The Pros And Cons Of Attribution Theory
Fritz Heider : The Theory Of Attribution Theory
Attribution Theory Of Human Behavior
Emotional Intelligence And Attribution Theory
Two Theories Of Attribution Essay
Fritz Heiders Attribution Theory
Attribution Theory: Kelleys Covariation Model
Attribution Theory, By Fritz Heider Essay
The Importance Of The Attribution Theory
Bernard Weiner And Heiders Attribution Theory
Examples Of Attribution Theory
Causes Of Attribution Theory
Attribution Theory By Fritz Heider..according
Attribution theory Essay
1. The Pros And Cons Of Attribution Theory
Taking the qualifying exam is the foremost and crucial experience for first year Accountancy
students. Freshmen accountancy students must take and pass the qualifying exam first before
allowing them to enroll on their second year major subjects. However, in order to qualify for
second year, examiners must obtain a weighted percentage of 75%, composed of 60% of their
course grade from Fundamentals of Accounting 1 and 2 and 40% of their score in the said
examination. The examination conducted last year decreases considerably in the qualifying exam
passing percentage and number of passers than the preceding year (Sumilong, 2015). Aside from
this, last year's examiners are the second batch of examiners that experienced the no repeat policy and
...show more content...
Attribution theory concerns how an individual interpret events and how this relates to their thinking
and behavior. Furthermore, this theory explains how an individual perceive and determines the
causes of results in his environment and how he is influenced by his success or failure (Weibell,
2011). Weiner's attribution theory is mainly about the achievement of an individual caused by the
ability and effort which come within the person and external factors such as task difficulty and luck.
There are three casual dimensions of this theory namely: locus of control which indicates the cause
of the result of an action whether it is external or internal; stability to account for internal causal
factors such as effort as well as mood; and controllability of the factors whether it is skill or luck
("Attribution Theory," n.d.; Weibell, 2011). For instance, if an athlete has gotten the lowest score in
their team presuming that it is because of his ability despite of his consistent trainings, he might feel
that he is imprudent. This outcome attribute an internal, stable and uncontrollable factor of ability.
On the other hand, if the student has gotten the highest scorer in their team because of his innate
ability, the attribution to this outcome is also due to internal, stable and uncontrollable factor of
ability however, the student might believe that he is competent in that sport
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2. Fritz Heider : The Theory Of Attribution Theory
The second component of social perception is attribution. Attribution is the process in which we
attach meanings of other's behaviors. Similarly, attribution theory refers to the study of models
people implement in order to make judgments about the behavior of others. Fritz Heider, an Austrian
psychologist whose work was related to the Gestalt school, published "The Psychology of
Interpersonal Relations," which expanded his creation of attribution theory. Heider initiated that
"people are naГЇve psychologists trying to make sense of the social world" (Heider, 1958). People
tend to observe others by determining whether behaviors are internally or externally caused and
whether those factors are stable or unstable. Stable factors are unlikely...show more content...
For example, fatalistic cultures such as Hinduism in India exemplify group–serving bias, rather than
self–serving bias because the cultural group believes in fate and reincarnation of souls. More
specifically, Hindus tend to believe that what you have done in your past life is responsible for your
fate today, and the actions in this life can affect your next life.
Additionally, Edward Jones and Keith Davis' theory helps individuals understand the process of
making internal attribution (1965). People make internal attribution in correspondence between
motive and behavior. Edward Jones and Keith Davis proposed a "Correspondent Inference Theory"
confirming that people make attributions about other people by comparing their actions with
alternative actions in order to evaluate their choices. According to Edward Jones and Keith Davis's
theory, the sources of information people use as a basis for their inference of a person include
factors such as: the person's degree of choice, accidental vs. intentional behavior, social desirability,
hedonistic relevance, and personalism. On the other hand, Harold Kelley's "Covariation Model" is
an attribution theory in which people make causal inferences to explain why people behave in
certain ways through multiple observations (1967). Kelley's Covariation Model of Attribution also
explains how people use social perception to attribute behavior to internal or external factors and
how others
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3. Attribution Theory Of Human Behavior
There are two theories that explain the root of human behaviors and why people behave the way
they do; The attribution theory and the covariation model. Heider, the father of the attribution
theory, believed that all human beings are amateur scientists, persistently piecing together facts
and information in an effort to grasp a situation and the motivations behind it. Typically, one will
assume behavior to be a result of internal personal factors such as attitude, feelings, and character
traits. A teacher yelling at her student will be criticized for having a bad temper. On the flip side,
attributing a behavior to external factors would mean holding the situation and circumstances
responsible; The same teacher may actually be yelling at a student because of his/her lack of
conduct. An adorable, vivacious, and chubby relative of mine ran off his yellow school bus in
tears last week. In a choked up voice, and with a trembling body, he described how he had fallen
down the stairs on his way down to the school's dining hall for lunch. In a display of internal
attribution, instead of rushing to help him up and offer him their assistance, his classmates giggled
at his clumsiness and laughed how his stout figure could not keep up with his ravenous appetite. His
mom on the other hand, in an effort to protect her son, viewed the situation externally and realized
that the steps must've been rickety or wet and thus triggered the fall. According to the covariation
model, when forming an
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4. Emotional Intelligence And Attribution Theory
Introduction
Communication is important not only in day–to day activities, but also in a career. Communication
is the exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium. This paper
looks at the importance of emotional intelligence and attribution theory for a sales person in the
energy industry. Moreover, it highlights evidence of improvement in both face to face interview and
individual presentation. Two actions are also discussed that have the ability to enhance a career of a
sales person in the energy industry.
