Social psychologyLesson 2 of 3 in the course Perception and Job Attitudes

Attribution Theory: Causes, Kelley’s Factors, and Attributional Biases

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 4 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

People do not respond only to events themselves; they also respond to what they believe caused those events. This lesson introduces attribution theory and explains how interpretations of success, failure, and other events can shape future behavior.

Attribution theory describes the cognitive process through which people interpret events and identify what they believe caused behavior. People are motivated to understand their surroundings because they believe that knowing why events happen can help them anticipate or influence what happens next.

All flashcards

What is attribution theory?
The process of interpreting events and identifying what caused behavior.
What is an internal attribution?
An explanation based on personal factors, such as ability, skill, or effort.
What is an external attribution?
An explanation based on situational factors, such as luck or task difficulty.
What is the fundamental attribution error?
The tendency to overemphasize personal causes and underestimate situational influences when explaining another person’s behavior.
What is the self-serving bias?
The tendency to credit oneself for successes and attribute failures to other people or circumstances.

Quiz questions

  1. In Kelley’s framework, what does consensus compare?Answer: One person’s behavior with the behavior of peers in the same situation.
  2. In Kelley’s framework, what does consistency measure?Answer: Whether a person responds similarly across repeated occasions in similar circumstances.
  3. In Kelley’s framework, what does distinctiveness compare?Answer: A person’s responses across different situations or stimuli.
  4. Which pattern, in Kelley’s account, supports an external attribution?Answer: High consensus, high consistency, and high distinctiveness.
  5. An observer blames a worker’s personality for a problem while overlooking inadequate resources and excessive workload. Which bias does this illustrate?Answer: The fundamental attribution error.

Based on Organizational Behavior by J. Stewart Black, David S. Bright, Donald G. Gardner, Eva Hartmann, Jason Lambert, Laura M. Leduc, Joy Leopold, James S. O’Rourke, Jon L. Pierce, Richard M. Steers, Siri Terjesen, Joseph Weiss (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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