Introduction
- Attribution is the process through which we seek to identify the cause of others behavior & also gain knowledge of their stable traits & disposition.
- Cause of a behavior can be assigned to internal or external factors.
Kelley’s theory of causal attribution.
- Proposed by Horald Kelly in 1967.
- The theory says that people assign the cause of behavior to
the factors that covaries most closely with the behavior. - According to theory, behavior can be attributed to
dispositional (internal) or Situational (external) factors.
3 major dimensions of attribution
- Consensus: It is the extent to which others react to same stimuli or event in the same manner as the person.
- Consistency: It is the extent to which the person react to the stimuli or event in the same way on similiar occasions across time. Extend to which a behavior Y always co-occurs with a stimulus X
- Distinctiveness: It is the extend to which the person react in the same manner to other different stimuli or event, i.e. whether the person reacts same only with one stimuli, or is common to many stimuli.
Eg. 1. Condition 1
A student, Raja, is not listening in the math class. But all others were listening. He did not listen to any math class and also to any other subjects.
Consensus – Low Consistency – High Distinctiveness – Low
Eg. 1. Condition 2
A student, Raja, is not listening in the math class. Other students were also not listening. He did not listen to any math class. But he listen to other subjects.
Consensus – High Consistency – High Distinctiveness – High
Eg. 2. Condition 1
A student, Dev, shouts at his English teacher. But others do not. shouts to English teacher all the time and he also shouts to other teachers also.
Consensus — Low Consistency – High Distinctiveness – Low
Eg. 2. Condition 2
A student, Dev, shouts at his English teacher. Other students also shouts to him. He shouts to English teacher all the time. But he do not shouts to other teachers.
Consensus – High Consistency – High Distinctiveness – High
Eg. 3. Condition 1
Raju is late to office. But all others were in time. He is always late to office and to all programs outside office.
Consensus — Low Consistency – High Distinctiveness – Low
Eg. 3. Condition 2
Raju is late to office. His colleagues were also late. He is always late to office, but very punctual in all other places.
Consensus – High Consistency – High Distinctiveness – High
How we attribute?
| Factor | Internal | External | Uncertain |
| Consensus | Low | High | |
| Consistency | High | High | Low
|
| Distinctiveness | Low | High |