PSYCH 360 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Fundamental Attribution Error, Attribution Bias, Dispositional Attribution
16 Feb 2013
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Attribution theory refers to the study of how people understand the causes of events. Causal attribution is the process of people who we use to explain both their own and other"s behavior. Explanatory style refers to a person"s habitual way of explaining events and is assessed along three dimensions: internal/external / stable/unstable / global/specific. Making people believe that they can exert control over events that they formerly believe to be outside their control restores hope and unleashes the kind of productive energy that makes future success more likely. Girls attribute failure to lack of intellectual ability and boys attribute failing to not playing attention or not trying hard enough. Covariation principle, the idea that behavior should be attributed to potential causes that co-occur with the behavior. 3) consistency what an individual does in a given situation on different occasions. *when all of these are high, situation attribution is necessary.
