Attribution theory: Heider

Attribution theory

The process of attaching meaning to behaviour by looking for a cause or causes to explain behaviour

Fundamental error

We tend or overestimate the role of internal factors and underestimate the roles of external factors

What did Heider (1958) believe?

People are naive psychologists trying to make sense of the social world. People tend to see cause and effect relationships, even when there is none

Dispositional Attribution (internal)

Assigns cause of behaviour to some internal characteristic of a person rather than outside forces. When we explain the behaviour, we look for enduring internal attributions such as personality traits: known as the fundamental attribution error

Situational Attribution (external)

The process of assigning the cause of behaviour to some situation or event outside a persons control rather than to some internal characteristic. When we try to explain the behaviour, we make external attributions such as situational or environmental factors

Where does the error lie and how would we see behaviour (fundamental attribution error)

Error lies in the belief that internal factors are the main cause of behaviour and we see behaviour as a reflection of who the person is and ignore external factors