Question

When judging the value of a product or an experience, people may be overly influenced by the state in which they consumed and/or experienced it, giving an overrated response. For example, Anthony tried out a new restaurant when he was very hungry and subsequently rated it as high quality. He was the only one to review it with five stars, as compared to one star by all the other customers.

1. Briefly explain the type of judgment indicated above.    [2]
2. Referring to Harold Kelley’s theory, explain the cause behind Anthony’s response referred to above.    [2]

Answer 1

1. Bias or attribution bias. It is a disproportionate weight in favor of or against a thing, person, or group compared with another.
2. Anthony’s behavior stemmed from dispositional causes based on his internal traits. Harold Kelley’s Model of Attribution suggests that people determine the cause of behavior based on three factors:
   • Consensus: Do others react the same way?
   • Distinctiveness: Does the person react the same way in different situations?
   • Consistency: Does the person always react the same way to this situation? 

In Anthony’s case:

• • Consensus is low (others rated it poorly).
  • Distinctiveness is unclear (we don’t know how he rates other restaurants).
  • Consistency is unknown (we don’t know if he would always rate this restaurant highly). Because consensus is low, Kelley’s theory would suggest that Anthony’s high rating is due to internal causes, such as his temporary internal state of hunger, not the actual quality of the restaurant. So, Kelley would attribute Anthony’s judgement to a personal bias influenced by his internal state, rather than objective features of the restaurant.