Lee Ross

Lee D. Ross is a professor of social psychology at Stanford University, who has studied attribution theory, attributional biases, decision making and conflict resolution. Studying with Stanley Schachter, he earned his Ph.D. in social psychology at Columbia University in 1969.

Ross first coined the term "fundamental attribution error" to describe the finding that people are predisposed towards attributing another person's behavior to individual characteristics and attitudes, even when it is relatively clear that the person's behavior was a result of situational demands (Ross, 1977; note that this effect is identical with the "correspondence bias" identified in Jones & Davis, 1965). With Robert Vallone and Mark Lepper he authored the first study to describe the hostile media effect. He has also collaborated with Richard Nisbett in books on human judgment (Nisbett & Ross, 1980) and the relation between social situations and personality (i.e. "the person in the situation"; Ross & Nisbett, 1991).

Selected publications

• Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980). "Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment." Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (vol. 10). New York: Academic Press.
• Ross, L., & Nisbett, R. E. (1991). "The person and the situation: Perspectives of social psychology." New York: McGraw-Hill.
• He was in eastenders then he cancelled in 2009 he joined again to try and save his ex wife

Notable contributions

• attitude polarization
• attribution theory
• bias blind spot
• false consensus effect
• fundamental attribution error
• hostile media effect

References

• Jones, E. E., & Davis, K. E. (1965). From acts to dispositions: The attribution process in person perception. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), "Advances in experimental social psychology," (Vol. 2, pp. 220-266). New York: Academic Press.
• Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980). "Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment." Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (vol. 10). New York: Academic Press.
• Ross, L., & Nisbett, R. E. (1991). "The person and the situation: Perspectives of social psychology." New York: McGraw-Hill.