Related Work and Theoretical Background Attribution Theory and Attributional Dimensions Attributions are subjective causal explanations for successful and unsuccessful outcomes that are known to influence individuals’ behavior, motivation, and emotions [3]. In attribution research, a distinction is made between internal and external causes (locus) perceived by the individual. For example, a person may either feel responsible for a positive or negative outcome (internal) or relate it to external circumstances [5]. Three further dimensions are distinguished: Stability, controllability, and globality [3]. Causes are considered as stable over time and therefore hard to change or as unstable and easy to change. Furthermore, causes can be perceived as controllable or uncontrollable, as well as generally valid (global) or only valid for certain (specific) situations [6]. Attribution Style …show more content…
Similar to clinical psychology, optimistic and pessimistic styles, as well as more ‘neutral’ styles, were found. For situations of success, the Confident, the Realistic, and the Humble style were identified. Persons with a Confident style may explain their computer-related successes as “I am competent and responsible for my own success”. They tend to attribute success to internal, stable, controllable, and global causes. Persons with a Realistic style expect that “Sometimes I am successful, sometimes not”. They attribute the reasons for success rather temporally unstable and situation-related. For persons with a Humble style, the explanation is “This time I was lucky”. They attribute success to external factors and experience only low levels of control when using computers
Gopnik continues her article about children using their past to shape their future. She introduces the topic of causal understanding. Causal understanding includes the understanding the relationship between cause and effect. When people understand the relationship between cause and effect, it can allow them the change the process of habituation. Learning what goes wrong in life, can help assist breaking bad habits.
Those who achieve success do in fact work hard; however, there are also countless other factors that play a role in one’s success. Therefore, reading this book opened by eyes to the complexity of success. It is not simply one thing that can lead a person to success. Instead, it is a culmination of many factors that can allow a person to have a successful
“Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live,” quoted Anne Sweeney, formerly the co-chair of Disney Media, President of the Disney–ABC Television Group, and the President of Disney Channel. In this quote, Anne wanted everyone to know that everyone has their own definitions of success and have their own ways to get their. Two ways that people define success is being happy or satisfied with what they love doing and reaching their goals after obstacles. These two features can be seen in the books, The Outliers, The Last Lecture, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul and the article, Catching Kayla, by Digital Sports News. “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome,” stated
The attribution theory is a theory that proposes that people attempt to understand the behaviour of others by associating it with either situational (external) or dispositional (internal) factors. While this an interesting and popular theory, it has been discovered that when attributing behaviour, we often make errors, as we are more biased and judgemental than we would like to think. The two attribution errors that I will bring up in this essay are The Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) and the Self-Serving Bias (SSB). The Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) implies that when we observe the behaviour of others, we tend to over-attribute their behaviour to dispositional factors and underestimate the influence that situational factors may have had.
However, the main motive is merely to inform readers how and why success comes so effortlessly to some but then does not come at all for others. Those among us who are packed with key factors such as attentiveness, self-sacrifice,
Success, defined as attaining personal goals and having in-depth relations with loved ones, is, in reality, a very complicated term. The idea of success holds different meanings for anyone who ponders it, involving money, power, glory, happiness, security, comfort, love, and many other elements. The attainment of goals seems to be at the heart of every definition. Even so, success cannot be tethered down to any one form. Success in its purest form cannot be forced to attain real prosperity, it holds deeper layers than are commonly visible from the surface, and even the best of successes have perils and negative effects.
Usually, something will cause an effect; therefore it is important and appropriate to state the causes first than the
Finally, the fundamental attribution error occurs when a person fails to notice situational factors and assume that a behavior or specific actions are due to an individual’s personality or character traits (Harman, 1999).
Often people do make these dispositional attributions; or attribute someone’s behavior to their internal state such as their personality, attitude, or character (textbook, p.85). This can
Positive Thinking and Conflict There are many times in one’s life where a simple positive gesture can make their day. Anne, in “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank along with Louise Ogawa in “Dear Miss Breed” by Joanne Oppenheim, display attitudes that not only helped themselves, but gave other people hope. Though some might argue that positivity during a conflicting situation won’t help resolve anything, having a positive outlook on a negative situation can help someone solve their disagreement swiftly and efficiently. The best way someone can respond to conflict is with a positive attitude because it can be a stress reliever, give tremendous benefits to their physical health, and make others around them happier.
The second theme deals with the concept of sin and Psychopathology (McMinn, 2007, p 158). According to the author (2007) the concept of sin and Psychopathology is related to the question of whether problems are due to sin or sickness (p 159). McMinn (2007) addresses this concept of sin by discussing attributional styles (p159). According to the author (2007), psychologists view our attributional styles as the way people describe good and bad events in their lives and the lives of others (p 159). McMinn (2007) explains how attributions can lead to different emotional consequences by providing a scenario of when people are viewed as sinners then it is assumed that they had a choice therefore making them responsible for the consequences of their choices; he gives two examples of an internal attribution and an external attribution (p
In the movie, Philadelphia, psychologists are able to apply: attribution theory, self-verification theory, social identity theory, cognitive dissonance, and drive theory to explain the behavior of some people. The attribution theory explains the cause of someone’s behavior by associating it to their personality or situation. In the movie, it is applied when Andrew is fired. The law firm claimed that they fired Andrew because of his incompetence, which is a fundamental attribution error because they were blaming him for the reason they fired him.
Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behavior The roles of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behavior could be explained using the attribution theory where attribution is the process of interpreting and explaining behavior and how people try to use these factors to do this . Situational factors refer to external influences such as who you surround yourself with, social norms, the situation and the weather while dispositional factors are about internal factors such as your personality, attitude and beliefs . In explaining behavior these factors can either be combined as one explanation or used separately to determine the cause of one’s actions.
The Fundamental Attribution Error states that people tend to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on others’ behavior and underestimate the impact of situational influences on other behavior's. In order to better understand this, we must set clear what dispositional and situational influences are. Dispositional influences we refer to enduring characteristics, such as personality traits, attitudes, and intelligence; influences found inside every individual. On the other hand, situational influences refer to external situations that can influence someone to behave in someway.
2. Literature Review 2.1 The Development of Attribution Theory The attribution theory is one of the newly developed learning motivation theories. From the literal meaning, the attribution theory can be understood as the processing of attributing the consequences of acts or events to some causes.