Psychological Theory Of Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory
Heider (1958) initially proposed a psychological theory of attribution, but Harold Kelley (1967, 1971) and Bernard Weiner (1985, 1986) established a theoretical structure that has become a foremost research model of social psychology. Attribution theorists interpret humans as scientists trying to understand the world around them and using simple statistical techniques to reach different conclusions.
The attribution theory has been most thoroughly examined in the achievement domain. It is stated that in order to determine the causes of success and failure, casual search is undertaken. This search is usually instigated when unexpected and significant events culminate in failure. Among the most dominant inferred causes of success and failure are; ability, effort, task ease or difficulty, luck, mood and help or hindrance from others. These inferences are in part based on informational variable, including past performances and social norms. (Kelley, 1967) “Attribution theory deals with how the social perceiver uses information to arrive at causal explanations for events. It examines what information is gathered and how it is combined to form a causal judgment” (Fiske, 1991). Heider states that there is a strong need in individuals to understand transient events by attributing them to the actor 's disposition or to stable characteristics of the environment.
Heider highlighted the following two key concepts which became prominent:
1. Internal Attribution: In