Attribution Theory

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2. ATTRIBUTION THEORY GROUP 3 PAGE 2

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4. We will cover these areas Presentation Outline ▪ Understand attribution theory ▪ Application of the theory in the PR field PAGE 4

5. Attribution Theory (Background) ▪ Fritz Heider was an Austrian psychologist who followed the Gestalt school of psychology. He published a book called “The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations” in 1958 which explained the balance theory and the attribution theory. He is considered to be the father of attribution theory. ▪ Heider’s attribution theory explains how people attempt to explain the cause of certain behaviours and events. Usually, we attempt to make a good impression when we meet someone. However, according to attribution theory, the primary person begins to explain the behaviour of the other person. The individual begins to place a meaning/ attach a cause for the other person’s behaviour. According to Fiske and Taylor (1991), “Attribution theory deals with how the social perceivers use the information to arrive at causal explanations for events. It examines what information is gathered and how it is combined to form a causal judgment.” This theory underlines the fact that humans tend to look for cause-and-effect relationships as an explanation. PAGE 5

6. TYPES OF ATTRIBUTION ▪ There are 2 different types of attribution, they are dispositional (internal) causes and situational (external) causes. Dispositional Causes ▪ This type of attribution is when one designates the cause of behaviour to be due to some internal source or characteristics rather than an external source. For example, if your friend is angry at you, you may attribute her behaviour to her personality. “Oh she gets like this sometimes, she is a moody person.” However, if there is too much emphasis placed on the dispositional causes (internal causes); this may lead the person to ignore the situational causes and thus result in a Fundamental Attribution Error. This generally occurs when the situational causes are ignored and the person’s viewed as flawed due to their personality traits, intelligence etc. For example, actors and actresses play certain characters in TV shows and movies. They may even have similar characteristics to the characters they play. It is important to remember that they behave that way because of the character they portray. People tend to ignore the situational causes (the tv show, the characters they play) and focus on the dispositional causes (the actor’s personality, intelligence etc). PAGE 6

7. TYPES OF ATTRIBUTION ▪ Situational Causes ▪ This type of attribution is when one designates the cause of behaviour to an external source rather than an internal source of the individual. For example, if your mom is annoyed you may attribute it to the fact that you are both stuck in traffic and she is getting late. It is human tendency to come up with reasons to explain the behaviour of others. Think back on all the times you have come up with internal or external reasons for someone’s behaviour. For example, you may approach your teacher to ask something. however, he/she snaps. You may attribute this to something that may have affected her/him personally. “They must have had a rough morning.” This indicates that it is human nature to attach meaning to someone’s behaviour. ▪ Let’s look at dispositional and situational causes. For example, your mother might yell at you after you come home from school. The situational cause may be that she was having a bad day at work and you were an outlet to vent her frustration. The dispositional cause may be that she is usually a mood person and hence the anger is attributed to her personality. PAGE 7

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9. FACTORS INVOLVED IN CLASSIFICATION OF ATTRIBUTION ▪ In 1967, Kelley proposed the Covariation Model. This model is designed to identify how particular actions and behaviours should be classified as dispositional or situational. He identified and theorized three kinds of factors that are involved in the classification of attribution. They are the following: ▪ CONSENSUS ▪ Consensus is the extent to which people react when they are approached by a certain stimulus/event as the person being observed. The higher the proportion of people who react the same way, the higher the consensus. For example, Emma usually has a glass of wine when she goes out for dinner. If her friend joins her then her behaviour is high in consensus. If her friend looks shocked and does not join her, the lower consensus. ▪ In school days when the time is too less and the homework is too much but someway somehow your friends manage to get the work done and the next day you are the only one standing in front of the class for not getting the work done, the teacher will probably make an internal attribution. You could hear her scream about how your friends could manage it and you couldn’t and that you are irresponsible and do not make good use of your time PAGE 9

