Lecture 3 - Attribution Flashcards
What is causal attribution?
We assign a cause to an event or behaviour
people asking why something happened to them for example
what caused a particular event or behaviour
What are the 2 dimensions of causal attributions?
Locus of Causality
Stability and Controllability
What is Locus of causality?
Behaviours/events can be attributed to internal causes (also called Dispositional attributions) or external causes (also called situational attributions)
Whether the cause of their behaviour lies within themselves (internal locus) or is due to external factors beyond their control (external locus)
What is Stability and Controllability?
Stability: Behaviours/ events are attributed to either stable causes or unstable causes
Controllability: Behaviours/events are attributed to controllable or uncontrollable causes
does someone have control over that particular event or behaviour
Why do we engage in causal attribution?
Heider said human beings are like naive scientists
- motivated to form a coherent view of the world (make sense of the world)
- want to be in control of our environment
So we try to come up w a simple rational explanation for behaviours and events to make sense of the world, just like scientists. In doing so, attributions also allow us to predict events or behaviour
What are the two theories in making causal attribution?
- The Correspondent Inference Theory
(Jones and Davis; Jones and McGillis) - Covariation Model (Kelley) - The most influential or well known model
What does the Correspondent Inference Theory say about Dispositional Attributions?
(corresponds to disposition)
There are 5 factors to Correspondent Inference Theory - CNSHP
- Choice: Did the person freely choose to perform the behaviour?
- Non-common (unique) effects: Are the effects of the behaviour relatively unique to that behaviour vs common to alternative behaviour?
- Social Desirability: Is the behaviour consistent with social norms?
- Hedonistic relevance: Does the behaviour have consequences for you?
- Personalism: Was the behaviour intended to affect you?
We are more likely to make a causal attribution that the behaviour/ event was due to disposition if
The action was Freely chosen
If the action had a non-common effect
The action was not socially desirable
The action had a direct impact on us
The action seemed intentional in affecting us
These are all correspondent inference (dispositional attribution)
What did Jones and Harris find?
ps made more correspondent inferences about behaviours that were not socially desirable and were freely chosen
However, it focuses on single instances of behaviour and only focuses on the processes underlying dispositional attributions
What is the covariation model (Kelley)?
Accounts for both internal and external attributions, looking at multiple behaviours.
Argues that attributions are based on what factor co-occur with the behaviour/ event
(what factors are present when behaviour is present, and absent when behaviour is absent)
Covariation principle - the tendency to see a causal relationship between an event and an outcome when they happen at the same time
Model argues we draw on 3 pieces of info ab the covariation between the behaviour/event and person, stimulus and time/ occasion:
Consensus, Consistency, and Distinctiveness
What is Conensus in the covariation model?
A factor that could co-occur with the behaviour/event
Does everyone behave this way to this stimulus?
Low consensus > Dispositional attribution
High consensus > Situational attribution
What is Consistency in the covariation model?
Does this person behave the same way to this stimulus on other occasions or at other times?
Low consistency > Situational attribution
High consistency > Dispositional attribution
What is the Distinctiveness factor in the covariation model?
Does this person behave the same way to different stimuli?
Low distinctiveness > Dispositional attribution
High distinctiveness > Situational attribution
After considering all of the 3 factors from the covariation model to look at a behaviour or event, what should we then do?
Consider all 3 factors to make an attribution and see which one is the most common to see whether it is a dispositional attribution or situational attribution
What are 2 issues with the covariation model?
We dont always have information on all dimensions (but we still make attributions)
While we can make attributions using all this information, we probably dont all the time (bc it takes effort)
What is the Fundamental Attribution Error? (FAE) or CORRESPONDENCE BIAS
Poeple tend to over attribute actions to the person rather than the situation
so we make more dispositional or internal attributional causes rather than situational/external attributions
eg Jones and Harris castro
How are there cultural differences in fundamental attribution error?
Chinese and American ps (high school and grad school) watched animated videos of a group of different coloured fish incl a blue fish that engaged in diff behaviours eg collisions
ps had to report the extent to which they thought the blue fish movements were influenced by external and internal factors
What were the findings from Morris and Peng FAE or CORRESPONDENCE BIAS fish study?
Ps American high school students made more internal attributions and lower external attributions than high school Chinese students
but the difference disappears when looking at grad students
so the tendency to make internal attributions is affected by both culture and age
Why does fundamental attribution errors or correspondence bias occur?
Gilbert and Malone said:
- Lack of awareness of situational constraints
- Unrealistic expectations of behaviour - bad at identifying how much a situation affects someones behaviour
- Incomplete corrections of dispositional inferences - we make dispositional attributions as a default but fail to correct for situational influences
What is the Actor-Observer effect?
The tendency to attribute other’s behaviour to dispositional factors, and our own behaviour to situational factors
shown by p’s attributing their own choice of major to both internal and external causes, relatively equal measure. However, they attributed their best friend’s choice of major significantly more to internal than external causes
Why does Actor-Observer Bias/Effect occur?
- Perceptual focus
- Informational differences
What is Perceptual focus?
An explanation for the Actor-Observer Bias or Effect
Says when we observe others behaviour, they themselves (rather than the situational background) draws our attention. However, when we observe our own behaviour, we cant see ourselves acting, just the situational background
you see them and you see them as a person so you see dispositional internal reasons. when we look at us we look at both internal and external
What is Informational Differences?
An explanation for the Actor-Observer Bias/ Effect
We have far more information about how we behave in different situations than we have information about how others behave in different circumstances
How is the Actor-Observer Effect not universally observed?
Meta analysis, Malle analysed the results of 173 studies, finding the Actor-Observer Effect held for negative behaviours, but was reversed for positive behaviours
What is the Self-Serving attribution bias?
Humans are not at all objective about how we interpret the world. Instead, we interpret it in a way that serves our purposes
People are more likely to attribute positive events to themselves - Self Enhancement Bias
People are more likely to dismiss negative events as attributable to other causes - Self - Protecting Bias
Why do we do the Self - Serving Attribution Bias?
Help us to maintain and enhance self-esteem and good mental health
Where is self-serving attribution bias reduced in?
Adolescents and adults
some non western cultures
Samples w mental health disorders
What is the most well known method for measuring trait attributional style?
Peterson et al Attributional Style Questionnaire, which categorises attributional style into 3 components:
-internal/external
-stable/unstable
-global/specific
