Attributions

The Meaning of Attributions

Attributions are conscious or unconscious subjective cognitive conclusions about the cause of an event or situation. In simple terms, attributions are basically how a person perceives a situation or event. In the example of Jenna arriving late for work, her boss attributed her lateness to an external factor: heavy traffic. He could have attributed her lateness to an internal factor about Jenna: she was late because she didn't get up early enough that morning.

Attributions in Psychology

When we attribute a cause to an event, we make a decision or conclusion about why something happened. Attributions are a common topic of study in psychology. The psychologist Fritz Heider studied attributions back in the early 1900s, and he developed the attribution theory in psychology.

Attributional Styles

Attributional style varies depending on a person's general outlook on life and way of explaining or interpreting life events. Attributional styles are based on the idea that either we control our environment or it controls us. In other words, it is often based on our locus of control. People with an optimistic attributional style have a generally positive attitude toward life events even when things are not going well. People with a pessimistic attributional style generally respond negatively to life events and attribute them to forces outside of their control.

Example of Attributions

Attributions impact our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. They can also impact motivation in ourselves and others. Psychologists want to understand better why and how we make cognitive attributions and how they contribute to the way we treat others. Types of attributions in psychology include dispositional attributions, situational attributions, cognitive biases, and perceptual shortcuts.

Dispositional Attributions

Internal attributions are also known as dispositional attributions. Internal attributions occur when someone relates an experience to personal factors, emotions, moods, or personality traits. For example, if someone does well at a cheerleading competition, they may believe it is due to internal attributes and their personal efforts.

Situational Attributions

External attributions are also known as situational attributions. External attributions happen when someone considers factors outside themselves. Social factors come into play, such as race, age, location, other people, etc. For example, if someone is late to work, external attributes such as traffic or car accidents might be considered.

Biases and Attributions

Bias is when we favor a particular person, group, thing, or idea. Biases can be either implicit or explicit, meaning they are either unconscious or conscious. Implicit bias is unconscious, preconceived outlooks or perspectives influenced by past life experiences. Prejudice is an example of a negative implicit bias toward other people, groups, or ideas.

Explicit bias is conscious, preconceived outlooks or perspectives that guide our thoughts and responses. Explicit biases influence how we determine the causes of our behaviors and other people's behaviors. In general, humans attribute the behaviors of other people to internal factors and behaviors of our own to external factors. When this occurs, it is known as the fundamental attribution error (FAE).

Perceptual Shortcuts and Attributions

Shortcuts are often called perceptual shortcuts in psychology when considering attributions. These shortcuts are ways that we often look over or miss information that might be vital in understanding if there is an internal or external cause. We use selective perception to decide what information to pay attention to and what information to ignore. When we do this, we often use our bias to choose what to pay attention to. The judgment we have based on the shortcuts can lead to attributions surrounding a situation or event.

Group Attributions in Psychology

Group attributions in psychology often relate to in-group and out-group biases. In-group bias is the tendency to favor other group members over people who belong to another group. If we are part of a group that believes eating meat is not okay, we may treat others in our group better than we treat those in other groups. We may use perceptual shortcuts to ignore the fact that eating meat has benefits, like added protein and vitamins. Out-group bias is the exact opposite: undervaluing those that are not part of your group.

In-group and out-group biases can lead to prejudice and discrimination against others. Prejudice is a negative implicit bias that leads to unfair or poor judgments of entire groups of people. Discrimination is the action side of prejudice. Prejudice is the attribution; discrimination is how we treat people based on our attributions.

Attribution Theory

Attribution theory explains how we perceive the actions of others and form attributions. There are three key factors in attribution theory: distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency. Distinctiveness is when we closely observe someone's behavior and decide if it is common or uncommon. By observing the behavior and making a decision, we decide if the cause is internal or external.

Consensus is when we make a generalized observation based on what most people do in a group. If most of the group has the same observable behavior or experience, our attribution of the cause of the behavior or experience will likely be external. If the majority display uncommon behavior within the group, our attribution will likely be internal

Consistency

Consistency is when we observe if the behavior is common or uncommon. If an action or behavior rarely occurs in someone, we might consider it an external cause. If the behavior is recurring, it is most likely internal. Throughout this process, we are able to determine what we believe to be the root of someone's behavior.