Attributions Flashcards
What is causal attribution?
Process of assigning a cause to, or the explanation for an event or behaviour
Dimensions of causal attributions
Locus of causality- behaviours attributed to internal (dispositional) or external (situational) causes (HEIDER, 1958)
Stability- behaviours attributed to stable/unstable causes (WEINER, 1982)
Controllability- behaviours attributed to controllable/ uncontrollable causes (WEINER, 1986)
HEIDER (1958) naive scientists
Motivated by need to:
-form a coherent view of the world
- be in control of their environment
- rational simple explanations- to predict
Correspondence Inference Theory
JONES & DAVIS (1965)
JONES & MCGILLIS (1979)
Factors influencing whether people make dispositional attributions:
- intention- intended to achieve something?
- social desirability- consistent with social norms?
- non-common (unique) effects- effect unique to that behaviour?
- choice/intended- freely choose to perform?
- social desirability/expectedness- expected?
- hedonistic relevance- behaviour affect you?
- personalism- intended to affect you?
Covariational Model
KELLEY (1967)
Tendency to see causal relationship between event and outcome, when occur at same time
-consensus- does everyone behave this way?
=low=dispositional, high= situational
-consistency- behave the same on other occasions?
=low= situational, high= dispositional
-distinctiveness- behave the same to different stimuli?
=low= dispositional, high= situational
Covariational Model
Discounting principle- role of given cause discounted if other plausible causes are present
= decreased internal attribution
Augmentation principle- role of a given cause is augmented if an effect occurs in the presence of an inhibitory cause
= increased internal attribution
Fundamental Attribution Error
Over attribute actions to the person rather than the situation
-dispositional/ internal
ROSS ET AL (1977)
Ppts assigned to host or contestant
Host either: generated q’s or given q’s
Contestants rated own general knowledge as significantly worse
Experimental group host rated significantly well
=dispositional attributions about host, neglecting situational
JONES AND HARRIS (1967)
Non-socially desirable (Pro-Castro) position= seen as pro-Castro even if they had no choice
=overestimated degree debaters behaviour caused by internal forces
Cultural differences
MORRIS & PENG (1994)
Chinese and American ppt- animated videos of fish
Blue fish engaged in different behaviours
=Americans= fish significantly higher internal than external attributions
Causes of Fundamental Attribution Error
GILBERT & MALONE (1995)
- lack of awareness of situational constraints
- unrealistic expectations of behaviour
- inflated categorisation of behaviour
- incomplete corrections of dispositional inferences
Actor-Observer Effect/Bias
Attribute other’s behaviours to dispositional factors, and our own to situational
NISBETT ET AL (1973)
Describing why BFF chose their uni
=attributed own to internal and external, BFF to internal
Explanations for Actor-Observer Effect/Bias
Perceptual focus- observe others, draw our attention, not situational background
= observe ourselves, see situational
Informational differences- far more info about how we behave in different situations than how others behave in different circumstances
Self-Serving Attribution Bias
Motivated tacticians- interpret world in ways that serve our purposes)
More likely to attribute positive events (self-enhancement bias) to themselves but negative events as attributable to other causes (self-protecting bias)
Enhance self-esteem and good mental health