Emotional intelligence and attribution theory
Emotional intelligence and the attribution theory contribute significantly to a student's performance.
In this regard, emotional intelligence refers to a student's capacity to be aware of express, and
control emotions while handling interpersonal relationships empathetically and judiciously.
Emotional intelligence affects how an individual navigates various social complexities, manages
behaviour and makes different personal decisions to get a positive outcome. The attribution theory,
on the other hand, regards how human beings understand cases and how this relates to their
behaviour and thinking (McLeod 2010). In other words, attribution theory presumes that people
attempt to understand humans' acts. Both the emotional intelligence and attribution theory will play
a critical role in my success as I pursue my graduate career by enabling me to operate more
effectively.
Emotional intelligence
A
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5. Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave
What does one do when they miss interpreted another's actions and or personality characteristics?
New stereotypes, 'boxes', assumptions, etc. all of which have encroached on a person's worldview.
Some are invaluable, others shouldn't be used. One comes to see others in a whole new way by
theories like the Attribution theory and its Fundamental Attribution error, along with Cognitive
Dissonance theory all of which involve one's actions and attitudes.
One of the theories is the Attribution theory. Attribution theory is when individuals discover the
causes of behavior as part of the one in observation. This theory suggests that people are motivated
to discover the deep meaning of their behavior as that person makes sense of other's behavior. The
Attribution theory has three dimensions that help describe what a person discovering the meaning
of those behaviors and attributing them to different causes. (King 404) Those three causes are
internal or external, stable or unstable, and or controllable or uncontrollable causes. Consequently,
these 'causes' have many situations that go along with them. Briefly, internal and external causes
ask whether or not that behavior was specific to a character trait or was that action outside of his
or her character and just a situational case. For example, did Gabriele get in the pageant because
she was naturally pretty or because she was 'dolled up' by male artists? The second of the third is
the stable or
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6. Two Theories Of Attribution Essay
Evaluation of Two Theories of Attribution
One attribution theory is the correspondent inference theory by Jones and Davis (1965). This
theory was developed on Heider's idea that the observer has a general tendency to make an internal
attribution. This is because it is easier to say that the cause of someone behaviour is something
within the actor as it makes the world seem more stable and predictable, rather than having to make
an attribution for a person for every situation this would make the world seem less stable and more
unpredictable.
Jones and Davis set out to look at grounds we use to make dispositional attribution.
There are certain behaviour we expect from certain people because...show more content...
When there are few non–common effects there is greater likelihood of making a person attribution.
The advantages of this theory are that all of the evidences are based on experimental work. They
offer hard evidence for their claim that the observer draws on a number of principles to check
observer's behaviour against interference of the actors underlying character. The disadvantage is that
not all–correspondent inference is not always applied by the limited set of principles. The observer
often jumps to the conclusion about the cause of other people behaviour without doing all the
analysis that Jones and Davis has suggested. For example when someone is clumsy we usually make
a person attribution even though we know that it not the person but the situation.
Another theory of attribution is Wieners achievement attribution theory.
