PSYB10H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Covariance, Trait Theory, Fundamental Attribution Error
Chapter 5: Social Attribution: Explaining Behaviour
• Attribution theory is a set of concepts explaining how people assign causes to the
eets aoud the ad the effets of people’s ausal assessets
• Causal attribution is linking an event to a cause, such as inferring that a personality trait
is responsible for a behaviour
• Causal attribution is central to a lot of our social life ranging from off-the-cuff
speculations to formal decision making, like in a trial
o Often the oe uestio the ju has to ase is hat aused a gie eet o
seies of eets?
From Acts to Dispositions: Inferring the Causes of Behavior
• People constantly search for the causes of events, and their attributions affect their
behavior
• People have different explanatory styles, which tend to be stable over time
o Defied as a peso’s haitual a of eplaiig eets, tpiall assessed alog
three dimensions:
▪ Internal/external
• An explanation that mentions an internal cause implicates the self
thee I go agai ut a eteal ause does ot That as the
pikiest set of uestios I’e ee see
▪ Stable/unstable
• A stale ause iplies that thigs ill ee hage I’ just ot
good at this
• An unstable cause implies that things may impoe The old
ediie I as takig ade e gogg
▪ Global/specific
• A gloal ause is soethig that affets a aeas of life I’
stupid
• A speifi ause ol applies to a fe I’ ot good ith aes
• A pessimistic style, attributing good outcomes to external, unstable, and local causes
and bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes, is associated with poor health,
poor performance, and depression
The Processes of Causal Attribution
• The covariation principle is involved in making attributions
o Defined as the idea that behaviour should be attributed to potential causes that
occur along with the observed behaviour
o When a person engages in a given behavior across many situations and other
people ted ot to egage i the ehaio, it’s reasonable to attribute the
behavior to the person
o When the person engages in the behavior only in a particular situation and most
othes i the sae situatio also ehiit the ehaio, it’s easoale to attiute
the behavior to the situation
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