Attribution Theory

Attribution is the process of assigning causes to events in order to understand why they happened.

Illusory correlation is not an attribution bias, but rather a cognitive bias that refers to the tendency to perceive a relationship between two events that are not actually related.

Self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute our own successes to internal factors such as our abilities and efforts, and our failures to external factors such as bad luck or other people's actions.

Actor-observer bias is the tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal factors such as their personality or intentions, while attributing our own behavior to external factors such as the situation or other people's actions.

Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overestimate the importance of personal factors and underestimate the importance of situational factors in explaining behavior.

Gender is not a factor that influences our attributions. Culture, personal experiences, and cognitive biases are all factors that can influence our attributions.

Dispositional attribution is the tendency to attribute the behavior of others to stable, internal factors, even when the behavior is clearly due to situational factors.

Situational attribution is the tendency to attribute the behavior of others to unstable, external factors, even when the behavior is clearly due to internal factors.

Unstable is not a type of attribution style. Internal, external, and stable are all types of attribution styles.

People with an internal attribution style are more likely to take credit for their successes, as they believe that their successes are due to their own abilities and efforts.

People with an external attribution style are more likely to blame themselves for their failures, as they believe that their failures are due to external factors such as bad luck or other people's actions.

Discrimination is not a consequence of attribution theory. Self-fulfilling prophecies, stereotyping, and prejudice are all consequences of attribution theory.

Self-fulfilling prophecies are more likely to occur when people have strong expectations about the future, are motivated to confirm their expectations, and receive feedback that is consistent with their expectations.

Stereotyping is more likely to occur when people have limited information about a group, are motivated to categorize others, and are exposed to negative information about a group.

Prejudice is more likely to occur when people have negative attitudes towards a group, are motivated to discriminate against a group, and are exposed to negative information about a group.