Wieners work (1979,1986) explored the kind of attribution observers make to explain the cause of
success or failure, the theory states that in some task, such as examination or sports match individual
either has a positive or negative emotional reaction. They then make an attribution based around
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7. The attribution theory is the theory on how people explain things. One of the best things about being
human is being able to explain anything. A synonym of attribution is exclamation. We as humans
have a strong need to understand things. If you can influence people and explain what is happening,
you may be able to change them.
Attribution Theory
Attribution theory correlates with how people exemplify events and how it affects their behavior
and thinking. People making casual explanations is known as attribution theory. It was established
over time from different social psychologists, especially Fritz Heider who played a major role in
producing the theory in 1958. Heider wrote about attribution theory in his book called The
Psychology...show more content...
One also might say the sun was in their eyes or there was too much noise or too little. External
attributions for winning a game would be "The team played as one". Internal attributions for
loosing a game might be "I did not kick the ball hard enough" or "I could have played better defense".
Problems with External Attribution
Problems that happen with external attribution are threatening an existing habit. This means, people
who conduct behavior of an internal attribution loose the habit if they differ their pattern of
attribution. Problems arise when a reward or punishment stops people from making an internal
attribution which brings forth the wanted behavior under their control.
How to Use Attribution Theory Effectively
To use attribution theory effectively, you must apply it in a situation where people are wondering
why things are happening. The explanation for this must be an internal attribution such as thinking a
person who is quiet and studying must be a hard working student. Attribution theory gives trust to
the fullest. Effective use is being certain the little things you do result in internal attribution.
Attribution/Persuasion Tactics
Persuasion tactics can be useful, like pointing out foods that will improve your health. They can also
be harmful in attracting kids to smoke or drink. Being more acquainted of persuasion techniques will
prepare a person with awareness on how to prevent unnecessary purchases.
The assumption
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8. Fritz Heider's Attribution Theory
BACKGROUND
From the theories made by a group of Social Psychologists; Fritz Heider, Harold Kelley, Edward
Jones and Keith Davis, greatly contributed in the development of Attribution theory through time.
Attribution theory was written in heider's first book The Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships
during the year 1958 that has been the main part in the origination and meaning of attribution theory.
A set of rules of inference Fritz Heider hypothesized that an ordinary individual might attribute
responsibility to another individual for an action. Fritz Heider also distinguished between two
attributions namely the external and internal attributions. In 1965 the systematic hypotheses by
Keith Davis and Edward Jones about the perception of...show more content...
In Attribution theory the limitation is that an individual's explanation of action might be biased.
Every individual's attributions are also meaningfully determined by their motivational and emotional
drives. An individual might blame other persons to avoid individual accusation that is a very real
self–serving attribution. Some individuals also make attributions to defend what they observe as
attacks and even tend to accuse victims for their destiny as individuals pursue to aloof themselves
from thoughts of suffering the same trouble. Persons also have a tendency to attribute less
inconsistency to other people than themselves, seeing their selves as more complex and less
foreseeable than others. Another limitation of attribution theory is the cultural differences that can
be observed. Some people embrace more individualistic cultural views compared to others whose
views were more rounded in traditional orientations. Biased information may yield to contrasting
things depending on the cultural values apprehended by the attributor interpreting the information.
However it should be acknowledged that these cross–cultural differences are outcomes from
contrasting cultural conceptions acquired during development in the differing cultures, rather than
from individual differences between attributors such as cognitive or experimental
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9. Attribution Theory: Kelley's Covariation Model
Kelley's Covariation Model Kelley's (1967) covariation model is the best known attribution theory.
It is an attribution theory in which people make casual inferences to explain why other people and
ourselves behave in a certain way. It is concerned with both social perception and self–perception
(Kelley, 1973). He developed a logical model for judging whether a particular action should be
attributed to some characteristic (internal) of the person or the environment (external). The term
covariation simply means that a person has information from multiple observations, at different
times and situations, and can perceive the covariation of an observed effect and its causes. He
argues that in trying to discover the causes of behavior people act like scientists. More specifically
they take into account three kinds of evidence. Kelley believed that there were three types of causal
information which influenced our judgments. Consensus: It is the covariation of behavior across
different people. e.g. Everybody in the audience is laughing; consensus is high. If only Priya is
laughing consensus is low. Distinctiveness: It refers to how unique the behavior is to a...show more
content...
It is the duty of the teacher to identify those factors and comprehend it completely in order to teach
the students effectively. Among all these factors, motivation is one of the most significant one.
