“Expert Contribution 130 Hurricane Katrina: A Case Study in Attributional Biases Mark J. Martinko Performance Associates Jeremy Brees Florida State University Jeremy D. Mackey Florida State University The nation looked on in disbelief as Hurricane Katrina swept through New (Orleans in August 2005. Almost more troubling than the destruction was the lack of lead. ership willing to assume responsibility and take control of the situation. New Orleans’ Mayor Ray Nagin blamed other government officials while the Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, blamed Nagin’s poor planning, At the same time, Michael Brown, the Disector of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), blamed the poor {government response on the bickering between Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin, President George Bush acknowledged some responsibilty, but ultimately blamed the sys- tem. The media portrayed these officials as incompetent and focused on their unwilling: ness to accept blame and aid the citizens in the Superdome and Convention Center, who needed food and water. ‘The purpose of this reading is to show how the actor-observer bias explains diver gent perceptions of responsibility after Hurricane Katrina. First, we define and explain this bias. Then we illustrate this bias with examples from the Hurricane Katrina disastex Finally we will offer strategies for reducing the negative impacts of this bias. The Actor-Observer Bias ‘An actor is a person behaving or performing and is the focus of the attention of the observer. The actor-observer bias asserts that actors are biased towards crediting or blaming external causes for their successes and failures while observers are biased to- wards focusing on the internal characteristics of actors. A primary cause ofthis bias is the difference in the focus of attention between actors and observers. Actors primarily focus ‘on their environment because that is what they literally see. On the other hand, observers ‘often concentrate on the actors’ behaviors resulting in the tendency to use actors’ disposi- tions to explain their actions. ‘The actor-observer bias is prevalent throughout virtually all cultures and can be readily observed in a multitude of contexts. Considering the actions of government officials following Hurricane Katrina will help us farther illustrate this point.Hurricane Katrina: A Case Study in Attributional Biases Below we illustrate how the actor-observer bias played out in the Hurricane Katrina disaster by detailing how the actors deflected blame by attributing their feilures to the situation while the media was biased foward blaming the failures on the characteristics ‘of the actors. Mayor Ray Nagin as an Actor Mayor Ray Nagin called for a last-minute voluntary evacuation of New Orleans on Saturday, August 27, 2005 despite much earlier warnings of the severity of the im- pending hurricane. Nagin blamed his delayed reaction on a host of factors, including businesses failing to shut down and a lack of state and federal assistance. In addition, he attributed his failure to help people in the Superdome and Convention Center on situational factors and other people, thereby neglecting to take responsibility for his own mistakes. Mayor Ray Nagin from the Observer's Perspective ‘he actor-observer bias would predict that the media (observers) would blame the dis. positional factors of Mayor Nagin (actor) for the failure ofthe citizens of New Orleans to evacuate and for the lack of a timely rescue effort. That is exactly what happened. For example, Douglas Brinkley described Nagin as “a very lame, ineffectual, wrong, headed mayor for this time” and even suggested that some of Nagin failures were “crim inal” Congressional investigations were equally harsh, suggesting that Nagin conducted an “incomplete evacuation” that led to “deaths, thousands of dangerous rescues, and hor sible conditions for those who remained ‘The reaction of the media and Congressional investigations to Mayor Nagin’ ac tions provides a clear example of the effects of the actor-observer bias. Nagia (the actor) blamed situational factors and the media and Congressional investigations (observers) blamed Nagin’ flawed personality characteristics and lack of effort. Governor Kathleen Blanco as an Actor Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco also failed to assume responsibility for the after- math of Hurricane Katrina. Blanco believed that “the blame game can get in the way of protective efforts” and that the political talking heads “know not of what they speak,’ illustrating that she did not accept responsibility for the states untimely response to Hurricane Katrina, Blanco went as far as to claim that her biggest mistake was “believing the promises of FEMA” She often placed blame on FEMA'S slow response and Nagin's ineffective evacuation plan Governor Kathleen Blanco from the Observer's Perspective As observers, the news media and Congressional investigations tended to blame Blancos personal characteristics for Louisiana’s slow and