Attribution theory:
- Our perception of people differs from our perception of inanimate (non-living) objects like desk, objects, machines, buildings.
- Non-living objects are subject to the law of nature, they have no belief, motives, or intensions, (people do).
- We attempt to develop explanations of why they behave in certain ways
- Our perception and judgment of a person’s action, therefore, will be significantly influenced by the assumptions we make about that person’s internal state.
- Attribution theory has been proposed to develop explanations of the way in which we judge people differently, depending on what meaning we attribute to a given behavior.
- When we observe an individual’s behavior we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused.
- The determination largely depends on three factors:
- Distinctiveness
- Consensus
- Consistency
- Internally caused behavior: those are believed to be under the personal control of the individual. (e.g. lateness due to night party)
- Externally caused behavior: resulting from outside causes; the person is seen as having been forced into the behavior by the situation. (e.g. lateness due to accident or traffic on the road)
- Distinctiveness: refer to whether an individual displays different behavior in different situation. E.g. : Arriving late--àcomplaints by coworkers, blunders, mistakes.
- If yes (behavior of late employee is unusual), observer is likely to give the behavior external attribution.
- If no ( behavior of late employee is usual: behavior is judged as internal attribution)
- Consensus: everyone in same situation response in the same way, consensus in behavior
- All employees from same route , also late, high consensus, mean external attribution
- All other employee from same route reached at time: internal attribution.
- Consistency: person respond the same way over time
- 10 minutes late consistently (regularly): behavior is internally caused.
- Not late for several month, any day late: externally cause
Findings from attribution theory: there are errors or biases that distort attribution.
- Fundamental Attribution Error: the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.
- Poor sales performance by agents, because of lazy agents, Internal factors
- Innovation product line by competitors, External factors.
- Self-serving bias: the tendency for individuals to attribute their own success to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.
- Success: own ability or efforts
- Failure: bad luck, coworkers.
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