Dorneyi (2001 a) addresses the relevance of motivation by asserting, " 'motivation' is related to
one of the most basic aspects of the human mind, and most teachers and researchers would agree
that it has a very important role in determining success or failure in any learning situation. My
personal experience is that 99 per cent of language learners who really want to learn a foreign
language (i.e. who are really motivated) will be able to master a reasonable working knowledge of
it as a minimum, regardless of their language aptitude."
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10. Explain attribution theory. Draw on the mini–case to identify and explain three biases or errors that
may affect the decision–making process of Tom and Amy. Discuss why attribution theory is
important in relation to organisational behaviour and decision–makers in organisations.
Attribution theory, as a powerful model for explaining and exploring decision making in the job
selection, which helps us to determine whether an individual's behaviour is internally or externally
caused. The attribution to which behaviour is related to three factors – distinctiveness, consistency
and consensus. (Robbins, Judge, Millet & Boyle 2011) If behavior displays low distinctiveness
(same behaviour exhibits in different situations), high consistency (behaviour does not vary), low
consensus (same situations displays different behaviours), which can be regarded as external
attributions and vice versa.
Attribution theory assists us to explain the behavior of interviewers and interviewees in job selection.
In the case of interviewers, for example, Silvester (1997) showed that the attribution theory could be
used to help explain the ratings given by interviewers. Interviewers tended to give higher scores
when candidates made internal, stable and controllable attributions about their performance. On the
other hand, several studies have shown that nonverbal interviewee communication (eye contact,
smiling, posture, interpersonal distance and gesture) significantly influences interviewers rating
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11. Attribution Theory The attribution theory is largely derived from Psychology and is usually situated
in a post–positive paradigm. The goal of the theory is to find patterns and make generalizations of
certain phenomena in different situations. Fritz Heider is known as the creator of the attribution
theory and believed that people act as "naГЇve scientists" when trying to understand the world
around them (Spitzberg & Manusov, 2015, p. 37). Even though some novelty in relationships is
good according to the original version of the Relational Dialectics Theory, most people do not like
things that largely differ from the expected action or outcome. When things are very important or
unexpected to people, they tend to look for reasons why and how those things happened (Spitzberg
& Manusov, 2015, p. 38). According to Spitzberg and Manusov (2015),attribution theory can be
applied in two ways: event causation and trait inference (p. 38). Event causation is when people
assume that an event caused an action or behavior to occur. Trait inference is when people assume
that a person's characteristics caused the event or behavior. They also claim that there are often four
dimensions that people focus on when making attributions: locus, stability, specificity, and
responsibility (Spitzberg & Manusov, 2015, p. 38). Locus refers to the whether the cause is
attributed internally or externally. An example of this would be if a person is running late and you
blame it on them
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12. Attribution Theory, By Fritz Heider Essay
This paper acts in order to introduce and clarify Attribution Theory, in addition to demonstrating
when it is purposeful and to what extent it is accurate. This will be accomplished through an
explanation of the theory, which consists of its origins and key concepts. A communicative episode
will be included to serve as an illustration, along with an analysis of the episode in order to explain
the theory in motion. Lastly, its applications, assets, and liabilities are stated.
Explanation of Theory
In order to maximize the efficiency of processing new information, encounters, or experiences, what
is seen is combined with past perceptions and notions to create an interpretation that acts as an
explanation of what is not directly stated or known for one's behavior.. Through this, appropriate
action or conduct is formed or expressed. This process is known as Attribution Theory, primarily
founded by Fritz Heider. The theory can be broken down into two important pieces, internal and
external, each affecting the interpretation of one's behavior. It is through these two paths in which
individuals arrive to different conclusions despite the experience shared being the same. This is a
The first of these distinctions is internal attribution, which "locates the cause of a particular behavior
within the social actor" (Miller). Internal attributions are formed with interpretations or assumptions
of one's personality or traits. Since the formation of an internal attribution comes from a
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13. The Importance Of The Attribution Theory
Introduction We attach and assume meanings to others behavior in our day to day life and the
theory developed by Fritz Heider based on this is called The Attribution Theory. This was
developed overtime by many other social psychologists as well, including Edward Jones, Keith
Davis, and Harold Kelley. The Attribution Theory seeks to help people make sense of their world by
identifying causes for the behaviors and events they experience. Throughout this paper I will explain
the theory, talk about my personal experience with it, studies performed about it and lastly the
significance that this theory holds in our society today.
Personal Experience
After researching my theory I recognized we all come in contact with this idea on a day to day
basis. We as humans do not like to take responsibility for our actions when something goes wrong.
