Personallity and individual difference;

Attribution

What is attribution theory?

Attribution theory deals with how people use the information they have at their
disposal to explain various events occurring around them. It mainly analyzes how
individuals gather what they perceive to be relevant pieces of information and
combine them to form an opinion.

Attribution theory usually aims to assess how people determine whether a certain
behavior is the result of external factors or an individual's internal characteristics.

Related:

Types of attribution

The main types of attribution are:

 Predictive attribution:

People tend to make attributions regarding past or current events that influence their
opinions and decisions , you may make a conscious decision to study at nighttime for
future tests.

 Interpersonal attribution:

When discussing an event that involves you and at least one other individual, you
may be inclined to present the situation in a way that presents a positive image of
yourself. For example, when telling someone about an argument you had with another
person, you may be more likely to tell the story in a way that suggests that you
weren't at fault for the argument.

Explanatory attribution:
People generally use explanatory attributions to understand the reasons behind a
certain event, either For example, if your vehicle stops working properly, you may
attribute it to a specific mechanical issue if you're usually an optimist or to your bad
driving habits if you're usually a pessimist.

1. Dispositional Attribution

Dispositional attribution assigns the cause of behavior to some internal characteristic of a

person rather than to outside forces.

When we explain the behavior of others, we look for enduring internal attributions, such
as personality traits. This is known as the fundamental attribution error.

For example, we attribute the behavior of a person to their personality, motives, or

beliefs.

2. Situational Attribution

The process of assigning the cause of behavior to some situation or event outside a
person’s control rather than to some internal characteristic.
When we try to explain our behavior, we tend to make external attributions, such as
situational or environmental features.

Attribution models

Some of the most common attribution models are:

1. Common-sense theory

The common-sense theory of attribution first appeared in Fritz Heider's book "The
Psychology of Interpersonal Relations." This theory argues that for a particular
behavior to occur, both capacity and motivation are necessary.

Capacity refers to whether our characteristics and the surrounding environment allow
us to enact a certain behavior. Motivation refers to our desire for that particular
behavior and the amount of effort we use to make it happen.

2. Correspondent inference

The correspondent inference theory was developed by psychologists Edward Jones

and Keith Davis. It suggests that, if an individual is acting in a socially acceptable
way, people are less likely to draw conclusions regarding the respective person's
personality and motivation.

The opposite is also correct, meaning that if an individual is acting in a socially

undesirable way, people are more likely to perceive it as a personal attribute.

3. Kelley's covariation model

The covariation model was developed by Harold Kelley and suggests that people
typically use three types of information when trying to figure out if another person's
behavior is internally or externally motivated.

The first piece of information is consensus, which describes whether other people
would act in a similar manner if faced with a similar situation. If we conclude that
others would have done the same, we usually draw fewer conclusions regarding an
individual's behavior. The second piece of information in Kelley's model is
distinctiveness.

Distinctiveness describes whether the person exhibiting a certain behavior would act
similarly in other situations. If we conclude that the individual only acts a certain way
in a specific situation, we usually attribute the behavior to the situation rather than the
person.

The third piece of information in Kelley's model is consistency. Consistency describes

whether a person acts in a similar way in a specific situation even if it occurs multiple
times. If we conclude that the individual acts in different ways in similar situations,
we usually find it more difficult to attribute the cause of the behavior.

Weiner's three-dimensional model

According to Bernard Weiner, attributions vary in three ways. The first way is locus,
which refers to the source of an individual's success or failure. The locus can either be
internal, meaning that the individual's qualities or faults are the sources of
their success or failure, or external, meaning that an outside force contributed
to the observed outcome.

Stability is the second way, and it refers to the relative duration of the source for
success or failure. It may be relatively stable, meaning that it's likely to be a
permanent and integral part of the individual. It can also be unstable, meaning that the
individual or the exterior forces controlling it have to renew it occasionally for it to
produce the same results.

Controllability is the third way attributions can vary. It refers to the extent to which
the individual in question can influence the attribution. It may be controllable,
meaning that the individual's actions either increase or decrease the chances of
success or failure.
Applications for attribution theory

Most people unknowingly apply attribution theory when assessing everyday

situations. Some common fields that use aspects of attribution theory are:

Law:
Judges and jurors can use attribution theory in their decision-making,
especially when trying to determine whether a defendant's intentions and actions
suggest criminal behavior.

