About this resource
- Appropriate grades
- 6–8
- Subjects
- science (general), thinking skills (information literacy, research skills)
- Provider
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
Legal
This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.
In this Science Update, students explore the Fundamental Attribution Error and how it applies to lying. Kelly Lawson, a psychology student at the University of Central Oklahoma, looked at how people feel about “feeling-type” fibbing. Feeling-type lies are about effects, emotions, opinions, and evaluations. The research team found that people see their lies as being insignificant, but were quick to judge others in similar situations. This relates to the Fundamental Attribution Error, which maintains that if you do something bad, it's because of the situation; if someone else does something bad, it's a character flaw. Science NetLinks provides a link to the audio file, a written transcript, and questions to engage students in discussion about the Fundamental Attribution Error, independent and dependent variables, and the results of the study. This activity also contains a link to the online Encyclopedia of Psychology.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Science (2005)
Grade 6
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.04: Analyze variables in scientific investigations:
- Identify dependent and independent.
- Use of a control.
- Manipulate.
- Describe relationships between.
- Define operationally.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
Grade 7
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.04: Analyze variables in scientific investigations:
- Identify dependent and independent.
- Use of a Control.
- Manipulate.
- Describe relationships between.
- Define operationally.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data.
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
Grade 8
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.04: Analyze variables in scientific investigations:
- Identify dependent and independent.
- Use of a control.
- Manipulate.
- Describe relationships between.
- Define operationally.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- explain observations.
- make inferences and predictions.
- develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Describe strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, and/or data.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data.
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
