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Attribution Theory

The document discusses Attribution Theory in the context of Year 10 Psychology, focusing on how individuals explain the behavior of others through concepts like the fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias, and cultural differences. It outlines the criteria for making attributions, including distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus, and highlights biases that affect our interpretations of behavior. Additionally, it emphasizes the impact of these attributions on our reactions to others' actions.

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17 views10 pages

Attribution Theory

The document discusses Attribution Theory in the context of Year 10 Psychology, focusing on how individuals explain the behavior of others through concepts like the fundamental attribution error, self-serving bias, and cultural differences. It outlines the criteria for making attributions, including distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus, and highlights biases that affect our interpretations of behavior. Additionally, it emphasizes the impact of these attributions on our reactions to others' actions.

Uploaded by

gnanachalla01
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Attribution Theory

Year 10 Psychology
Learning Intention and Success Criteria

Apply attribution theory to explain the


behavior of others with specific attention to
the fundamental attribution error,
self-serving bias, just-world hypothesis and
differences between collectivistic and
individualistic cultures
Social Psychology
•The scientific study of the ways in which the
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual
are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred
behavior or characteristics of other people
•Today’s class:
–How you think about people
–How you explain their behavior
Attribution: Why did he do that?
•Attribution Theory: tries to explain how people make
judgments about the causes of other people’s behavior
•Three criteria used to judge behavior
–Distinctiveness: Is this how the person treats everyone or are you
different?
–Consistency: Has the person always treated you this way or is this
different?
–Consensus: Do other people do this same thing or is this really
different?
•Bob walks past you without saying hi.
–Distinctiveness: Your explanation as to why Bob did this will
be different if he does this to everyone in the hall or just you
–Consistency: Your explanation as to why Bob did this will be
different if he always says hi to you or if you don’t really know
each other.
–Consensus: Whether you’re in New York vs. a college of 600
will change how you explain Bob’s behavior.
Biases in Attribution
•Fundamental attribution error: when explaining the behavior of others this is the
tendency to overemphasize personal causes underemphasize situational causes
•Actor-Observer Bias: This is the opposite used by us when we explain our own
behavior. We overemphasize situational causes and downplay personality.
•Defensive attribution
–Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts and our failures to external
factors
–Just-world hypothesis: Assumption bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good
people
•Attribution across cultures varies dramatically
EXAMPLES:
External vs Internal attribution:
External: Miss Tan is cranky today because she forgot her breakfast.
Internal: Miss Tan is just a cranky person.
Fundamental attribution error: If a classmate roll their eyes to you, you might think “he/she is
mean”, when they maybe just really upset about some previous argument with you and your
friend.
Self-serving bias: “I got a A on my test because I’m smart!”, “I got a C on my test because the
teacher made it too hard”.
Just-world hypothesis: She/he fell off her chair because she was careless.”,
Effects of Attribution
How we explain someone’s behavior affects how we
react to it.
Collectivism vs Individualism culture

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