Clinical psychology:

Clinical psychologists can use attribution theory to study how patients tend to
attribute their successes and failures.

Marketing:

Marketing professionals can use elements of attribution theory to determine causal

relations between their marketing strategy and consumer actions.

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Examples of application theory
Consider these two examples of application theory:

Example 1
When attempting to determine whether you or another person can run a full marathon,
you can use the common sense theory. According to this theory, a person's ability to
undergo such a physically-demanding task depends on their capacity and motivation.
In this particular situation, capacity refers to the person's physical attributes and
motivation refers to their drive to sacrifice their energy for completing the marathon.

Example 2

When observing a tennis match, a person in the audience occasionally applauds.

Based on Kelley's covariation model, if everyone else applauds at the same time, the
consensus is high. If only the person in question applauds, the consensus is low. If the
person only applauds when one of the two players hits a spectacular shot, the
distinctiveness is high. If they applaud at random times, the distinctiveness is low.

You can also use this example to examine the consistency of the situation. If the
person always applauds at tennis matches, the consistency is high. If they attend
tennis matches regularly but rarely applaud, the consistency is low.

BIAS in attribuation
Bias in attribution refers to systematic and consistent errors or distortions that

individuals make when explaining the causes of behavior. These biases can influence
how people perceive themselves, others, and the world around them. Here are some
common biases in attribution:

 Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE):

As mentioned earlier, the FAE is a tendency to attribute others' behavior to internal

factors (personality traits) while underestimating the impact of external factors
(situational influences). This bias can lead to judgments and stereotypes about people
without considering the context in which their behavior occurs

 Self-Serving Bias: This bias involves attributing positive outcomes to internal

factors (personal abilities, efforts) and negative outcomes to external factors
(external circumstances, bad luck). It helps protect self-esteem by maintaining a
positive self-image.
 Actor-Observer Bias:

This bias occurs when people attribute their own behavior to external factors
(situational influences) while attributing the behavior of others to internal factors
(personality traits). It reflects the difference in perspective between the person
performing the behavior (the actor) and someone observing the behavior (the
observer).

 Ultimate Attribution Error:

This bias is related to intergroup relations and involves the tendency to attribute
negative behaviors of out-group members to dispositional traits while attributing
positive behaviors to situational factors. Conversely, positive behaviors of in-group
members are attributed to dispositional traits, while negative behaviors are attributed
to situational factors.

 Self-Handicapping

: In this bias, individuals create external attributions for potential failures as a way to
protect their self-esteem. By attributing failure to external factors, they can preserve
their self-image by not having to admit personal shortcomings.

 Hindsight Bias:

Also known as the "I-knew-it-all-along" bias, this occurs when individuals perceive
events as having been predictable after they have already occurred. This bias can lead
to overestimating the accuracy of one's predictions.

 Cultural Attribution Biases:

 Cultural factors can influence attribution tendencies. Some cultures might
emphasize dispositional attributions more, while others might consider situational
factors and social context. This can lead to misunderstandings and
misinterpretations in cross-cultural interactions.
 Just-World Hypothesis:

This cognitive bias suggests that people have a tendency to believe that the world is
fair, and individuals get what they deserve. As a result, they may attribute the
outcomes of others (such as poverty or success) to their own actions or traits.

Defination

Attribution bias is a cognitive bias causing a person to

misinterpret their impulse and others’ behavior. As a result, it
becomes an easy tool for a person to protect their egoistic
behavior and self-image in front of others. Unfortunately, it often
has negative connotations associated with it.

These attribution biases can have significant implications for how individuals
understand and interact with the world. They can lead to misjudgments,
misunderstandings, conflicts, and the reinforcement of stereotypes. Recognizing and
understanding these biases is important for fostering more accurate and empathetic
perceptions of others and for promoting effective communication and cooperation.

