ATTRIBUTIONS

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

It is the process by which people ascribe causes to the behavior they perceive. It is concerned with how individuals interpret events and how this relates to their thinking and behavior. Process by which people ascribe causes to the behavior they perceive. It assumes that people try to determine why people do what they do. It is considered a motivational theory looking at how the average person constructs the meaning of an event based on his /her motives to find a cause and his/her knowledge of the environment.

Types of attribution

1. Internal/Personal attributions - Explanations in terms of personal characteristics

2. External/Situational attributions - Explanations in terms of situational factors

Common Attribution Errors

When people make attempts to determine the causes of other people’s behavior, errors commonly happen. These errors may be classified into the following types:

FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERRORS

It is also known as correspondence bias or attribution effect. This is the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal or personal factors in the behavior of others. in other words it is the tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that person’s behavior.

SELF-SERVING BIAS

That type of attribution error whereby people tend to attribute their achievements to their good inner qualities, whereas they attribute their failures to adverse factors within the environment.

Factors That Influence Attribution

1. DISTINCTIVENESS

- the consideration given to how consistent a person’s behavior is across different situation.

2. CONSENSUS

- refers to the measure of whether an individual responds the same way across time. It is the extent to which other people behave in the same way in a similar situation.

3. CONSISTENCY

- the measure of whether an individual responds the same way across time

INTERNAL ATTRIBUTIONS

Behavior is attributed to internal factors

FFrequently (High consistency)

CONSISTENCY

How often the person did act this way in the past?

Seldom (low consistency)

Frequently (low distinctiveness)

DISTINCTIVENESS

How often does the person acts this way in another

settings?

Seldom (high distinctiveness)

Seldom (low consensus)

CONSENSUS

How often do the other people act this way in similar

situations?

Frequently (high consensus)

External attribution

Behavior is attributed to external factors

SHORTCUTS USED IN FORMING IMPRESSIONS OF OTHERS

1. SELECTIVE PERCEPTION

- happens when a person selectively interprets what he sees on the basis of his interest, background, experience and attitudes

2. HALO EFFECT

- occurs when one attribute of a person or situation is used to develop an overall impression of the person or situation. It is a cognitive bias in which one's judgments of a person’s character can be influenced by one's overall impression of him or her

3. CONTRAST EFFECT

- occurs when an individual is compared to other people on the same characteristics on which the others rank higher or lower

4. PROJECTION

- attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another. It is likely to occur in the interpretation stage of perception

5. STEREOTYPING

- refers to the judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.