Attribution theories: explaining behavior

Attribution theory in social psychology deals with how people explain the causes of behavior, both their own and that of others.

We constantly seek to make sense of what happens around us, and attributing causes to actions is a fundamental part of this meaning-making process.

The Need to Explain: Heider's "Naive Scientist"

Fritz Heider, one of the pioneers in the study of attribution, described people as "naive scientists" or "amateur psychologists" who try to understand the behavior of others by piecing together information until they arrive at a reasonable explanation.

According to Heider, one of the first and most important distinctions we make when explaining behavior is whether the cause is internal (dispositional) or external (situational).

An internal or dispositional attribution explains behavior based on characteristics of the person, such as their personality, attitude, ability, or effort.

An external or situational attribution explains it in terms of factors in the environment or the situation in which the behavior occurs.

Kelley's Covariation Model

Harold Kelley proposed a more detailed model, the covariation model, to explain how we decide whether to make an internal or external attribution.

According to Kelley, we consider three types of information when we observe someone's behavior:

• Consensus Information: How do other people behave when faced with the same stimulus or situation? If many people react the same way (high consensus), we are more likely to attribute the cause to the situation. If few people react this way (low consensus), an internal attribution to the person is more likely.

• Distinctiveness (or Distinctiveness) Information: How does the observed person react to other stimuli or different situations? If the person behaves similarly in many different situations (low distinctiveness), an internal attribution is more likely. If they only behave this way to that particular stimulus (high distinctiveness), an external attribution to the stimulus is more likely.

• Consistency Information: How has the person behaved to the same stimulus at different times and in different circumstances? If the person behaves the same way consistently over time (high consistency), we can make a clearer attribution (internal or external, depending on the consensus and distinctiveness information). If consistency is low,It is difficult to make a clear attribution and often relies on peculiar situational factors.

Kelley's model suggests that we tend to make an internal attribution when consensus and distinctiveness are low, but consistency is high.

We make an external (stimulus) attribution when consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency are high.