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- Title
The pathetic fallacy: An observer error in social perception.
- Authors
Deutsch, Morton
- Abstract
The present studies are an outgrowth of the earlier research in social perception. They repeat, in the abstract, the prior experiment but ask how an observer (O), rather than a participant (S), would evaluate the note writer. Two experiments are conducted. The first is to see whether the earlier explanation of the S's reaction to the note writer was a necessary one. Perhaps the S's reaction could be explained in terms of how consistent with reality she perceives the note writer's evaluation. In the initial experiment, the S's evaluation of her own performance is presumably realistic. Hence, it might be that the S reacted in terms of the perceived accuracy or realism of the note writer rather than in terms of how consistent the note writer's evaluation is with her (the S's) self-evaluation. If this were so, one would expect that an O, having the same information as S, but not involved as a participant, would evaluate the note writer in essentially the same way as S. The results of the first observer study are summarized in a table, which shows rather striking differences between the Ss' and Os' evaluations of the note writer.
- Subjects
SOCIAL perception testing; OBSERVATION (Psychology); PARTICIPANT observation; SELF-evaluation; REALISM; HUMAN experimentation in psychology
- Publication
Journal of Personality, 1960, Vol 28, Issue 3, p317
- ISSN
0022-3506
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1467-6494.1960.tb01621.x