BBA 1 (2020-

2024)

Submitted to: Mam Sadia

Submitted by:Mahnoor Khalid
 Assignment # 2

Course Title: Social Psychology and Self Development

Class: BBA 1st

Course Code: MGT-304

Topic

Define attribution theory with example? Explain the main focus of attribution theories in psychology
Attribution:
 “Attribution theory deals
with how the social perceiver
uses information to arrive at
causal explanations for events.
It examines what information
is gathered and how it is
combined to form a casual
judge.
 Attribution theory attempts to
explain the processes by which individuals explain, or attribute, the causes of behavior and
events.
 Attributions are classified as either internal or external. Internal attributions include
dispositional or personality -based explanations; external attributions emphasize situational
factors.

For example:
When you get a poor grade on a quiz, you might blame the teacher for not adequately explaining
the material, completely dismissing the fact that you didn't study. When a classmate gets a great
grade on the same quiz, you might attribute his good performance to luck, neglecting the fact that
he has excellent study habits.
Kinds of Attribution:

Internal Attribution

External Attribution

Internal Ai
Internal Attribution:

 It happens when the cause iss of events involve two or more individuals more
specifically, you will always want to present yourself in the most positive light in
interpersonal attribution.
  Internal attributions are explanations that stress something about the person, such as
their traits, abilities, and physical characteristics .

For example:

Let’ say Mahum and her sister had a fight. When Mahum explains her situation to her
mother, she will say she tried everything to avoid a fight but she will blame her sister that
he nonetheless started a fight. This way, Mahum is seen as a peacemaker to her mother
whereas her sister is seen as the one who started it all.
External Attribution:

 External Attribution are explanations that stress environmental or situational factors,

such as task difficulty, social influences, and the physical characteristics of a particular
environment.
 In external attribution a person is behaving in a certain way or that an event is due to
the situation that they are in.

.
For example:

• Aslam’s car break down on a freeway. If he believes that the breakdown

happened because his car is old, he is making an external attribution
 Factors Affecting Attribution:

Consensus

Consistency

Distinctiveness

Consensus:
The likelihood of others responding in similar ways.

Consistency:
Deals with whether an individuals responds in the same way in context with
Distinctiveness:
The consistency of person’s behaviour over a situation.

Attributional factors:
Effort, Task Difficulty, Luck, Ability - depending where you place the attribution in the matrix
will determine expectations of future performance, shame, pride, etc.

STAB ILITY
STABLE UNSTABLE
 
INTERNAL
CONTROL  
 
EXTERNAL
 

Dweck - induce kids with a repeat failure history to make effort rather than ability attributions

 Lepper and Green (1973) child's performance can be enhanced by inducing him to make internal
attributions for success (look at high self-esteem people - usually see themselves as responsible for
their successes and blame failures on external factors)
Attributional styles:
ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE:

Optimistic:  - negative events are explained in terms of external, unstable and specific

causes ; and positive events to internal, stable, global causes.

Pessimistic: - negative events explained in terms of internal, stable, and global terms (I’m a
bad person); positive events in terms of external, unstable, and specific causes

Individual differences: in attributional style may lead to depression; health factors

(immune system and stress - 99 veterans of W.W.II responses on a questionnaire about their
wartime experiences (1946); explanatory style predicted health after age 45; more health
problems with those who had a more pessimistic explanatory style. Baseball players with a
pessimistic style died earlier than optimistic players.
Principles of Attribution:

1. Attribution is a three stage process: (1) behavior is observed, (2) behavior is determined
to be deliberate, and (3) behavior is attributed to internal or external causes.
2. Achievement can be attributed to (1) effort, (2) ability, (3) level of task difficulty, or (4)
luck.
3. Causal dimensions of behavior are (1) locus of control, (2) stability, and (3)
controllability.

Attributional error:
When we try to determine the cause of
someone’s behavior, we are not always
accurate. In fact, psychologists have identified
two key errors that we commonly make when
attempting to attribute behavior.

 Fundamental Attribution Error, which refers to the tendency to over-emphasize the

role of personal traits in shaping behaviors. For example, if someone is rude to you, you
may assume that they’re generally a rude person, rather than assuming that they were
under stress that day.
 Self-Serving Bias, which refers to the tendency to give ourselves credit (i.e. make an
internal attribution when things go well, but blame the situation or bad luck (i.e. make an
external attribution) when things go poorly. According to recent research, people who are
experiencing depression may not show the self-serving bias, and may even experience a
reverse bias.
 Question No. 2
What is main focus of Attribution theory?

Attribution theories typically focus on the process of determining whether a behavior is

situationally-caused (caused by external factors) or dispositionally-caused (caused by internal
characteristics). These theories attempt to explain how human beings evaluate and determine the
cause of other people’s behavior.

End of Assignment