It is much easier to blame the consequences on anything but ourselves. For example, using internal
attribution someone who trips and falls knows it is because they are clumsy. But using external
attribution, he/she would blame their fall on an inanimate object rather than themselves, even
know they know the fall was due to lack of paying attention to where they were going. Just like
many other people, I am guilty of applying this theory in my life. Looking back, I notice there have
been times where I blamed MY actions on an external force, such as my roommate distracting me
and keeping me up late while I was trying to do homework. This is human
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14. Bernard Weiner And Heider's Attribution Theory
Attribution Theory
Heider (1958) initially proposed a psychological theory of attribution, but Harold Kelley (1967, 1971)
and Bernard Weiner (1985, 1986) established a theoretical structure that has become a foremost
research model of social psychology. Attribution theorists interpret humans as scientists trying to
understand the world around them and using simple statistical techniques to reach different
conclusions.
The attribution theory has been most thoroughly examined in the achievement domain. It is stated
that in order to determine the causes of success and failure, casual search is undertaken. This search
is usually instigated when unexpected and significant events culminate in failure. Among the most
dominant inferred causes of success and failure are; ability, effort, task ease or difficulty, luck, mood
and help or hindrance from others. These inferences are in part based on informational variable,
including past performances and social norms. (Kelley, 1967) "Attribution theory deals with how the
social perceiver uses information to arrive at causal explanations for events. It examines what
information is gathered and how it is combined to form a causal judgment" (Fiske, 1991). Heider
states that there is a strong need in individuals to understand transient events by attributing them
...show more content...
"Motivation in the present context refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the
goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language. That is,
motivation to learn a second language is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual
works or strives to learn the language because of desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in
this activity." (p.10) He has associated motivation to attitude as he considers that true motivation
must be linked to a striving in order to learn the
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15. Examples Of Attribution Theory
The attribution theory (Weiner 1972) is formed by Bernard Weiner . Many theories have been
formed to try and explain why and how people succeed and others fail in educational areas of life.
In this essay we will attempt to understand the attribution theory in more details, attempt to
understand these in more details and apply them to the case study presented. Last semester, a
friend Angela failed all her first year courses. While I have privately held my views for her failure, I
have not confirmed these reasons with her or her lectures. By giving examples I will test my
reasons by applying the attribution theory to explain why she might have failed. Also, I will give
examples of social judgements, apply theories of attitude to try understanding some of the reasons
why Amanda might have failed....show more content...
According to the attribution theory, high achievers will choose to approach work rather than avoid
tasks related to succeeding as their belief is that success is due to high ability and effort and because
of that they approach tasks confidently.
Attribution theory can be defined as the process of inferring the causes of behaviors and events.
When things happen people are more likely to blame external forces for the event than their own
personal characteristics. This is referred to as the Actor – Observation bias. This means that a student
is more likely to blame failing a test paper to a bad lecturer, not being assisted in understanding the
work properly or a bad school system rather than saying they did not prepare well for
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16. Causes Of Attribution Theory
The Attribution theory refers to the study of perceived causation (Kelley, 1980). Attributions refer to
the inferences that individuals make regarding the cause of events, their behaviour as well as the
behaviour of others (Weiten, 2014). Amanda's failure of all the first year course may be attributed to
both internal and external causes. This refers to either attributing behaviour to personal dispositions
or traits, making it an internal attribution, or attributing the causes of behaviour to environmental
and situational demands and constraints, therefore making it an external attribution (Weiten, 2014).
This essay aims to discuss the reasons for Amanda's failure by applying the Attribution theory, giving
examples of social judgement as well as applying theories of attitude, which may be regarded as
either positive or negative.
Social Psychology provides us with theories to help us understand the academic behaviour of
students. One such theory is the Attribution Theory, which searches for the causes of one's success
and failure. These are known as causal attributions, as they attempt to answer "why" questions
(Graham, 1991). These causes can be classified into three separate dimensions, namely, locus, which
refers to whether it is internal or external;...show more content...
