Attribution Theory: Dispositional vs Situational and Kelley's Covariation Model

Attribution theory is how people explain behavior. A dispositional (internal) attribution blames traits, motives or character. A situational (external) attribution blames circumstances.

Kelley's covariation model

Kelley proposed that we judge cause by three kinds of information:

Quick patterns:

• Low consensus, low distinctiveness, high consistency: dispositional.
• High consensus, high distinctiveness, high consistency: situational (the stimulus).
• Low consistency: a one-off circumstance.

Example: Sam laughs at a comedian. If everyone laughs (high consensus), Sam laughs at no other comedian (high distinctiveness) and always laughs at this one (high consistency), the cause is the comedian.

Biases in attribution

• Fundamental attribution error: overweighting disposition when explaining other people.
• Actor-observer bias: explain your own behavior situationally, others' dispositionally.
• Self-serving bias: credit success to yourself, blame failures on the situation.
• Just-world hypothesis: assume people get what they deserve, so victims are blamed.

The fundamental attribution error is weaker in collectivist cultures than in individualist ones.

Common traps

• Treating high consistency alone as dispositional. Combine all three factors.
• Applying self-serving bias to others. It concerns your own outcomes.
• Mixing up consensus and consistency. Consensus is across people; consistency is across time.

One-minute recap

• Internal = traits; external = situation.
• Kelley: consensus, distinctiveness, consistency.
• Biases skew who gets blamed.