CHAPTER 10

• Attribution theory


  Involves the study of decisions we make about the causes of events. Humans are motivated to attribute or assign causes to outcomes. Motivation to do so stems from the need to make sense of events, personal, interpersonal, impersonal.
• Two different types of attribution

  • Dispositional
  • Situational
• Dispositional attribution


  Believe a person's behaviour is driven by internal factors
• Situational attribution


  Believe a person's behaviour is driven by external factors
• Personal attribution


  Attributing behavior to internal, dispositional factors such as personality traits or abilities
• Personal attribution


  • "She failed the exam because she's not smart enough."
• Situational attribution


  Attributing behavior to external, situational factors such as luck or the difficulty of the task
• Situational attribution


  • "He failed the exam because the questions were too hard."
• Non-normative behavior


  Behavior that deviates from social norms or expectations
• Attributions for non-normative behavior


  • Internal causes (personal factors)
  • External causes (situational factors)
• Attributions for non-normative behavior


  • "He yelled at the cashier because he's rude (personal attribution)" or "He yelled at the cashier because he's having a bad day (situational attribution)."
• Kelley's Covariation Theory


  Suggests there are 3 factors to determine if we use internal or external attribution: Consensus, Distinctiveness, Consistency
• Kelley's Covariation Theory


  • Example: You are out with your friends and one of them buys an expensive bottle of champagne
• All 3 factors (Consensus, Distinctiveness, Consistency) on the Low Side = internal stimuli - Friend's Personality - "That's just who they are"
• All 3 factors (Consensus, Distinctiveness, Consistency) on the High Side = external stimuli - made a bad impression the first time, got a raise
• Cannot always use Kelley's Covariation Theory with strangers - look past experiences and attribute necessary and sufficient causes to the person's behaviour
• Kelley's Covariation Theory


  • Example: see a guy with a fancy suit and think he's a high roller
• Learned Helplessness Theory


  Helplessness - more than just sadness - feeling that you can't change your negative situation and that you might be stuck feeling that way for a long period of time. A belief that "you can't do it" - so strong that trying to believe anything else would seem ridiculous. Learned Helplessness - our beliefs that individuals are out of control and do not have power to make changes.
• Learned Helplessness Theory


  • Example: You're an aspiring singer and hold on to a limiting belief that says you might not be very talented. You truly believe that maybe you won't make it big. You fight this belief and enter a singing contest. You begin comparing yourself to other contestants and tell yourself that they are more talented and that you don't stand a chance. You don't place in the competition. When you get home you tell yourself you're not a good singer and use the failure of your loss to justify these beliefs. The more you reflect you use the competition as evidence to tell yourself you are not a good singer. You quit singing for good even though you love it.
• Fundamental Attribution Error


  People tend to place more emphasis on internal explanations rather than considering the circumstances
• Fundamental Attribution Error


  • Example: your friend takes you to a party and at the party he introduces you to another friend who comes off unfriendly. Your first impression of that friend is that they are not a nice person. But what if that friend was having a tough day? They just broke up with their significant other. You then think their behaviour is excusable because he's just having a bad day.
• Jones and Davis Correspondence Theory


  We are more likely to use internal attribution under specific circumstances: if a person acted freely and intentionally, we may be more likely to attribute their actions to their character - We say that it's just the "type of person they are"
• Jones and Davis Correspondence Theory

  • Example: someone is walking down the street and you hear someone harassing you; not a usual behaviour and it is directed at you. To get a negative reaction out of people. You are more likely to attribute that behaviour to the harasser's CHARACTER rather than some external stimuli that is driving their behaviour.
• Two Dimensions of Attribution

  • Stable
  • Unstable
  • Internal
  • External
• Stable vs. Unstable attribution


  Stable attributions involve factors that are relatively permanent (e.g., ability), while unstable attributions involve factors that are subject to change (e.g., effort).
• Internal vs. External attribution


  Internal attributions focus on factors within the individual (e.g., ability), while external attributions focus on factors outside the individual (e.g., task difficulty)