It may also be said that Amanda's causes of failure may be attributed to her self–efficiency, her
socioeconomic status, lack or parental support and well as her inability to adjust to university life, all
of which caused her stress which further strengthens her behaviour. In addition to this Amanda had
developed a negative attitude towards her first year cause and the observer's attitude towards her are
often negative, as they attribute her failure to internal dispositions, overlooking possible situational
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17. Attribution Theory and Leadership The power of great leadership in influencing people's behavior
and attitude cannot be overemphasized. Proper leadership offers people simple solutions that they
can understand and relate to. When a leader comes up with a solution that is too complicated for
the people to understand, the success rates of such a solution are lower. Bill Strickland offers some
insightful points for better leadership. One of the major lessons acquired from his lecture is that
people mirror how you treat them. If you treat people with kindness, they will aspire to become
kinder to you and to others. In the business setting, when leaders treat employees with respect,
employees aspire to become more respectful towards the leader...show more content...
Its simplicity makes it easy to implement on a personal and team level. First, one of the lessons from
the attribution theory is that internal attributions are more powerful that external attributions. This
means that when one gives internal attribution to an occurrence, they are more likely to adopt
behavior that supports change (Miller, Brickman & Bolen, 1975). On the contrary, external
attribution assigns blame to an outside event thus disregarding one's ability to change their behavior
or attitude. In a work team, the lessons of attribution theory can be applied to help increased team
work. For example, internal attribution can help a team adopt a cohesive attitude thus improving
how team members relate. A team leader can use the attribution theory to improve how the team
works and subsequently improve results. An example of a statement that can be effective in
improving team work is, 'We really work well as a team'. This statement helps the team work more
cohesively. In summary, the attribution theory is a simple yet powerful tool of influence. When used
effectively, it can help leaders influence how people behave and relate to each other. Attribution
helps people assign responsibility to oneself. Internal attribution is powerful as it helps people see
themselves as what they want to become. Behavior change through internal attribution is effective as
one is able to change from the inside. Together with the
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18. Attribution Theory By Fritz Heider..according
Attribution Theory, attempts to explain causes of behavior. It attempts to explain the causes of
people 's behavior and attributing or explaining reasons as to why people behave the way they do
Heider(1958). The theory was developed by Fritz Heider..According to Heider (1958) a person can
make two attributions; internal attribution, the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way
because of something about the person, such as attitude, character or personality and external
attribution, the inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the
situation he or she is in.
Weiner (1974) focused hisattribution theory on achievement he identified ability, effort, task
difficulty, and luck as the most important factors affecting attributions for achievement. The
assumptions of the theory is that there is not a direct relationship between our behavior and its
causes. There can be a variety of behaviors that are perceived resulting from a variety of causes.
Since brand loyalty constitute of attitudes and behavior to settle on a brand. Attribution theory looks
into illustrating the driving force behind decision making. For a brand loyalist to be, multiple mental
deductions must be undertaken to get to the most sequentially logical conclusion based on situation
at hand.
2.1.3 Belief Congruency Theory
This theory was developed by M.Rokeach, he pointed out that there are a hierarchy of beliefs,
attitudes and values. Beliefs are the building
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19. Attribution theory Essay
Discuss the types of attribution someone makes when they appraise a person's behaviour. How
may bias occur in their reasoning particularly if they have a very different background to the
person they observe? Attribution theory focuses on ways in which we gather and process
information in order to come up with judgements and explanations for people's behaviours and
personalities or as explained by Fiske & Taylor (1991) "how the social perceiver uses information to
arrive at casual explanations for events. It examines what information is gathered and how it's
combined to form casual judgements". There have been many studies aimed at explaining the main
errors people make when making inferences about people's behaviour and whether culture...show
more content...
Furthermore, a cause of the FAE (fundamental attribution error) could potentially be the fact that
the observer may not see much to gain in making the effort to analyse the situational causes of a
certain behaviour and too cognitively demanding (Andrews, 2001). However, due to the fact that
they have greater incentives to predict and influence behaviour, people who tend to depend on
others are less likely to make erroneous attributions, which explains why people from more
interdependent cultures (such as East Asians) tend to avoid the FAE (Choi et al, 1999) in contrast
with people from more independent cultures (such as Europeans or Americans). To further
elaborate on this point, numerous psychologists believe that culture may have a determining
effect on whether the observer is prone to excessively relying on dispositional judgements. This is
shown in Choi & Nisbett's 1998 study, which was in line with Snyder & Jones' 1974 study, where
a group of Korean and American participants were given the task of writing an essay with a
designated position. They were then asked to judge a forced writer (a writer which wrote a piece as
a forced task, whether or not what they were writing reflected their own beliefs). In contrast with the
previous study, the Americans' judgements were not affected, however, the Koreans no longer
displayed correspondence bias when the situational
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