Attribution<\/h2>\r\n
In most interactions, we are constantly running an attribution script in our minds, which essentially tries to come up with explanations for what is happening. Why did my neighbor slam the door when she saw me walking down the hall? Why is my partner being extra nice to me today? Why did my officemate miss our project team meeting this morning? In general, we seek to attribute the cause of others\u2019 behaviors to internal or external factors. Internal attributions<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/span>connect the cause of behaviors to personal aspects such as personality traits. External attributions<\/a><\/span><\/strong> connect the cause of behaviors to situational factors. Attributions are important to consider because our reactions to others\u2019 behaviors are strongly influenced by the explanations we reach. Imagine that Gloria and Jerry are dating. One day, Jerry gets frustrated and raises his voice to Gloria. She may find that behavior more offensive and even consider breaking up with him if she attributes the cause of the blow up to his personality, since personality traits are usually fairly stable and difficult to control or change.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_586\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"263\"] Conversely, Gloria may be more forgiving if she attributes the cause of his behavior to situational factors beyond Jerry\u2019s control, since external factors are usually temporary. If she makes an internal attribution, Gloria may think, \u201cWow, this person is really a loose cannon. Who knows when he will lose it again?\u201d If she makes an external attribution, she may think, \u201cJerry has been under a lot of pressure to meet deadlines at work and hasn\u2019t been getting much sleep. Once this project is over, I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be more relaxed.\u201d This process of attribution is ongoing, and, as with many aspects of perception, we are sometimes aware of the attributions we make, and sometimes they are automatic and\/or unconscious. Attribution has received much scholarly attention because it is in this part of the perception process that some of the most common perceptual errors or biases occur.<\/p>\r\n One of the most common perceptual errors is the fundamental attribution error<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, which refers to our tendency to explain others\u2019 behaviors using internal rather than external attributions.[footnote]Allan L. Sillars, \u201cAttributions and Communication in Roommate Conflicts,\u201d Communication Monographs<\/em> 47, no. 3 (1980): 183.[\/footnote]<\/span> For example, when I worked at an urban college in Denver, Colorado, I often had students come into class irritated, saying, \u201cI got a parking ticket! I can\u2019t believe those people. Why don\u2019t they get a real job and stop ruining my life!\u201d If you Google some clips from the reality television show Parking Wars<\/em>, you will see the ire that people often direct at parking enforcement officers. In this case, illegally parked students attribute the cause of their situation to the malevolence of the parking officer, essentially saying they got a ticket because the officer was a mean\/bad person, which is an internal attribution. Students were much less likely to acknowledge that the officer was just doing his or her job (an external attribution) and the ticket was a result of the student\u2019s decision to park illegally.<\/p>\r\n Perceptual errors can also be biased, and in the case of the self-serving bias, the error works out in our favor. Just as we tend to attribute others\u2019 behaviors to internal rather than external causes, we do the same for ourselves, especially when our behaviors have led to something successful or positive. When our behaviors lead to failure or something negative, we tend to attribute the cause to external factors. Thus the self-serving bias<\/a><\/span><\/strong> is a perceptual error through which we attribute the cause of our successes to internal personal factors while attributing our failures to external factors beyond our control. When we look at the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias together, we can see that we are likely to judge ourselves more favorably than another person, or at least less personally.<\/p>\r\n The professor-student relationship offers a good case example of how these concepts can play out. I have often heard students who earned an unsatisfactory grade on an assignment attribute that grade to the strictness, unfairness, or incompetence of their professor. I have also heard professors attribute a poor grade to the student\u2019s laziness, attitude, or intelligence. In both cases, the behavior is explained using an internal attribution and is an example of the fundamental attribution error. Students may further attribute their poor grade to their busy schedule or other external, situational factors rather than their lack of motivation, interest, or preparation (internal attributions). On the other hand, when students gets a good grade on a paper, they will likely attribute that cause to their intelligence or hard work rather than an easy assignment or an \u201ceasy grading\u201d professor. Both of these examples illustrate the self-serving bias. These psychological processes have implications for our communication because when we attribute causality to another person\u2019s personality, we tend to have a stronger emotional reaction and tend to assume that this personality characteristic is stable, which may lead us to avoid communication with the person or to react negatively. Now that you aware of these common errors, you can monitor them more and engage in perception checking, which we will learn more about later, to verify your attributions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n I\u2019m sure you have a family member, friend, or coworker with whom you have ideological or political differences. When conversations and inevitable disagreements occur, you may view this person as \u201cpushing your buttons\u201d if you are invested in the issue being debated, or you may view the person as \u201con their soapbox\u201d if you aren\u2019t invested. In either case, your existing perceptions of the other person are probably reinforced after your conversation and you may leave the conversation thinking, \u201cShe is never going to wake up and see how ignorant she is! I don\u2019t know why I even bother trying to talk to her!