An Introduction to Attribution Processes

An Introduction to Attribution Processes
Author: Kelly G. Shaver
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2016-08-05
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1315535998

Why do people act the way they do? How do their desires and fears become known to us? When are our opinions of others correct, and when are they likely to be mistaken? These are questions which attribution theory tries to answer. Originally published in 1975, this title provides an informal introduction to the field of attribution, with the theoretical principles and issues illustrated in everyday examples. The origins of current attribution theory are outlined, and models of the inference process are examined. The intellectual debt owed to social psychology by the attribution theory is acknowledged, and an exploration of the interpersonal and social consequences of attribution is included.

Attribution

Attribution
Author: Friedrich Försterling
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2013-11-12
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1317774779

Attribution concerns the scientific study of naive theories and common-sense explanations. This text provides a thorough and up-to-date introduction to the field, combining comprehensive coverage of the fundamental theoretical ideas and most significant research with an overview of more recent developments. The author begins with a broad overview of the central questions and basic assumptions of attribution research. This is followed by discussion of the ways in which causal explanations determine reactions to success or failure and how our causal explanations of other people's actions shape our behaviour toward them. The manner in which attributions may shape communication, and how people often quite indirectly communicate their beliefs about causality, is also explained. Finally, the issue of changing causal connections in training and therapy is addressed. With end of chapter summaries, further reading and exercises to illustrate key attribution phenomena, Attribution will be essential reading for students of social psychology and associated areas such as personality, educational, organisational and clinical psychology.

Causal Attribution

Causal Attribution
Author: Miles Hewstone
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Total Pages: 332
Release: 1991-01-08
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780631171652

Attribution theory deals with how people explain social behavior - their causal attributions or common-sense explanations. Causal Attribution provides a major assessment of attribution theory in social psychology during the last forty years. It reviews in detail the variety of theoretical perspectives and established phenomena in attribution theory and provides a unique integration. A brief introduction to the classic attribution theories is followed by a review of some of the fundamental questions. The core of the book is made up of four central chapters, one on each of Doise's levels of explanation. Intra-personal attribution has studied the logic, cognitive processes and knowledge structures underlying causal attributions. Interpersonal attribution centers on attribution in social interaction and in close relationships, especially marriage. Intergroup attribution highlights the consequences of social categorization: attributions at this level often favor the ingroup and sustain ingroup conflict. Societal attributions link attributions to wider social beliefs, such as conspiracy theories, and refer to phenomena such as poverty, unemployment and riots. This volume emphasizes the breadth and depth of attribution research, and argues persuasively that an attributional approach has a promising future, as well as a distinguished past, in social psychology.

The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations

The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations
Author: Fritz Heider
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1982
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780898592825

First Published in 1982. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory
Author: Mark Martinko
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 1995-02-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781884015199

With Special Contributions from Bernard Weiner Ph.D. (UCLA) and Robert Lord Ph.D. (Univ. of Akron) Attribution theory is concerned with peoples causal explanation for outcomes: successes and failures. The basic premise is that beliefs about outcomes are a primary determinant of expectations and, consequently, future behavior. Attribution theory articulates how this process occurs and provides a basis for understanding that translates into practical action. Attribution Theory: An Organizational Perspective serves as a primary sourcebook of attribution theory as it relates to management and organizational behavior. The text provides an integrated explanation of the role and function of attribution theory in the organization. This important new book contains original empirical research relating attributions to leader evaluations, reactions to information technologies, management of diverse work groups, achievement, and executive succession and power. The contributors are from a variety of disciplines including management, psychology, education, educational psychology, and sociology.

Attribution Theory in the Organizational Sciences

Attribution Theory in the Organizational Sciences
Author: Mark J. Martinko
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2006-08-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1607528215

This book argues that conventional interpretations of Freudian psychology have not accounted for the existence and complexity of death anxiety and its intrinsic relation to the creation of illusions and delusions. This book contends that there is sufficient evidence to support the view that death anxiety is not only a symptom of certain modes of psychopathology, but is a very normal and central emotional threat human beings deal with only by impeding awareness of the threat from entering consciousness. The immanence of the fear of death requires vigilant defensive and coping techniques, especially the distortion of reality through these defenses and fantasies, so that over-whelming terror does not psychologically cripple the organism. The fear of death is so horrific that human beings must insulate themselves in religious, social, and private illusions, rituals, obsessive pursuits, self-glorification, and myriad desperate attempts to lie about the quintessential nature of reality. Death is that terror that induces psychopathology. This book demonstrates that a careful reading of Freud reveals a copious amount of material supporting these propositions.