It leads a person to explain other people’s behavior based on their character

instead of the situation they face. As a result, people tend to emphasize on
 person’s activity rather than the societal reason behind that action. It results in
exaggerating individual traits and wrongly portraying a circumstance. The
most negative impact of this bias has been the minimizing role of the situation
and maximizing the individual’s role in a scenario.

Table of contents

 Attribution Bias Definition

o Attribution Bias Explained
o Types
o Examples
o Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
o Recommended Articles

Key Takeaways
 Attribution bias means the error committed by a person who decides another
person’s character is the root cause of any problem without considering the
external factors affecting those actions.
 It becomes a potent tool to protect one’s ego and self-image while maligning
others to prove oneself correct all the time and others as wrong for all bad
situations to an outcome.
 Victim blaming and employee performance gets badly affected due to the
bias attributed n the person instead of the circumstances leading to the
incidence or the outcome.
 It has many types depending on the situation: value impression, fundamental
impression bias, interpretive bias, actor-observer bias, fundamental attribution
error, and self-serving bias.

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Attribution Bias Explained

Attribution bias refers to the negative tendency of an individual to judge a
person on their character rather than the circumstances responsible for their
particular action. It makes one over-weigh the importance of an individual’s
character and lightens the effect of situations on their actions. It allows people
to make excuses to justify their judgment and wrong actions by others.

Whenever an incident happens in a person’s life, the doer and the observer lie
on different planes of thinking. In such a situation, the observer tends to
blame the doer of the action more than the circumstance making them do the
activity. Although, it may not represent the correct picture of the activity,
situation, and the doer. However, it becomes an easy way out for the observer
to prove themselves correct and protect their ego.

The wrong judgment of an observer falls under the cognitive bias of making
wrong decisions to solve a particular problem. The observer often makes a
mistake and assumes the wrong cause of a problem. Hence, they devise the
wrong solution for solving the problem that has no disastrous effect on the
population, society, or company. It happens due to blaming an individual’s
character for the problem rather than focusing on the root cause of the
problem.

One may find attribution bias in cases such as victim-blaming and at all
workplaces related to employee performance. Moreover, if one concentrates
more on a person’s behavior than on the real causes of bias, those decisions
become wrong and harmful. As a result, most of the time, it leads to grave
consequences. Nevertheless, attribution bias depends on many situations and
factors related to the circumstance. Lastly, one can understand it as a
perpetual error that keeps the bias occurring every time.

Types
One can find different types of bias associated with the perpetual error of an
individual. Also, with changing situations, the type of bias gets changed in
tandem with the factors that wrap around an individual’s activity. Therefore,
the bias gets divided into the following types:

#1 – Self-Serving Bias
Such a bias occurs when an observer tries to take advantage of the result of
an incident. Here, the observer tends to make the outcome of the incident in
their favor.

#2 – Fundamental Attribution Error

Victim blaming falls in such a category. Under it, another person blames
someone suffering from a mishap for miseries. However, the blamer ignores
the factors, causes, and person behind the sufferings of a victim. At the same
time, they glorify the heroism of the doer of the crime. As a result, the victim
gets punishment by society, and the doer remains free and not punished
under fundamental attribution bias.

#3 – Actor-Observer Bias
Under it, an observer blames the doer of an activity unjustly for causing the
worst-case scenario instead of the factors surrounding the person making him
do the action. However, when the observer does the same action as the doer,
the observer blames the outside forces and the factors causing the action.
Here, the observer goes Scott free, and the doer gets caught guilty.

#4 – Interpretive Bias
It is called hostile attribution bias, wherein an individual observer interprets
the doer’s action as hostile to himself instead of harmless. Researchers have
linked such bias to the aggressive behavior of an observer. For instance, a
child interprets their friends talking to each other as planning to harm them.

#5 – Negative Impression Bias

It is also called negative attribution bias, where an individual tends to focus
more on the negative attributes of other individuals. When the observer gets
hurt, they exaggerate others’ negative impressions.

#6 – Fundamental Impression Bias

One may also call it fundamental attribution bias, where an observer tries to
forgive their negative behavior and point out others’ mistakes as the result of
their intrinsic behavior. Also, here the observer blames the environment for
their mistakes and does to accept the same reason for others’ mistakes.

