Dina 10/21/17; Lesson 06: Response to “Attributional Tendencies"

Every day, we make judgments or inferences about the behavior of others, about our own behavior, about the cause of events. That’s because we want to determine the reason behind the actions. Those inferences are called attributions. Attributions theory divides attributions in internal and external. An internal attribution is when a behavior is attributed to internal or personal factors. An external attribution is when a behavior is attributed to external factors. The theory also divides attributions in stable and unstable. A stable attribution is due to unchanging factors and an unstable attribution is due to temporary, unstable factors.

Generally, humans have the tendency to attribute other people behavior to internal factors such as personality traits, abilities, and feelings. But when people explain their own behavior, they tend to attribute it to external factors, like circumstances.

According to research and as professor Ivers underlines in his video, cultural values and norms affect the way people make attributions. There are differences in the way attributions are made between individualist and collectivist cultures. According to the examples mentioned by professor Ivers, when they are successful, Americans – USA belongs to individualist culture – attribute the success to themselves, but when they fail they attribute the failure to others or circumstances. In Japan, a country belonging to collectivist culture, when people fail they blame themselves, not others.

At the end of his lecture, professor Ivers urges students to ponder on questions like: Are culturally-created attributions rational, reasonable, or logical? Should we judge things based on circumstances. “Life is not black and white, it is very, very complex.” For me, it sounded like an urge to be informed, to know as much as possible before making judgments/attributions, as teachers or in our own usual lives.