Discuss the concept of attribution, as well as faulty attribution, along with the three dimensions-consensus, distinctiveness, consistency-by which people form judgments of other people's actions. How does the level of each (low or high) lead to a judgment of external or internal causes behind another person's behavior? Give examples.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Research on attributions suggests that when people witness a behavior or outcome, they make a judgment about whether it was internally or externally caused. The fundamental attribution error argues that people have a tendency to judge others' behaviors as due to internal factors. Thus when a coworker arrives late, the tendency would be to blame the person rather than environmental factors such as heavy traffic. The self-serving bias occurs when we attribute our own failures to external factors and our own successes to internal factors.

The three dimensions of attribution are consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency.
Consensus: Did others act the same way under similar situations? 
Distinctiveness: Does the person tend to act differently in other circumstances? 
Consistency: Does the person always do this when performing this task? 
According to one theory of attribution, when consensus and distinctiveness are high and consistency is low, people tend to attribute the behavior of others to external factors. Thus, in the case of the late coworker, if others have been late in similar situations (high consensus), the coworker in question is normally responsible in his or her behavior (high distinctiveness), and he or she is not usually late (low consistency), then the tendency would be to attribute the late arrival to external factors. On the other hand, if other people are usually not late in similar situations (low consensus), the coworker in question has demonstrated irresponsibility in other situations (low distinctiveness), and he or she tends to be late (high consistency), then people are more likely to attribute internal factors-in other words, the coworker is personally to blame for arriving late. 

Student examples will vary but should demonstrate an understanding of attribution, attribution errors, the dimensions by which people judge the actions of others, and the relationship between the degree of each dimension and the tendency to attribute behavior to either external or internal causes.