#7 – Value Impression Bias

One can call it value attribution bias, where an observer assigns certain values
to other persons based on their appearance out of the brain’s habit of taking
shortcuts using psychological factors. It has become a part of the brain’s
reflexive thinking when it comes across any new person. Here, anyone decides
about the future perceptions of an individual based on the worthiness of
paying attention to it.

Examples
Let us go through some examples to understand the topic.

Example #1
A common place of occurrence of such bias has been the workplace. When an
employee does exemplary work in their office, the boss comes forward to take
credit for the employee’s performance. However, if the same employee fails at
any official task or underperforms, the same boss blames the employee for the
failure. Hence, the boss has an inbuilt self-serving bias regarding their
employee.
Example #2
With more than 60% of active players coming from the United States alone,
the stock market is one of the largest human gatherings for investment. With
so many different psyches, prejudices are bound to exist. Self-attribution bias
is not new to the playground of investors.

As investors of all levels deposit their hard-earned money in the stock

exchanges, they do not want to be held accountable for their investment’s
failure. The explanation is that accepting responsibility would require them to
admit that they were the ones who lost their own money. It is always
preferable to point the finger at the market sentiment, volatility, or several
other factors. The accused responded by fighting back.

However, even a tiny bit of green in someone’s portfolio shows genuine

talent. No credit for any increase in capital or profits is given to any of the
elements above.

Investors with ego fluctuations exhibit maniacal buying or panicked selling

without justifiable justification. As a result, people swiftly alter their viewpoints.

Research in Attribution:
Attribution theory is a social psychological framework that explores how individuals
explain the causes of events, their own behavior, and the behavior of others. It plays a
fundamental role in understanding how people make sense of the world, form
judgments, and make decisions. Researchers have conducted extensive studies in the
field of attribution theory, and these investigations have yielded valuable insights into
human behavior. Here are some key areas of research in attribution:

Causal Attributions:

Attribution theory examines how individuals attribute the causes of events or

behaviors to either internal factors (dispositional) or external factors (situational).
Researchers investigate the factors that influence this attribution process, such as
culture, context, and cognitive biases.

Fundamental Attribution Error:

This well-documented bias refers to the tendency to overemphasize dispositional

factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining the behavior of others.
Researchers have explored the causes and consequences of this error and ways to
mitigate it.

Actor-Observer Bias:
This bias relates to the difference in attributions people make for their own behavior
(typically situational) and the behavior of others (typically dispositional). Researchers
study the factors that contribute to this bias and how it impacts interpersonal
relationships and social judgments.

Self-Serving Bias:

This bias involves attributing positive outcomes to one's own abilities and efforts
(internal factors) while attributing negative outcomes to external factors. Researchers
investigate the motivational and cognitive factors underlying the self-serving bias.

Cultural and Cross-Cultural Differences:

Attribution theory research also explores how cultural factors influence attributions.
Different cultures may have distinct attributional patterns, which can impact social
interactions and communication.

Heuristic Processing:

Researchers study the cognitive shortcuts or heuristics people use when making
attributions, such as the availability heuristic and the representativeness heuristic.
Understanding these shortcuts helps explain biases in attribution.

Impression Formation:

Attribution theory is closely related to the process of forming impressions of others.

Researchers examine how attributional cues, such as behavior consistency and
consensus, affect the impressions people form of individuals.

Emotion and Attribution:

Emotions can influence how individuals make attributions. Researchers explore the
impact of emotions like anger, sadness, and happiness on the attributions people make
about themselves and others.

Attribution and Mental Health:

Understanding how people attribute the causes of events and outcomes is crucial in
clinical psychology and mental health research. It can help in identifying cognitive
biases and maladaptive thinking patterns in individuals with conditions like
depression and anxiety.

Applications:

Attribution theory has practical applications in various fields, including education,

business, and conflict resolution. Researchers investigate how altering attributions can
lead to changes in behavior, motivation, and decision-making.

Research in attribution theory continues to evolve, and it has important implications

for understanding interpersonal relationships, communication, and the ways in which
individuals navigate the social world. By examining the cognitive and motivational
processes underlying attributions, researchers can shed light on human behavior and
contribute to the development of strategies for improving communication and
decision-making