Glossary / Lexicon

Attribution refers to an inference about the cause of our own or another’s behaviour.

It is a perceptual process be which we observe what people do and then try to figure out their personality or disposition.

Attribution refers also to the mental process of assigning causes to events, including making inferences about the causes of one's own behavior, and that of others. It is the cognitive process of assigning meaning to a symptom or behavior In Emotion, Attribution is the process of attributing arousal to a particular source.

Description

Attribution in psychology refers to the process by which individuals explain the causes of behavior and events. It involves attributing outcomes to internal or external factors, stable or unstable factors, and controllable or uncontrollable factors. Attribution theory has been studied extensively in social psychology as it helps us understand how individuals perceive and interpret the actions of themselves and others. It plays a crucial role in determining how people make sense of their own successes and failures, as well as how they judge and react to the behavior of others.

Application Areas

• Therapeutic interventions
• Conflict resolution
• Leadership and management
• Education and learning
• Prejudice and discrimination

Treatment and Risks

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help individuals challenge and change maladaptive attributional styles
• Risks include the potential for individuals to develop negative self-attributions that may lead to depression or anxiety

Examples

• An individual attributes their promotion at work to their hard work and dedication (internal, stable, controllable)
• A student attributes failing a test to the unfairness of the teacher (external, unstable, uncontrollable)

Similar Concepts and Synonyms

• Explanatory Style
• Dispositional Attribution
• Situational Attribution

Articles with 'Attribution' in the title

• Attribution retraining: Attribution retraining refers to the therapeutic intervention in which helpless children are persuaded to attribute failures to their lack of effort rather than a lack of ability
• Attribution theory: Attribution theory : Attribution theory refers to a theory that looks for regularities in the ways in which people attribute things that happen to certain causes, either internal or external
• Attribution Theory: Attribution Theory: The Attribution theory describes the processes of explaining events and the behavioral and emotional consequences of those explanations
• Attribution-of-arousal theory: Attribution-of-arousal theory refers to an approach that combines the James-Lange emphasis on bodily feedback with a cognitive approach to emotion. Various stimuli can trigger a general state of arousal, which is then interpreted in light o . . .
• Covariation model of attribution: Covariation model of attribution : Covariation model of attribution refers to an Attribution Theory proposing that we make causal judgments by determining whether a particular Behavior correlated with a person, a situa tion, or some combi . . .
• Distress-maintaining style of attribution: Distress-maintaining style of attribution refers to the tendency of unhappy couples to attribute their partner’s good acts to external factors and bad acts to internal factors
• External attribution: External attribution refers to the inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in- the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation
• FAE (Fundamental attribution error): FAE (Fundamental attribution error) : FAE is the acronmy of Fundamental attribution error which is defined as the tendency to overestimate the causal influence of dispositional factors and underemphasize the causal influence of situationa . . .
• Fundamental attribution error: Fundamental attribution error is defined as the tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others' behavior- when making attributions, the tendency to underestimate the im . . .
• Fundamental attribution error (FAE): Fundamental attribution error (FAE) : Fundamental attribution error (FAE) : refers to the dual tendency of observers to underestimate the impact of situational factors or situational influences and to overestimate the influence of disposi . . .
• Global attribution: Global attribution refers to the belief that the cause of an event is due to factors that apply in a large number of situations, example, a person's intelligence, will influence his/her performance in many areas), as opposed to the belief t . . .
• Hostile attribution bias: Hostile attribution bias refers to a tendency to assume that provocation is intentional. It is the tendency to perceive ambiguous actions by others as aggressive- tendency to view harm done under ambiguous circumstances as having stemmed fr . . .
• Relationship-enhancing style of attribution: Relationship-enhancing style of attribution refers to the tendency of happy couples to attribute their partner’s good acts to internal factors and bad acts to external factors
• Misattribution: Misattribution in the psychology context refers to the incorrect attribution of the source, cause, or motivation behind one's own or others' feelings, thoughts, and behaviors
• Attributional-style questionnaire: Attributional-style questionnaire (ASQ) refers to a questionnaire designed to assess a person's habitual pattern of attributing events in a certain way (eg
• Attributions: Attributions refer to explanations or reasons that people make of the things that happen to them. These are inferences generated by people when they try to explain reasons for events, the behavior of others, and their own behavior
• Causal attributions: Causal attributions refer to the explanations people make for the events they observe- the explanations for why events occurred. Moreover, Causal attributions are explanations people construct to explain their behavior, which can be . . .
• Hostile attributional bias: Hostile attributional bias: hostile attributional bias refers to the tendency of aggressive children to attribute negative intent to others, especially when the intentions of another child are unclear (eg
• Defensive attributions: Defensive attributions: Defensive attributions refer to explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality
• Taxonomy of success and failure attributions: Taxonomy of success and failure attributions refers to the types of internal and external attributions we can make about a person's performance—for example, success or failure
• Ultimate attribution error: Ultimate attribution error : Ultimate attribution error refers to- our tendency to make dispositional attributions about an entire group of people
• External attribution: External attribution: External attribution refers to the the inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in- the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that . . .
• Dispositional attributions: Dispositional attributions: Dispositional Attributions is deciding that someone's Behavior is caused by their internal characteristics or dispositions
• Misattribution of arousal: Misattribution of arousal: Misattribution of Arousal refers to the Attribution of one's Arousal to the wrong source, resulting in a mistaken or exaggerated emotion
• Dispositional attribution: Dispositional attribution refers to the tendency to attribute Behavior to an enduring, inherent personal quality, such as a person's
• Achievement attributions: Achievement attributions refers to the causal explanations that a person provides for his or her successes and failures.
• Consensus in attribution: Consensus in attribution: Consensus in attribution refers to a theory whether other people would do the same thing in the same situation
• Consistency in attribution: Consistency in attribution refers to the theory whether the person typically behaves this way in this situation
• Defensive attribution: Defensive attribution refers to the tendency to blame victims for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way.
• Internal attribution: Internal attribution is the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about him or her, such as the person's attitudes,
• Attribution Error: Attribution error in the psychology context refers to systematic biases in the way individuals explain the causes of behavior and events. These errors often occur when people incorrectly attribute behavior to internal dispositions ( . . .
• Hostile Attribution: Hostile Attribution in the psychology context refers to the tendency to interpret others' behaviors as having hostile intent, even when the behavior is ambiguous or benign

Summary

Attribution in psychology is the process of explaining the causes of behavior and events, which is crucial in understanding how individuals interpret their own and others' actions. It involves attributing outcomes to internal or external, stable or unstable, and controllable or uncontrollable factors. By studying attribution, researchers and practitioners can gain insights into various aspects of human behavior and decision-making.

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