
 - Do people tend to behave the same way in the same situation?
 - What would I do in the same situation?
 - Ask the person for help in understanding their situation.

To reduce the effect when others are applying the fundamental attribution error to you, disseminate the situational information.
 - publicly realign yourself/your org with community goals/values.
 - clarify the way the situation is leading to types of behavior.

Examples:

INTERMISSION: A note about conflict management/mediation
--------------------------------------------------------
I will not be covering conflict management or conflict mediation, though many examples involve these skills. I am willing to help anyone with questions about resources. For the wiki, this might be a good place to compile some resources.

Actor-observer bias
-----------------------------
Definition:
We tend to attribute our own behavior to the situation, but the behavior of others to the "kind" of person they are.

Developed by Edward E. Jones/ Richard E Nesbett (1971) as the flip side of Fundamental Attribution Error.

However, Bertram F. Malle questions actor-observer bias because of a lack of evidence (2006).

Example:

Reducing the Effect:

Examples:

Confirmation Bias
-----------------------------
Definition:
We tend to look for, or better remember, information and evidence that supports our preconceptions and avoid/overlook/forget evidence that counters our beliefs.

Examples:

Reasons:

Reducing the Effect:

Social Facilitation
-----------------------------
Definition:
We tend to do simple tasks that we know well better with an audience than alone. But, we tend to do new or complicated tasks worse in the same situation.

Examples:

Reducing the Effect:

Examples:

Social Loafing
-----------------------------
Definition:
When work is pooled and individual performance is not known, people in groups tend to put in less effort.

Reducing the Effect:
Reveal individual performance for simple tasks (to avoid problems in Social Facilitation). For complicated tasks, keep performance private until proficient.

Examples:

Bystander Effect
-----------------------------
Definition:
Individuals are less likely to offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present.

Specific to online communities, groups don't handle conflict situations when there is a perception that someone else will handled it faster or with more authority.

Originated around Kitty Genovese who was stabbed to death in 1964 and "no one helped". The story is dramatic, but not entirely true. The media failed to contact the police for information before reporting the story and possibly committed confirmation bias in avoiding information undermining the belief in the bystander effect. In fact, the police were contacted at least once during the attack and "bystanders" heard, but could not see the attack.

The Bystander effect was demonstrated in experiments in 1968 by John Darley and Bibb Latane.

Examples:
In the late 80's the a gaming service called The ImaginNation Network was having problems with users harassing each other. There was no formal reporting process so members were a bit on their own with few ways to contact the service. The service added a "report abuse" button and, quickly, the number of reports increased. The members stopped trying to resolve the problems themselves and resorted to the abuse button first.

Reasons:

Reducing the Effect:

Other social theories
-----------------------------
These were not covered during the session. They are presented briefly to provide some background to common terms a community manager will encounter as they read deeper into social psychology and sociolgy.

Small World Experiment
-----------------------------

Dunbar Number
-----------------------------

Fixing Broken Windows
-----------------------------

 - NYC Transit Authority 1985 - 1993+
 - Guliani's zero tolerance 1993 -
 - Major crime did go down. But it also went down in cities that did not have zero tolerance policies. (See Confirmation Bias)

Robert Cialdini - Influence
-----------------------------
(this is a mash up of ideas from Dr. Cialdini's book "Influence" and articles he has written that I blogged previously at: Community Doesn't Sell and Persuasion Revisited.)

Appeal to majority
 - "Many guest waste towels. Please don't." - Little effect on reusing towels.
 - "Most guests reuse towels. We thank you." - Increase in reuse of towels.

Influence reciprocation
 - When a waiter brings mints with the check, there is a slight increase in tips.

Commitment

Conformity - social proof
 - monkey see, monkey do.
 - Be the alpha monkey
 - Teach others to be the alpha monkey.

Scarcity

Relationship awareness (a version of commitment)

Thanks you so much for the helpful links Andreas. You have been giving us much knowledge with your posts.
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contributed by hook KING on Dec 3 6:34pm

Page Last Updated: Dec 3 6:34pm by hook KING
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