Attribution Notes
Introduction to Attribution
Attribution is a significant aspect of social perception.
It involves understanding not just how people are feeling or acting, but why they are behaving in a certain way.
This stems from our inherent need to understand cause-and-effect relationships within the social world.
By understanding the reasons behind actions, we can better predict future behaviors.
Definition of Attribution
Attribution is the process through which we attempt to understand the reasons behind other’s behavior.
This includes identifying why they acted a certain way in a specific situation, what goals they were trying to achieve, and what their intentions were.
Attributing Causality
Attribution involves assigning causality for behaviors.
Examples:
"He bought me flowers because he loves me"
"He bought me flowers because he is guilty"
Types of Attribution
Dispositional Attribution: Attributing behavior to a person's inherent disposition, personality, or traits.
Example: "He is a mean child."
Situational Attribution: Attributing behavior to the specific situation, context, or environment surrounding the behavior.
Example: "He is behaving like this because he is being bullied."
Internal Attributions: Focus on personality, traits, and dispositions.
External Attributions: Focus on the situation, environment, and external influences.
Attribution in Relationships
Happy Couples:
Tend to attribute negative behavior to external (situational) factors.
This alleviates distress caused by negative events and enhances the relationship.
Unhappy Couples:
Attribute negative behavior to internal (dispositional) factors.
This maintains distress caused by negative behavior and negatively affects the relationship.
Considerations for Attributing Causality
When attributing causality, it's essential to consider all available information before assigning internal or external factors.
Misattributions: Gender Differences
Men are more likely to attribute a woman’s friendliness to sexual interest (Abbey, 1998, Prior et al., 1997).
Gender Differences in Attribution (Beyer, 1998)
Study involving 246 students (156 females, 90 males) in General Psychology.
Students imagined receiving an A or F on an exam.
Males: Made stronger ability (dispositional) attributions for success.
Females: Emphasized studying and paying attention (situational) for success.
Males: Attributed failure to a lack of studying and low interest.
Females: Attributed failure to a lack of ability.
Gender Differences in Attribution (Assouline et al., 2006)
Gifted female students (maths and science) attributed their success externally.
Gifted male students (maths and science) attributed their success internally.
Attribution: Math Achievement Experiment (Miller et al., 1975)
Experiment testing attribution theory by measuring math achievement and self-esteem before and after training.
Teachers used scripts providing attribution training, persuasion training, or reinforcement training.
Attribution Script: Told students they were working hard and to keep trying.
Persuasion Training: Told students they "should" be good at math.
Reinforcement Training: Used phrases like "I’m proud of your work" and "excellent progress."
Results:
All students showed improved self-esteem.
Only students who received attribution training improved their math scores.
Attribution training motivated students to work harder by attributing their performance to their own hard work.
Attribution in Communication (Hameleers & Schmuck, 2017)
Attributing blame to others (e.g., immigrants, political elites) is central to populism.
Study investigating the effects of blame attributions in populist online messages in Austria and the Netherlands (N = 646).
Findings:
Messages blaming elites or immigrants bolstered populist attitudes for those who supported the source.
Populist blame attributions reduced populist attitudes for those who opposed the source.
Attribution causality/blame can be used to persuade.
Summary of Key Points
Understanding why people do things is an important aspect of social perception.
Attributing causality involves understanding the reasons behind other’s behavior, their goals, and intentions.
Behavior can be attributed to dispositional or situational factors.
Our attributions can vary based on gender.
Attribution theory has applications in various areas of psychology.
Theories of Attribution
Heider’s Theory of Naïve Psychology (1958)
Jones and Davis’s Correspondent Inference Theory (1965)
Kelley’s Covariation Model (1973)
Heider’s Theory of Naïve Psychology (1958)
People act as ‘naïve scientists’.
We assume behavior is intentional rather than random.
People construct theories about themselves and others (naïve psychologists).
We test these theories, trying to attribute the causes of behavior.
People view personality traits as stable, leading to a tendency to attribute internally.
Reasons for this tendency:
To make sense of the world.
To gain control over our social environment by predicting the behavior of others.
