attribution

• Social perception


  Important aspect, understanding why people do things
• Attribution

  Process through which we attempt to understand the reasons behind others' behaviour
• Dispositional attribution


  Attributing behaviour to person's disposition, personality or traits
• Situational attribution

  Attributing behaviour to the specific situation, context or environment surrounding the behaviour
• Happy couples

  Attribute negative behaviour to external (situational) factors
• Unhappy couples

  Attribute negative behaviour to internal (dispositional) factors
• Men are more likely than women to attribute a woman's friendliness to sexual interest
• Males make stronger ability (dispositional) attributions for success than females
• Females emphasise the importance of studying and paying attention (situational) for exam success
• Females are more likely than males to blame failure on lack of ability (dispositional)
• Gifted female students attribute their math and science success to situational (external) factors
• Gifted male students attribute their math and science success to dispositional (internal) factors
• Attribution training, where students are told their performance is due to hard work, improves their math achievement
• Populist messages blaming elites or immigrants can support populist attitudes, but only for those who support the source of the message
• Heider's Theory of Naïve Psychology

  People view themselves and others as "naïve scientists" who construct theories to understand behaviour
• Correspondent Inference Theory


  Explains how we choose between internal and external attributions based on the extent a behaviour 'corresponds' to the person's traits
• Covariation Model


  Identifies causes of behaviour based on whether it co-varies with consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness information
• Correspondent Inference Theory and Covariation Model assume people observe clues and think rationally, which is a limitation
• Kelly's Covariation Model


  Principle used to identify the cause of a behaviour as one that is absent when the behaviour is absent and present when the behaviour is (co-varies)
• Co-variation principle

  • Many potential causes of a behaviour
  • Identify cause as one that is absent when the behaviour is absent and present when the behaviour is (co-varies)
• 3 important factors in making this decision


  • Consensus
  • Consistency
  • Distinctiveness
• Correspondent inference theory and covariation model assumes people observe clues & think rationally, logically - not always the case
• Correspondent inference theory ignores past behaviour and non-intentional behaviour
• Attribution is complex - Heider describes us as naïve scientists testing out ideas, Jones & Davis argues we look at specific behaviours more closely if we perceive they can tell us more about someone, Kelly focuses on consensus, consistency and distinctiveness when attributing other people's behaviour to dispositional / situational factors
• Attribution biases

  • Fundamental attribution error
  • Actor-observer effect
  • Self-serving bias
  • Just-world hypothesis
  • False consensus effect
• Fundamental attribution error


  We tend to overestimate (over-attribute) dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when judging other people's behaviour
• Gender differences - People believe that women are the more emotional sex, this belief stems less from what men and women actually do than from the explanations given for their behaviours
• Actor-observer effect

  When we are the "actor" (the ones doing the behaviour) we understand the situation more, understand situational factors, attribute own behaviour to situation. When observing others, we are unaware of situational factors and focus on something dispositional to them.
• Self-serving bias

  Tendency to attribute positive behaviour we do to our disposition to ourselves, and negative behaviour to situational attributes, in order to protect our ego and self-esteem
• Just-world hypothesis

  People have a strong desire / bias or need to believe that the world is an orderly, predictable, and just place, where people get what they deserve
• False consensus effect


  False belief that our behaviour is 'typical', 'normal', 'average' - when we seek consensus we find it because we assume that everyone behaves like we do