Social Motivation, Justice, and the Moral Emotions

Social Motivation, Justice, and the Moral Emotions
Author: Bernard Weiner
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2006-04-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1135601674

Social Motivation, Justice, and the Moral Emotions proposes an attribution theory of interpersonal or social motivation that distinguishes between the role of thinking and feeling in determining action. The place of this theory within the larger fields of motivation and attributional analyses is explored. It features new thoughts concerning social motivation on such topics as help giving, aggression, achievement evaluation, compliance to commit a transgression, as well as new contributions to the understanding of social justice. Included also is material on moral emotions, with discussions of admiration, contempt, envy, gratitude, and other affects not considered in Professor Weiner's prior work. The text also contains previously unexamined topics regarding social inferences of arrogance and modesty. Divided into five chapters, this book: *considers the logical development and structure of a proposed theory of social motivation and justice; *reviews meta-analytic tests of the theory within the contexts of help giving and aggression and examines issues related to cultural and individual differences; *focuses on moral emotions including an analysis of admiration, envy, gratitude, jealousy, scorn, and others; *discusses conditions where reward decreases motivation while punishment augments strivings; and *provides applications that are beneficial in the classroom, in therapy, and in training programs. This book appeals to practicing and research psychologists and advanced students in social, educational, personality, political/legal, health, and clinical psychology. It will also serve as a supplement in courses on motivational psychology, emotion and motivation, altruism and/or pro-social behavior, aggression, social judgment, and morality. Also included is the raw material for 13 experiments relating to core predictions of the proposed attribution theory.

Self-Awareness & Causal Attribution

Self-Awareness & Causal Attribution
Author: Thomas Shelley Duval
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1461514894

Self-awareness - the ability to recognize one's existence - is one of the most important variables in psychology. Without self-awareness, people would be unable to self-reflect, recognize differences between the self and others, or compare themselves with internalized standards. Social, clinical, and personality psychologists have recognized the significance of self-awareness in human functioning, and have conducted much research on how it participates in everyday life and in psychological dysfunctions. Self-Awareness & Causal Attribution: A Dual-Systems Theory presents a new theory of how self-awareness affects thought, feeling, and action. Based on experimental social-psychological research, the authors describe how several interacting cognitive systems determine the links between self-awareness and organized activity. This theory addresses when people become self-focused, how people internalize and change personal standards, when people approach or avoid troubling situations, and the nature of self-evaluation. Special emphasis is given to causal attribution, the process of perceiving causality. Self-Awareness & Causal Attribution will be useful to social, clinical, and personality psychologists, as well as to anyone interested in how the self relates to motivation and emotion.

How the Mind Explains Behavior

How the Mind Explains Behavior
Author: Bertram F. Malle
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2006-08-11
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780262250351

In this provocative monograph, Bertram Malle describes behavior explanations as having a dual nature—as being both cognitive and social acts—and proposes a comprehensive theoretical model that integrates the two aspects. When people try to understand puzzling human behavior, they construct behavior explanations, which are a fundamental tool of social cognition. But, Malle argues, behavior explanations exist not only in the mind; they are also overt verbal actions used for social purposes. When people explain their own behavior or the behavior of others, they are using the explanation to manage a social interaction—by offering clarification, trying to save face, or casting blame. Malle's account makes clear why these two aspects of behavior explanation exist and why they are closely linked; along the way, he illustrates the astonishingly sophisticated and subtle patterns of folk behavior explanations. Malle begins by reviewing traditional attribution theories and their simplified portrayal of behavior explanation. A more realistic portrayal, he argues, must be grounded in the nature, function, and origins of the folk theory of mind—the conceptual framework underlying people's grasp of human behavior and its connection to the mind. Malle then presents a theory of behavior explanations, focusing first on their conceptual structure and then on their psychological construction. He applies this folk-conceptual theory to a number of questions, including the communicative functions of behavior explanations, and the differences in explanations given for self and others as well as for individuals and groups. Finally, he highlights the strengths of the folk-conceptual theory of explanation over traditional attribution theory and points to future research applications.