10. FACTORS INVOLVED IN CLASSIFICATION OF ATTRIBUTION ▪DISTINCTIVENESS ▪ Distinctiveness is the extent to which the person reacts to the same or different stimuli and events. If the behaviour seems unusual, it is externally attributed. ▪ For instance, it is quit strange for a punctual worker who is never late to work to be late someday. In such a situation, we are likely to make an external attribution. ▪ On the other hand, if a person is late almost everyday and is always someone who blows off commitments, we make an external attribution. ▪ Also, if Emma only drinks when she goes out for dinner then her behaviour is high in distinctiveness. If she usually drinks wine with dinner, then the distinctiveness is low. PAGE 10

11. FACTORS INVOLVED IN CLASSIFICATION OF ATTRIBUTION ▪CONSISTENCY ▪ Consistency is the extent to which the observed person reacts to the stimulus in the same way over different periods. ▪ If the behaviour is consistent, we attribute it to the internal causes. ▪ However, if it is not ,we attribute it to the external causes ▪ For example, if Emma drinks a glass of wine every night, consistency is high. If she only drinks on special occasions, consistency is low. ▪ According to Kelley, we tend to categorize behaviour into internal causes when consensus and distinctiveness are low, but consistency is high. PAGE 11

12. ATTRIBUTIONAL BAISES PAGE 12

13. BERNARD WEINER MODEL OF ATTRIBUTION ▪ Weiner focused his attribution theory on achievement (Weiner, 1974). He identified ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck as the most important factors affecting attributions for achievement. Attributions are classified along three causal dimensions: locus of control, stability, and controllability. The locus of control dimension has two poles: internal versus external locus of control. The stability dimension captures whether causes change over time or not. For instance, ability can be classified as a stable, internal cause, and effort classified as unstable and internal. Controllability contrasts causes one can control, such as skill/efficacy, from causes one cannot control, such as aptitude, mood, others’ actions, and luck. Principles: Attribution is a three stage process: (1) behaviour is observed, (2) behaviour is determined to be deliberate, and (3) behaviour is attributed to internal or external causes. Achievement can be attributed to (1) effort, (2) ability, (3) level of task difficulty, or (4) luck. Causal dimensions of behaviour are (1) locus of control, (2) stability, and (3) controllability. PAGE 13

14. APPLICATION OF WEINER’S MODEL ▪ Weiner’s theory has been widely applied in education, law, clinical psychology, and the mental health domain. There is a strong relationship between self-concept and achievement. Weiner (1980) states: “Causal attributions determine affective reactions to success and failure. For example, one is not likely to experience pride in success, or feelings of competence, when receiving an ‘A’ from a teacher who gives only that grade, or when defeating a tennis player who always loses…On the other hand, an ‘A’ from a teacher who gives few high grades or a victory over a highly rated tennis player following a great deal of practice generates great positive affect.” (p.362). Students with higher ratings of self-esteem and with higher school achievement tend to attribute success to internal, stable, uncontrollable factors such as ability, while they contribute failure to either internal, unstable, controllable factors such as effort, or external, uncontrollable factors such as task difficulty. For example, students who experience repeated failures in reading are likely to see themselves as being less competent in reading. This self-perception of reading ability reflects itself in children’s expectations of success on reading tasks and reasoning of success or failure of reading. Similarly, students with learning disabilities seem less likely than non-disabled peers to attribute failure to effort, an unstable, controllable factor, and more likely to attribute failure to ability, a stable, uncontrollable factor. PAGE 14

15. APPLICATION OF WEINER’S MODEL ▪Attribution theory has been used to explain the difference in motivation between high and low achievers. According to attribution theory, high achievers will approach rather than avoid tasks related to succeeding because they believe success is due to high ability and effort which they are confident of. Failure is thought to be caused by bad luck or a poor exam, i.e. not their fault. Thus, failure doesn’t affect their self-esteem but success builds pride and confidence. On the other hand, low achievers avoid success-related chores because they tend to (a) doubt their ability and/or (b) assume success is related to luck or to “who you know” or to other factors beyond their control. Thus, even when successful, it isn’t as rewarding to the low achiever because he/she doesn’t feel responsible, i.e., it doesn’t increase his/her pride and confidence. PAGE 15

16. External(Academic) Locus of Control PAGE 16

17. Presentation Compliment Video PAGE 17

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