Attribution Theory question response

Question

For the Attribution Therory answer the following questions:

Think about the theory, in your own words tell me what type of theory it is (i.e. intrapersonal, interpersonal, social, community, etc.) and what is the most important construct that you feels impacts behavior change?”

Answer 1

The attribution theory is a social psychology theory. This theory aims to explain a phenomenon in human behavior- explaining behavior and events by "attributing" them to certain causes. When we are late to work, or get a low test grade, or say something we don't really mean, causing a friend to feel bad, we are quick to excuse our behavior, "I'm overtired from work- they are killing me with these extra hours", "traffic was so backed up today, I wouldn't have been late if that accident didn't happen right on my route to work", etc. Patterns emerge in these explanations over time, and what social psychology has found is that when we are explaining our OWN behavior, we use external events (late because of traffic, stressed from extra hours at work, etc. However, when we explain others behaviors, we attribute the behavior to internal causes, such as personality and traits. For example, when a coworker is late to work, we may be quick to explain it, "It's no surprise she's late to work. She's lazy, and selfish. She doesn't care that we have to pick up her work when she is late, she'd rather sleep for an extra hour. I bet she won't even apologize for making us do her work this morning".

Do you see the error in this? This opinion is subjective- it's not factual, and we don't have any reason to believe that to be the reason for someone being late. Why couldn't she be late because of traffic, the way you explained your tardiness? We don't believe an external event caused them to be late, we think they were late because of their personality flaws.

It is easier to blame external things for our faults than owning up to them. The best thing to do, however, is take responsibility for our actions. Behavior change cannot happen if we don't believe there is an internal problem with our behavior. If we keep blaming things like traffic, weather, bad luck, other people's actions and so on, we will not recognize our faults, and without recognition we cannot change.