a group with
which they do not affiliate or identify), they will generally attribute it dispositionally, often as genetically determined, in comparison to the same act by an ingroup member (a member of a group with which they do affiliate or identify);
(2) when people perceive what they regard as a positive act by an outgroup member, they will attribute it to one or more of the following: (a) "The exceptional case," (b) luck or special advantage, (c) high motivation and effort, or (d) manipulable situational context.
Pettigrew (1979) expanded the concept of the ultimate attribution error to deal with the type of attributions people make for success and failure. Specifically, it was noted that for people of one's own ethnic or cultural background (ingroup), there is a tendency to make an attribution that has a self-serving bias in which they attribute their positive outcomes (success) to internal causes and their negative outcomes (failures) to external causes. On the other hand, for those of a different ethnic/ cultural group (outgroup), people often make the opposite attribu-tions, attributing positive outcomes to external causes and nega-tive outcomes to internal causes. In addition, Pettigrew posited that this cultural bias will be greatest when:
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