Attribution Theory

Attribution• On your sheet, highlight the reasons you gave in

two different colours – Reasons that were due to the personality of the

person– Reasons that were due to the situation that the

person was in

• Attribution is the process of explaining the behaviour of other people. When we observe other people’s behaviour, we unconsciously try to find explanations for it.

Explaining Behaviour

• Your friend gives you some money. How do you interpret their behaviour?

• Heider and Simmel (1944)– Watch the video and interpret the behaviour of the shapes

Attribution Theory

• Attribution theory is a collection of various theories that aim to explain how and why we make attributions about others based on their behaviour.

• It is an applied cognitive theory, as it is using cognitive principles to understand an important social process (attribution).

Internal and External Attributions• Heider (1958)• Dispositional attribution : The behaviour is due to

internal or dispositional factors such as personality or abilities.– E.g. Someone is quiet because they are shy

Situational attribution : external factors such as social norms, luck or the environment caused the behaviourE.g. Someone is quiet because

they are in a meeting

Internal and External Attributions

• Come up with situational and dispositional attributions for the behaviours on the sheet.

• According to Heider, which attribution are we most predisposed to make?

• He called this the Fundamental Attribution Error.– Evidence: Ross (1977)

Covariation theory • Kelly (1960) – Takes into account situations where we make

inferences not just on one isolated incident, but by having access to more information such as the person’s past behaviour, and other’s behaviour in similar situations.

• Attributions are made using 3 factors– Consistency – Distinctiveness– Consensus

Covariation theory • Read how John’s liking of Friends could be explained

• How could you explain Lee’s behaviour?

• What evidence is there?

Errors in Attribution

• What is the actor/observer bias?

• Nisbett et al (1973)• What is the self-serving bias?

Plenary

• Go back to the attributions you made at the start

• Do you think you may have fallen for the FAE?