Bernard Weiners Attribution Theory - Assignment Example

Weiner centered his theory mainly on success and suggested that three dimensions, namely locus of control, stability, and controllability influence these attributions. Locus of control may be divided into internal and external. According to Weiner, when a person has a high internal locus of control, he would most likely see success or failure as a result of his own skills and abilities, or a lack thereof. On the other hand, when a person has a high external locus of control, he would probably perceive his achievements and disappointments as caused by luck or fate or any other environmental factor.

Stability simply means whether causes vary over a period of time. In controllability, there are causes and factors that a person can control such as abilities as opposed to causes that cannot be manipulated such as fate, chance, and actions done by others.  In relation to the attribution theory, we judge people in different ways because we give meaning to their behavior, whether it was caused internally or externally A good example is when a friend does not reply to your text messages. You might feel hurt, confused, or even angry thinking that she is doing it out of her own volition and avoiding you on purpose.

What you might not know is that her phone’s battery might have died down, or that her phone got stolen. There are always two sides to everything and we make a mistake when we tend to look and pay more attention to one side than the other. More often than not, the first thing that we learn about someone tends to be our basis or plays a major role in giving attributes to that person commonly known as “the first impression”. This tendency gives rise to perceptual errors such as self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotyping.

In a self-fulfilling prophecy, when other people expect highly of you, you tend to rise up to that level. For example in a basketball team, when the coach thinks highly of its players, the likely result is that the team will be one of the strongest in the league. In stereotyping, we pass judgment on a person depending on the group he belongs in.  Every one of us wants to be judged fairly so let us make sure that we keep an open mind whenever we judge or are judged by others. Each one has different reasons for acting differently so it is important not to form harsh and rash opinions about other people.