In-group successes are credited to character while out-group successes get situational excuses

Evidence

According to the study of “ultimate attribution error” (Hewstone, 1990; Pettigrew, 1979), desirable behaviors by in-group members tend to be attributed to the actor’s dispositions, whereas equally desirable behavior displayed by an out-group member is attributed to situations, or unstable causes such as “exceptional effort.” — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 114

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the fundamental attribution error literature and group bias research — echoes of social identity theory as applied to reward systems in Milgrom’s institutional analysis. — connects to: People attribute successes internally but failures to external groups. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 1736