PSYC 2310 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Nonverbal Communication, Fundamental Attribution Error, Controllability
Document Summary
External attribution: seeing the behaviour as caused by something external to the person who performs the behaviour. Internal attribution: refers to whether the person"s behaviour is caused by personal factors, such as traits, ability, effort, or personality. People have the need to explain the cause of other peoples" behaviour in order to understand their motivation. People are motivated to try to figure out why a person acted in a given way so that they can predict how the person will act in the future. When people make casual attributions, they make a distinction between internal and external causes of behaviour. Jones and davis"s theory of correspondent inference: people infer whether a person"s behaviour is caused by the person"s internal disposition by looking at various factors related to the person"s actions. Proposes that there are three factors that influence the extent to which you attribute behaviour to the person rather than to the situation: