COMMUNICATION THEORY

1. ATTRIBUTIONTHEORY

2. Hello!I’m...
Claudine G. Betita
Discussant

3. Meaning of Attribution Theory
We willtalkabout
thisfirst.

4. WhatisAttributionTheory?
has been proposed to explain how individuals judge people
differently depending on what meaning we attribute to a given
behavior.
Attribution theory emphasize people’s core social motive to
understand each other and to have some control. That is,
people need to have some sense of prediction about other
people’s actions (understanding) and about their own impact
on those actions (control).
Attribution- refer to the way people try to understand the behavior of
others or interpret events around them.

5. Types
of
Attribution
External Attribution
Internal Attribution
(Fritz Heider,1958)

6. In an internal or dispositional
attribution people infer that an event
or a person’s behavior is due to
personal factors such as traits,
abilities or feelings.
In an external or situational
attribution people infer that a
person’s behavior is due to
situational factors.

7. Internally caused behavior is believed to
be under the control of the individual.
Externally caused behavior results from
outside causes; that is, the person is
seen as having been forced into the
behavior by the situation.
Internal vs. External

8. ● Distinctiveness
● Consensus
● Consistency
Three factors used to
judge behavior
(Kelly’s Model)

9. Distinctive
refers to whether an individual displays
a behavior in many situations or
whether it is particular to one situation.
Distinctiveness: Is this how the person treats/act
everyone?

10. Consensus
shows if everyone who is faced
with a similar situation responds
in the same way
Consensus: Do other people do this same thing?

11. Consistency
shows if he/she regularly act
the behavior.
Has the person always treated /act this way?

12. Biasesin 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

13. Thankyouand
GodBless!