Attributions and the Attribution Theory in Social Psychology and Ethics - Essay Example

After exploring how people explain others’ behavior, the attribution theory is proposed by Fritz Heider. Myers (1995:613) mentioned that Heider stated that “people usually attribute others’ behavior either to their internal dispositions or to their external situations.” There are actually two kinds of attribution: dispositional attribution and situational attribution. An example given is a teacher who wonders whether a child’s hostility either reflects an aggressive personality which is the dispositional attribution or the child is reacting to stress or abuse which is the situational attribution.

            There are instances where a person, perhaps a girl named Ana does not say much in class while a boy named Jose always talks nonstop (Myers, 1995:613). According to their dispositional attribution, Ana is shy while Jose is outgoing. These attributions are valid for people who usually have stable personality traits. But this is not always the case for sometimes Ana could be an outgoing person at a party while Jose is as quiet as Ana when she’s in class. This act of overestimating the influence of personality and underestimating the situation is called the fundamental attribution error.

            To prove the theory, there is an experiment conducted by David Napolitan and George Goethals with Williams College students and a young woman (Myers, 1995:613). The young woman interacted with the students who responded differently to her. Beforehand, the students were told that the woman’s behavior would be spontaneous. Then the students were told that the woman was also told to act friendly or unfriendly. But the students ignored the information. They created different inferences about the woman. If the woman acted friendly, they thought she was a warm person. If the woman acted unfriendlily, they thought she was a cold person. In simpler words, the students make their inferences or attribute her behavior based on the personal disposition even when they were told that the woman’s behavior was situational, meaning she was just acting that way for experimental purposes.

            People often make the same fundamental attribution error (Myers, 1995:614). Having knowledge of it is helpful but committing it is unavoidable. People tend to judge or infer about other people’s personalities based on their experiences with those people. But this information is limited for they only know other people in one situation that demands that kind of behavior. That is why they are surprised when they see other people outside of their assigned roles. For example, a professor may seem professional inside a classroom but less professional in a rock concert. Moreover, the professor may also observe his or her actions inside and outside the classroom. He or she may say that he or she is outgoing depending on the situation.

            Myers (1995:614) has stated that “when explaining our own behavior, we are sensitive to how our behavior changes with the situation we encounter. When explaining others’ behavior, particularly after observing them in only one type of situation, we often commit the fundamental attribution error.” People usually disregard the situation and jump to superfluous conclusions about their personality traits instead. This is because people have learned to focus their attention on the people rather than on the situational context. When the perspectives are reversed, the attributions are also reversed and thus, both appreciate the situation and their own initiative and personal style.

Importance of Attribution

            Making attributions are always present in everyday life because all people deal with the strain of explaining others’ actions (Myers, 1995:614). A happily married couple attribute their wife or their husband’s tart-tongued remark to a temporary situation such as, “She must have had a bad day at work.” while an unhappily married couple attribute the similar remark to a mean disposition such as, “Why did I marry such a hostile person?” Other examples include the jury which decides whether a shooting was malicious or self-defense and an interviewer must say whether the applicant’s amiability is real.

            As for the political effects of attribution, attributions can be used to explain poverty or unemployment. According to researchers in Britain, India, Australia, and the United States, political conservatives are inclined to attribute such social problems to the personal dispositions of the poor and unemployed themselves: “People generally get what they deserve. Those who don’t work are often freeloaders. People who take initiative can still get ahead” (Myers, 1995:615). They tend to blame past and present situations: “If you or I had to live with the same poor education, lack of opportunity, and discrimination, would we be any better off?”

            As for homelessness, people attribute it to society’s failure to provide sufficient jobs and housing while some people criticize homelessness themselves (Myers, 1995:615). But some homeless people choose not to find shelters. This clearly explains that “there are political implications to whether we attribute people’s behavior to social conditions or to their own choices and shortcomings.”

            Attributions also have to be made by managers in evaluating their own employees (Myers, 1995:615). More often, they attribute the poor performance of their workers to personal factors like low ability or lack of motivation. The workers who are doing poorly on their jobs are aware of the situational influences that affect their jobs such as inadequate supplies, poor working conditions, difficult co-workers, and impossible demands.

            In conclusion, attributes are important in understanding human behavior for it leads to building their value or worth in an organization. The fundamental attribution error must be avoided and a reversal of roles can change the perspectives of the actor and the observer. But the attributions that people make of other individuals’ dispositions or to their situations must be well-thought for they have genuine consequences.