Attribution
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Describe the factors that may affect
behaviour
Explain what attribution theory is.
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Personality traits/ feelings
Context
External factors
Locus of control
Fundamental attribution error
Prejudice
Self serving bias
Self fulfilling prophecy
Behaviourist approaches
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If on the 1st day of a new course the tutor
walks in, spends a few minutes making
some introductory remarks and then
leaves.
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How would you describe your tutor to a friend?
Might you give a description of your reactions,
maybe even making predictions of how you are
going to like the course or not
In just a few minutes you have formed a clear
first impression of your new tutor.
BUT is your impression correct?
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If you have known a person for long time you
are often able to understand the causes of
their behaviour.
Some events may cause unpredictable
behaviour but you are able to make
reasonable judgements as to why they
behaved in a particular way.
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The process in which we acquire information
about the causes of others’ behaviour is
called attribution
How do we acquire information about a
person?
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Dress
Age
Attractiveness (Halo effect)
Talking to them
Observing their behaviour
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The 1st four sources can be misleading
Observing behaviour can be fraught with
errors
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A person standing on a bridge staring down
at the water below. Several people observe
the person’s behaviour.
What might they think?
Each person’s observation is
different and is influenced by
their background.
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Why in some instances is a person’s
behaviour said to be a result of their
personality while in others it is said to be
the result of the situation they are in?
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Accurate knowledge of a client’s mood and
feelings is important for the carer’s
assessment of the client’s needs and
planning of a programme of care.
People’s feelings do not always remain the
same and the carer should be aware that
behaviour may change over time and in
different situations
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Baby P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c3uwOY
nUfs
Whitney Houston
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Judgement of a person’s behaviour may
correspond to an underlying disposition or
trait
Honesty
Fairness
Respect
Trustworthiness
a friendly action is often attributed to an
underlying disposition to be friendly
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The activity has been freely chosen
the behaviour gives rise to unique or
uncommon results
the actions are approved or encouraged by
society
the actions have a direct impact on us
The act seemed intended to impact on us
Jones and Davies (1965) cited in Hogg and
Vaughn.,(2005:84)
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It is lunchtime in the setting, everyone is
eating when suddenly a client shouts
‘take this horrible food away it’s disgusting! I
wouldn't give it to a dog.’
Is their behaviour due to the quality of the
food, or are they a fussy eater?
Kelly (1967, 1973)says that the answer can be
obtained from 3 kinds of causal information
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Consensus – does everyone react in this way?
Consistency –has this person reacted to this
situation in a similar manner before
Distinctiveness-Does this person react to
other, different situations in the same way?
There is research to support this theory
however there are some problems with the
extent to which people are willing to spend
the time and effort to go through the process
Takes
too much effort; involves
logical reasoning
Leads to errors and false conclusions
about other people
We are not so rational, take
shortcuts…are cognitive misers
We often don’t consider situational factors at all when
determining the cause of behaviour
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Fiske and Taylor (1984) suggest that we are ‘ cognitive
misers’ , unwilling to expend the energy necessary to
attribute the cause correctly.
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many circumstances when information is
unavailable as to whether a person’s behaviour
stems from their personality or situation , it is
usually internally attributed to the person’s
personality
Implications
Disadvantaged groups
Victims of crime
Just-World hypothesis (people get
what they deserve)
Why does it happen?
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People who believe that the world has to be
fair may find it hard or impossible to accept
a situation in which a person is unfairly and
badly hurt
This leads to a sense that, somehow, the
victim must have surely done 'something' to
deserve their fate
Culture, social group, class ,
occupation
 General; health motivation
 perceived control
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Another theory entails the need to protect
one's own sense of invulnerability. This
inspires people to believe that rape only
happens to those who deserve or provoke
the assault (Schneider et al., 1994).
This is a way of feeling safer. If the
potential victim avoids the behaviours of
the past victims then they themselves will
remain safe and feel less vulnerable
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When things go well - internalise
When things go badly - externalise
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Attribute events that happen to them to
sources within themselves
- can be misplaced- late train
+ can control events and succeed in difficult
or stressful situations
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Attribute events in their lives to outside
agencies and factors
things happen to them – luck or fate are
important factors – little control over life
events
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Case study Mrs. D
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the difficulties this can cause for care staff
The
client will attribute their reaction to environmental
factors – they have stopped taking their medication
because it’s not doing them any good OR it make them
feel sick
The
carer / nursing staff will see the situation form a
different perspective
Situational
attributions require more effort we don’t see
or consider context
Perhaps
as an afterthought, we do try to correct
our thinking for any possible effects of the
situation
Usually
not enough
Fundamental
error in the way we think
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Impact on behaviour – car accident
Attribute
positive
outcomes to our own
traits
Negative
ones
to external factors
Very
common
almost universal
ego-protective
more
common in men
can be adaptive
success/failure
When
people in NA describe themselves they
tend to list about 5x as many positive traits as
negative ones – unheard of in Japan or Korea –
until cultural assimilation
"I don't understand why they say the selfserving bias is universal. I mean, I see it in other
people, but I personally don't have a selfserving bias.” -
Can
beliefs and expectations go beyond
colouring the way you interpret experiences to
actually shape social reality?
◦Pygmalion effect
expecting something to happen can
in fact make it occur
I have an
expectation
about you,
which influences
how I act
toward you,
causing you
to behave in ways
that confirm my
expectation
Important
lesson for
teachers/educators
You
get what you expect from students
Make
the future influence student’s
future behaviour and achievement
Thorndike (1898) – puzzle boxes - cats
 Pavlov (1927) conditioning – dogs
 Skinner (1938) operant or instrumental
conditioning – rats
 Watson (1878-1958) 1st psychologist to apply
the principles of classical conditioning to
human behaviour
 Bandura Social Learning theory
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Gross, R, 2011, Psychology The Science of Mind and
Behaviour, sixth edition, Oxon, Hodder Arnold
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Hogg, M.A, Vaughn, G.M.,2005, Social Psychology,
fourth edition; Essex, Pearson Education Limited
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Niven, N, 2006, The Psychology of Nursing Care,
Hampshire Palgrave Macmillan