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Attributional Reasoning
Psychology B
Perceptions of Causality
nHeider and Simmel
(1944) – we can perceive causality even in abstract <=
/span>dra=
wings
nWe make sense of=
our
world by attributing causality – this happened =
bec=
ause…
nCauses may be
internal/dispositional (within ourselve=
s) or
external/situational (caused by something in the environme=
nt)
Consistency
=
nOne of your coll=
eagues
is very quiet in class.
nHow would you
respond?
nThis may depend =
on the
consistency of their behaviour:
–Are they always =
quiet
in class?
–Are they quiet in
other situations?
–Are other studen=
ts
also quiet during this class?
Kelley’s co-variational model
nWe judge situations using three criteria:
–<=
/span>Consistency (is this their ‘normal’ behaviour in this particular situation)
–<=
/span>Consensus (with others in the same situation)
–<=
/span>Distinctiveness (compared to other situations)
nIf the individual is consistent in this behaviour in this and other situations, we attribute an internal =
cause
nIf the individual’s behaviour is specific to that situation and matches others’ behaviour, we =
attribute an external cause
Attributions and Rationality
nKelley’s
co-variational model has been criticised for
assuming that we are always rational<=
/span> in=
our
judgements about others’ behaviour
nIf =
you are
a football fan, think back to the decisions made b=
y the
referee in your team’s last game. Were they all fair? =
=
Wou=
ld
opposing fans have said the same?
=
Attributing Causality
nYour tutor sets you an assignment in which you must using a computer to produce a report.
nHalf the class pass the assessment and half the class fail.
nIf you passed, how would you explain your performance?
nIf you failed, what would you think?
<=
span
style=3D'font-family:Tahoma;mso-ascii-font-family:Tahoma;font-size:86%;
mso-special-format:lastCR;display:none'>
![](3D"slide0003_image004.gif")
Internal and External Factors<=
span
style=3D'font-family:Tahoma;mso-ascii-font-family:Tahoma;mso-special-forma=
t:
lastCR;display:none'>
nPsychologists su=
ch as
Storms (1973) have shown that we often attribute =
int=
ernal/dispositional
factors to our successes..
nAnd
external/situational factors to our failures!
<=
span
class=3DBB style=3D'position:absolute;left:-4.19%;top:.22em'>nThi=
s is
known as a self-serving bias
=
Fundamental Attribution Error<=
span
style=3D'font-family:Tahoma;mso-ascii-font-family:Tahoma;mso-special-forma=
t:
lastCR;display:none'>
nWe can describe such errors in our judgement as Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
nIf we are the actor, we will attribute external fa=
ctors
when things go wrong. If we are the observer , we will attribute internal factors.
nE.g. ‘I failed my assessment because the tutor =
doesn’t like me.’
n‘H=
e failed
his assessment because he’s lazy and =
is always late or missing classes, and that annoys the tutor.’
Explaining FAEnHeider argues th=
at
this is due to ‘perceptual salience’
=
nAs =
the
actor, we are paying attention to the environment =
around
us – this is the most important t=
hing
‘in the picture’
nAs the observer,=
we
are paying attention to the actor – what part did they play=
in =
eve=
nts?
<=
span
style=3D'visibility:hidden'>n
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