ineffective response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Republican committee member Christopher Shays was especially Perception 131132 SECTION 1 Topic Summaries and Expert Contributions displeased with Blancos unwillingness to order a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, going as far as to say to her, “It should have been mandatory...the fact that you don't recognize that is more troubling to me than I can express” Criticism of Blanco ranged from White House representatives claiming that she was “unorganized and indecisive” to New Orleans residents suggesting she was “incompe tent? a “buffoon,” and even saying outright, “She an idiot” Thus, observers often attrib uted Louisiana’ slow and ineffective response to the personal characteristics of Governor Blanco and her repeated unwillingness to accept responsibility by blaming other people and the situation, Michael Brown as an Actor Michael Brown, the director of FEMA, provided a compelling display of actor bias when he repeatedly attributed blame for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to state and local officials. Brown stated, “I told them we needed help—to order a mandatory evacuation.” ‘After his resignation, Brown continued to speak of the “dysfunctional” relationship be- tween Nagin and Blanco, citing his inability to persuade them to work together as his “most serious mistake” Brown also attributed responsibilty for FEMAS lack of response capabilities to budget issues and shortages of qualified personnel. According to Brown, “We [FEMA] pat that money in our budget request and it was removed by Homelanc! Security officials” In a New York Times article, Brown said, “Don't blame me?” These ‘examples illustrate the actor bias as Brown deflected personal blame by blaming other people and the situation. Michael Brown from the Observer's Perspective ‘The accounts of observers, such as the news media and congressional investigators, offer a very different assessment of Michael Brown's responsibility for the inadequate response to the disaster. Observers laid a disproportionate portion of the blame on the personal characteristics of Michael Brown as opposed to the challenging circumstances created by the hurricane and the other actors. Brown was criticized by Republicans and Democrats during hearings in Washington, DC Representative Kay Granger (R-TX) told Brown, “T don't know how you can sleep at t. You lost the batlle” Representative Gene Taylor blamed Brown personally saying, “You get an F-minus in my book” The news media also leveled blame on Brown. The editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune stated, “The top officials at FEMA should be fired.” These observers heaped blame on Brown, reinforcing the notion that observers exhibit a strong tendency to blame failures on actor characteristics and deemphasize situ ational factors. President George Bush as an Actor President Bush also demonstrated the actor bias. When interviewed by Diane Sawyer from ABC, Bush deflected blame by attributing the problems in New Orleans to uncon- trollable circumstances by stating “I hope people don't play politics during this period of time... this is a natural disaster, the likes of which our country may have never seen be- fore!’ Long after Katrina's landfall, the Bush administration continued its efforts to deflect‘ame by stating the hurricane “was not a normal hurricane and the normal disaster relief system was not equal to it” These statements appear to have been designed to shift blame {rom personal to situational factors. President George Bush from the Observer's Perspective Media coverage of the Katrina disaster repeatedly blamed the personal characteristics of resident Bush rather than acknowledging possible situational explanations, as predicted by the actor-observer bias. Columnist Charles Krauthammer stated that president Bush was “late, slow, and simply out of tune with the urgency and magnitude of the disaster” in his September 9, 2005 Washington Post article. Similar criticism came from Aline Kaplan tna letter to the editor, stating, “He said the wrong things in the wrong tone of voice. He «lemonstrated consistently the wrong emotions....he let the American people down” Criticisms and attributions of personal blame for President Bush also came from senators and other politicians. Sen, Kent Conrad blamed Bush, saying, “It is hard to say, bout itis true: There was a failure by [Bush] to meet the responsibility here.” Not all media coverage laid blame squarely on President Bush, though. FOX News’ Bill O'Reilly said, “He (Bush] was lethargic. That was his mistake. Maybe he’s exhausted.” Despite this less tritical news coverage, the actor-observer bias still remained, because the explanations ly President Bush’ actions were still focused on his personal characteristics instead of slluational explanations, These examples once again demonstrate observers’ tendencies lwattribute negative events to actors’ personal characteristics, as wel as actor® tendeacies to focus on situational factors