Attributional biases among clinicians: a comparison of psychoanalysts and behavior therapists.

We assessed the attributional style of psychoanalysts, behavior therapists, and nontherapists by using a mail survey. Respondents listed causal explanations for three hypothetical problems experienced by either themselves, their friends, or their clients. Results indicated that (a) psychoanalysts gave more dispositional explanations than situational explanations, whereas the reverse was true for behavior therapists and nontherapists; (b) psychoanalysts gave psychological explanations for problems hypothetically experienced by their friends or clients, but physical explanations for the same problems hypothetically experienced by themselves; and (c) psychoanalysts holding medical degrees gave fewer psychological attributions and more physical attributions than behavior therapists or psychoanalysts with doctorate degrees.