Theory of Attribution

 Attribution is a significant theory for understanding perception, because it is connected to judging the causes of others behaviour. An inexact attribution may guide to inexact perception. Our perceptions of what is taking place in the surroundings depend very much on our attributions.

Attribution theory explains that when persons examines behaviour, they endeavour to establish whether it is caused due to internally or externally factors. Internally caused behaviour is when persons are believed to be under the individual control of the person. Externally caused behaviour is seen while ensuing from outside causes over which the individual has no control.

Kelly’s Theory of Causal Attribution explains that in determining about others’ behaviour curtails mainly from internal or external causes, we spotlight on three kinds of information:

(i) Distinctiveness; (ii) Consensus; and (iii) Consistency.

(i) Distinctiveness: It is the level to which a person behaves in the similar way at various circumstances. If one acts the same way in new situations, distinctiveness is low but if one behaves in a different way, distinctiveness is high. 

If a particular behaviour is unusual, an observer is likely to give the behaviour an external attribution. If the action is not unusual, it will be perhaps judged as internal.

(ii) Consensus: It is the level to which new group behaves in the same way as the person we are judging. If others perform similar behaviour, consensus is measured, high; if they do not, consensus is considered low.

If consensus were high, it would expected to give external attribution and if consensus is low, it will tend to give internal attribution.

(iii) Consistency: It is inclination to react the same way from time-to-time. Consistency can be high or low. The more consistent the behaviour, the more the observer is prone to attribute it to internal causes and vice-versa. While judging about the behaviour of new group, we have inclination to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors, in case of less than optimum performance by the others.

This is called the fundamental attribution error. There is also a propensity for persons to attribute their own success towards internal factors such as ability or effort while putting the responsibility for failure on external factors such as luck. This is called the self-serving partiality.

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