Jones and Davis’s Correspondent Inference Theory (1965)
“Correspondence” definition: Extent to which the act and underlying characteristic are similarly described by the inference.
Explains how we choose between Internal and External attributions.
Asks how we use information about others’ behavior to infer their traits.
Focuses on actions that are considered most informative about a person.
Factors considered:
Is it freely chosen?
Is it unusual?
Is it socially desirable?
Is it egotistical or hedonistic?
Does it affect me?
Kelley’s Covariation Model (1973)
Addresses whether behavior stems from internal causes, external causes, or a combination.
Co-variation principle: The cause is present when the behavior is present and absent when the behavior is absent.
Three factors are important in decision-making:
Consensus
Consistency
Distinctiveness
Definitions:
Consensus: Do other people behave in the same way (if in the same situation)?
Internal Attribution: LOW Consensus
External Attribution: HIGH Consensus
Distinctiveness: Does this person behave in the same way in other situations?
Internal Attribution: LOW Distinctiveness
External Attribution: HIGH Distinctiveness
Consistency: Does this person behave like this often/always?
Internal Attribution: HIGH Consistency
External Attribution: HIGH Consistency
Example: Guest gets drunk and sick at a party.
Irresponsible (PERSON)
Drink spiked or special occasion (SITUATION)
Limitations of Attribution Research
Correspondent inference theory and Covariation model:
Assume people observe clues and think rationally, logically (not always the case).
Accepts the internal-external dichotomy (without considering mediating factors).
Correspondent inference theory:
Ignores past behavior.
Ignores non-intentional behavior.
Summary of Theories
Attribution is complex; many theories explain how we attribute causality.
Heider’s Theory of Naïve Psychology (1958) describes us as naïve scientists testing out our ideas.
Jones and Davis’s theory of correspondent inference argues that we look at specific behaviors more closely when we think they can tell us more about someone.
Kelley’s Covariation Model argues that we focus on consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness when attributing other people’s behavior to dispositional or situational factors.
But how accurate are we?
Attribution Biases
Fundamental Attribution Error
Actor-Observer Effect
Self-serving Bias
Belief in a Just World
False Consensus Effect
Fundamental Attribution Error
We tend to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors.
Example: Negative behavior
Situational attribution: "Maybe that driver is ill." (Tolerant reaction)
Dispositional attribution: "Crazy driver!" (Unfavorable reaction)
Gender differences (Barrett & Bliss-Moreau, 2009):
We are more likely to attribute emotional behavior in women to stable characteristics than in men.
Actor-Observer Effect
Bias to attribute our own actions to situational factors and others' behavior to dispositional factors.
Self-Serving Bias
Protecting our ego and self-esteem at all costs.
The “Just-World” Hypothesis
People have a bias to believe that the world is an orderly, predictable, and just place where people get what they deserve.
Blaming the victim (Lerner, 1980).
Statements:
"People get what they deserve and deserve what they get."
"Bad things happen to bad people."
"There is a good reason that happened to him/her."
System justification can bolster belief in conspiracy theories (Jolley, Douglas & Sutton, 2018).
Belief in feminist conspiracy theories and sexist ideology can increase rape myth acceptance (Jolley, D., Mari, S., Schrader, T., & Cookson, D.).
False Consensus Effect
We assume that our behavior is ‘typical’, ‘normal’, ‘average’.
We assume everyone behaves like we do!
Evaluation of Attribution Biases
Lack of clear definitions
Relevance of Internal-External Dichotomy
Individual Differences
Social Evaluation
Interpersonal motives
Ecological validity
Coding of Responses
Effect of Valence
Collectivistic vs Individualistic cultures
Differences across lifespan
Wealth and Social comparison
Non-Universal Effect
Artefact of research design
Conceptual isation
Role of Internal Dispositions
Summary of Attribution Biases
We are not always accurate when attributing the cause of other people’s behavior.
The fundamental attribution error is our bias to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors affecting other people’s behavior.
The actor-observer effect is a bias to overestimate situational factors and underestimate dispositional factors affecting our own behavior.
Self-serving bias, just-world beliefs, and false consensus can also tilt our attributions.
Remember to think critically about these ideas and their supporting