ATTRIBUTION THEORY DEFINITION:
Attribution theory is concerned with how people interpret events and relate them to their thinking
and behavior. It's a cognitive perception which affects their motivation. This theory was first
proposed in a book called, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations by Fritz Heider in 1958.
According to Heider, men behave as amateur scientists in social situations. He also said that, we
generally explain behavior in two ways; either we attribute the behavior to a person or a
situation. Attribution literally means a grant of responsibility. Albeit, the theory was first
proposed by Heider (1958), later Edward E. Jones (1972) and Harold Kelley (1967) developed a
theoretical structure, which is now seen as an epitome of social psychology.
The attribution theory by Heider divides the behavior attributes into two parts, external or
internal factors.
o Internal attribution: When an internal attribution is made, the cause of the given
behavior is within the person, i.e. the variables which make a person responsible like
attitude, aptitude, character and personality.
o External attribution: When an external attribution is made, the cause of the given
behavior is assigned to the situation in which the behavior was seen. The person
responsible for the behavior may assign the causality to the environment or weather.
In 1967, Kelley tried to explain the way people perceive internal and external attribution. He
tried this, postulating the principle of co-variation. This model was known as Covariation Model.
The basic principle of the covariation model states that the effect is attributed to one of the
causes which co-varies over time. It also means that the behavior at various occasions varies.
The covariation model considers three major types of information to make an attribution decision
and to observe a person's behavior.
The three types of information are:
o Consensus information: This responds to the fact, how people with similar stimuli
behave in similar situations. If most people behave alike, i.e. their reactions are shared by
many, the consensus is high. But, if no one or only a few people share the reactions, the
consensus is low.
o Distinctiveness information: This is about, how a person responds to different
situations. There exists a very low distinctiveness if the person reacts similarly in all or
most of the situations. However, if a person reacts differently in different situations, it is
said that the distinctiveness is high.
o Consistency information: If the response of a person to different stimulus and in varied
situations remains the same, then the consistency is high.
But Kelly's covariation model has some limitations. The most prominent being that, it fails to
distinguish between the intentional and unintentional behavior.
ATTRIBUTION THEORY IN EDUCATION:
Also, known as the Attribution Theory of Motivation, this theory describes how a person's
reasons, alibis and vindications about self or others influence motivation. One of the most
prominent psychologist who focused on The Attribution Theory of Education was Bernard
Weiner. Mr. Weiner said that all the factors influencing achievement or motivation can be
classified as effort, ability, luck and level of task difficulty. These factors mainly provide details
of the things which are under or beyond our control; effort, an unstable factor on which we
exercise a great deal of control; ability, a stable factor on which we do not have much control;
luck, an unstable factor over which we exercise little control and level of difficulty, a stable
factor which is beyond our control.
USAGE AND APPLICATIONS OF ATTRIBUTION THEORY OF
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY:
The theory helps in Criminal Law, i.e. to understand the psychology of criminals. The usage of
this theory here is of utmost importance. In today's times, with the increase in crime, especially
juvenile crimes; understanding criminal psychology has become essential. This can help
psychologists to understand their thought process, help experts to prevent such crimes in future
and also to reform criminal's personality. It also helps in understanding cognitive bias.
Another major application of this theory is in marketing communication. Here, it explains the
fact, that the consumer can attribute claim, either to advertiser's desire to sell product (called as
one sided advertising) or to actual attributes of a product communicated by a honest advertiser.
Attribution theory of social psychology is a solution to many problems the world is facing today.
We can hope of a better world, without crime, dishonesty and greed, only if the advancement in
the theory is possible.
