Faculty Publications

Leisure Education Research And The Fundamental Attribution Error

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Attribution theory, Ecological approaches, Fundamental attribution error, Individualism, Leisure education, System-directed change

Journal/Book/Conference Title

World Leisure Journal

Volume

54

Issue

1

First Page

48

Last Page

57

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to summarise and integrate two history-based content analysis studies related to leisure education in order to highlight the pervasive existence of the fundamental attribution error in leisure education research and to outline its problematic consequences. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overestimate dispositional or internal attributions of a person when explaining or modifying behaviour, and to underestimate the influence of environmental factors. In a span of approximately 30 years, there have been 159 leisure education learning components developed from 27 research studies in which leisure education was treated as an independent research variable. Of these 159 leisure learning components, only six components–or just under 4%–focused attention on changing environmental factors outside of the leisure education participants. Recommendations regarding future leisure education practice and research are provided. © 2012 World Leisure Organization.

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

Original Publication Date

1-1-2012

DOI of published version

10.1080/04419057.2012.668037

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