\u201d Similar situations occur regularly, and there are some key psychological processes that play into how we perceive others\u2019 behaviors. By examining these processes, attribution in particular, we can see how our communication with others is affected by the explanations we create for others\u2019 behavior. In addition, we will learn some common errors that we make in the attribution process that regularly lead to conflict and misunderstanding.<\/p>\n In most interactions, we are constantly running an attribution script in our minds, which essentially tries to come up with explanations for what is happening. Why did my neighbor slam the door when she saw me walking down the hall? Why is my partner being extra nice to me today? Why did my officemate miss our project team meeting this morning? In general, we seek to attribute the cause of others\u2019 behaviors to internal or external factors. Internal attributions<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/span>connect the cause of behaviors to personal aspects such as personality traits. External attributions<\/a><\/span><\/strong> connect the cause of behaviors to situational factors. Attributions are important to consider because our reactions to others\u2019 behaviors are strongly influenced by the explanations we reach. Imagine that Gloria and Jerry are dating. One day, Jerry gets frustrated and raises his voice to Gloria. She may find that behavior more offensive and even consider breaking up with him if she attributes the cause of the blow up to his personality, since personality traits are usually fairly stable and difficult to control or change.<\/p>\n Frustrated drivers often use internal attributions to explain other drivers\u2019 behaviors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Conversely, Gloria may be more forgiving if she attributes the cause of his behavior to situational factors beyond Jerry\u2019s control, since external factors are usually temporary. If she makes an internal attribution, Gloria may think, \u201cWow, this person is really a loose cannon. Who knows when he will lose it again?\u201d If she makes an external attribution, she may think, \u201cJerry has been under a lot of pressure to meet deadlines at work and hasn\u2019t been getting much sleep. Once this project is over, I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be more relaxed.\u201d This process of attribution is ongoing, and, as with many aspects of perception, we are sometimes aware of the attributions we make, and sometimes they are automatic and\/or unconscious. Attribution has received much scholarly attention because it is in this part of the perception process that some of the most common perceptual errors or biases occur.<\/p>\n One of the most common perceptual errors is the fundamental attribution error<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, which refers to our tendency to explain others\u2019 behaviors using internal rather than external attributions.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/span> For example, when I worked at an urban college in Denver, Colorado, I often had students come into class irritated, saying, \u201cI got a parking ticket! I can\u2019t believe those people. Why don\u2019t they get a real job and stop ruining my life!\u201d If you Google some clips from the reality television show Parking Wars<\/em>, you will see the ire that people often direct at parking enforcement officers. In this case, illegally parked students attribute the cause of their situation to the malevolence of the parking officer, essentially saying they got a ticket because the officer was a mean\/bad person, which is an internal attribution. Students were much less likely to acknowledge that the officer was just doing his or her job (an external attribution) and the ticket was a result of the student\u2019s decision to park illegally.<\/p>\n Perceptual errors can also be biased, and in the case of the self-serving bias, the error works out in our favor. Just as we tend to attribute others\u2019 behaviors to internal rather than external causes, we do the same for ourselves, especially when our behaviors have led to something successful or positive. When our behaviors lead to failure or something negative, we tend to attribute the cause to external factors. Thus the self-serving bias<\/a><\/span><\/strong> is a perceptual error through which we attribute the cause of our successes to internal personal factors while attributing our failures to external factors beyond our control. When we look at the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias together, we can see that we are likely to judge ourselves more favorably than another person, or at least less personally.<\/p>\n The professor-student relationship offers a good case example of how these concepts can play out. I have often heard students who earned an unsatisfactory grade on an assignment attribute that grade to the strictness, unfairness, or incompetence of their professor. I have also heard professors attribute a poor grade to the student\u2019s laziness, attitude, or intelligence. In both cases, the behavior is explained using an internal attribution and is an example of the fundamental attribution error. Students may further attribute their poor grade to their busy schedule or other external, situational factors rather than their lack of motivation, interest, or preparation (internal attributions). On the other hand, when students gets a good grade on a paper, they will likely attribute that cause to their intelligence or hard work rather than an easy assignment or an \u201ceasy grading\u201d professor. Both of these examples illustrate the self-serving bias. These psychological processes have implications for our communication because when we attribute causality to another person\u2019s personality, we tend to have a stronger emotional reaction and tend to assume that this personality characteristic is stable, which may lead us to avoid communication with the person or to react negatively. Now that you aware of these common errors, you can monitor them more and engage in perception checking, which we will learn more about later, to verify your attributions.<\/p>\n![\"Drawing](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1284\/2015\/11\/03111054\/1294200341_8ef50f9673_z.jpg\")
<\/a> Frustrated drivers often use internal attributions to explain other drivers\u2019 behaviors.[\/caption]\r\n<\/h2>\r\n
Attribution<\/h2>\n
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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t