Making attribution - Correspondent Inference Theory

What are the two theories for making attributions

• WHAT

• WHAT

What are the two theories for making attributions

• Correspondent Inference Theory

• Co-variation model

who came up with the correspondent inference theory

Jones and davis

correspondent inference theory

When making social inferences, people try to infer that the action of an actor corresponds to or is indicative of a stable personality characteristic  (someones behaviour is correspondent of their personality)

People prefer to make WHAT vs WHAT attributions because the information is more WHAT to behaviour

People prefer to make INTERNAL vs EXTERNAL attributions because the information is more VALUABLE to behaviour

WHAT are more likely to change than WHAT

SITUATIONS are more likely to change than PERSONALITIES

We assess whether there is a correspondence between behaviour and personality by processing three types of information:

1. WHAT

2. WHAT

3. WHAT

We assess whether there is a correspondence between behaviour and personality by processing three types of information:

1. Social desirability

2. Choice

3. Non-common effect

Social desirability

Is the behaviour observed consistent with or counter to social norms

Social desirability

• Internal attributions are more likely when socially WHAT behaviours are observed (don’t wanna stick out of the crowd)

• Therefore behaviour that is socially WHAT doesn’t tell us much about people personalities because they could just be going along with the crowd

Social desirability

• Internal attributions are more likely when socially UNDESIRABLE behaviours are observed (don’t wanna stick out of the crowd)

• Therefore behaviour that is socially DESIRABLE doesn’t tell us much about people personalities because they could just be going along with the crowd

Choice

An INTERNAL attribution is more likely when the person has FREELY chosen the given behaviour

Non-common effect

When a behaviour has a unique consequence (one consequence for action not multiple consequences - like punching someone), we can refer to it as having non-common effect

Non-common effect

• An internal attribution is more likely when the outcome of a behaviour has a WHAT (or WHAT) effect

Non-common effect

• An internal attribution is more likely when the outcome of a behaviour has a UNIQUE (or NON-COMMON) effect

Limitations: This model is good for WHAT of behaviour and focuses on WHAT attributions

Limitations: This model is good for SINGLE INSTANCES of behaviour and focuses on INTERNAL attributions