Attribution Theory: Explanations of Behavior

Attribution Theory

• Attribution theory explains how people interpret behaviors and mental processes.
• College Board Learning Objectives include explaining how this theory applies to behavior and mental processes, locus of control, and person perception.

Attributions

• Attributions are explanations for behavior and mental processes; for example, explaining why someone was late to a meeting.
• Dispositional attributions relate to internal qualities, such as attributing lateness to laziness or personality.
• Situational attributions relate to external circumstances, such as attributing lateness to heavy traffic or a delayed train.
• Understanding attributions aids in interpreting behavior by considering internal and external factors.

Explanatory Style

• Explanatory style is a predictable pattern in how people explain events in their lives and others'.
• How one explains failing a test relates to lack of effort (dispositional) or difficult questions (situational).
• Optimistic explanatory style involves attributing positive events to internal factors and negative events to external factors, like believing success is due to effort and failure to bad luck.
• Pessimistic explanatory style involves attributing negative events to internal factors and positive events to external factors, such as believing failure is due to personal flaws and success to luck.
• Explanatory style affects coping mechanisms and interpretation of experiences.

Attribution Biases

• Attribution biases are exhibited in attributions that affect judgments.
• The actor/observer bias leads people to attribute their own actions to situational factors but others' actions to dispositional factors; for example, justifying personal mistakes by circumstances but blaming others' mistakes on character.
• The fundamental attribution error is overestimating the role of dispositional factors in others' behaviors; for example, assuming someone is rude because of their personality rather than their situation.
• Self-serving bias involves attributing successes to internal factors and failures to external factors, such as taking credit for good grades but blaming poor grades on difficult exams.
• Recognizing these biases helps improve social interactions and personal accountability.

Mere Exposure Effect

• The mere exposure effect occurs when repeated exposure to a stimulus over time leads to increased liking.
• Liking a song more after hearing it several times exemplifies this effect.
• Applications include advertising, where repeated exposure to ads increases product preference, and social interactions, where increased exposure to individuals enhances liking and reduces prejudice.
• Understanding the mere exposure effect explains how familiarity impacts preferences and attitudes.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• Self-fulfilling prophecy is when people behave in ways that elicit behaviors from others that confirm their beliefs or perceptions.
• Believing a student is capable can improves their performance.
• High teacher expectations lead to better student performance.
• Believing someone is unfriendly leads to behaving coldly, prompting the other person to act unfriendly.
• Recognizing self-fulfilling prophecies helps in creating positive expectations and outcomes.

Social Comparison

• Social comparison is when people evaluate themselves based on comparisons to others.
• Comparing one's income to colleagues helps to gauge financial success.
• Upward comparison is comparing oneself to those who are better off.
• Downward comparison is comparing oneself to those who are worse off.
• Relative deprivation involves feeling deprived based on comparisons; for example, feeling less satisfied with one's income when others earn more.
• Social comparison aids in understanding self-perception and motivation but can also lead to feelings of deprivation.

Explore attribution theory, which explains how people interpret behaviors and mental processes. Understand the difference between dispositional and situational attributions, and how these impact explanatory styles. Learn how attribution influences person perception and locus of control.