Causal attribution - the process of attributing to another person the reasons for his behavior in the event that information about these reasons is absent. The need to understand the reasons for the interaction partner's behavior arises in connection with the desire to interpret his actions. The attribution is carried out either on the basis of the similarity of the behavior of the perceived person with some other pattern that was available in the past experience of the perceptual subject, or on the basis of an analysis of his own motives, assumed in a similar situation (in this case, the identification mechanism can operate).
The measure and degree of attribution in the process of interpersonal perception depends on two indicators: on the degree of uniqueness or typicality of the act and on the degree of its social “desirability” or “undesirability”. Typical and desirable behavior lends itself to unambiguous interpretation, undesirable and unique behavior allows many different interpretations and, therefore, gives scope for attributing its causes and characteristics.
The nature of the attribution also depends on whether the subject of perception is himself a participant in an event or an observer. In these two different cases, a different type of attribution is chosen. G. Kelly identified three such types: personal attribution (when the reason is attributed to the person doing the act), object attribution (when the reason is attributed to the object to which the action is directed) and adverbial attribution (when the reason for what is done is attributed to the circumstances). When attributed reasons for success and failures: the participant in the action "blames" the failure primarily on the circumstances, while the observer "blames" the failure primarily on the performer himself.
Attribution errors:
The fundamental mistake (one! The rest is its manifestation) of attribution. Ascribe the reason for the action of the person's personality. Limitations: 1) if a person views another from an internal locus of control, then he or she thinks so. It is the same with the outside. 2) person - a participant or observer of this process. The observer, unlike the participant, does not know the background. Another point: the person does not take into account what did not happen, although it may have become the reason.
Motivational attribution errors. We attribute behavior to people based on our passions and motivations.
19. Interpersonal attraction
Methods for determining the accuracy of perception ( from the lecture ):
Expert review
GOL (group personality assessment)
Attraction (attraction, attraction) is the emotional component of interpersonal perception.
Accuracy of interpersonal perception. Personality tests, but, firstly, there are no tests for identifying and measuring all the characteristics of a person (therefore, if a comparison is possible, then only for those characteristics for a cat there are tests); secondly, as already noted, tests cannot be considered as the only instrument for studying personality, since they have certain limitations.
A similar problem arises in the case when the method of expert assessments is used. As experts, people are selected who know well the person who is the object of perception. Their judgments about him ("expert assessments") are compared with the data of the subject of perception. But in this case, too, we essentially again have two series of subjective judgments: the subject of perception and the expert (who is also the subject of perception, and, therefore, his judgments do not exclude the element of evaluation).
In experiments on interpersonal perception, four groups of factors are established: a) variables, with the help of which the perceptual subject describes himself; b) previously familiar personalities; c) the relationship between oneself and the object of perception, and finally d) the situational context in which the process of interpersonal perception is carried out. By correlating these four groups of factors, one can at least determine in which direction the perception tends to shift in each particular case.
Arbitrary ideas about the connection between different characteristics of the person are called "illusory correlations". These peculiar "stereotypes" are based not only on "life" experience ", but often on scraps of knowledge, information about various psychological concepts that were widespread in the past (for example, Kretschmer's ideas about the connection between types of constitution of a person with traits of his character, ideas of physiognomy on the correspondence of facial features to some psychological characteristics, etc.). A.A. Bodalev received very interesting data in this regard: out of 72 people he interviewed regarding how they perceive the external features of other people, 9 answered that a square chin is a sign of strong will, 17 - that a large forehead is a sign of intelligence, 3 identify coarse hair with rebellious character, 16 - fullness with good nature, for two thick lips - a symbol of sexuality, for five small stature - evidence of authority, for one bang close-set eyes mean hot temper, and for five others beauty is a sign of stupidity (Bodalev, 1982.S. 118). No training will be able to fully remove these everyday generalizations, but it can at least puzzle the person in the question of the "unconditionality" of his judgment about other people.
Interpersonal attraction. The area of research related to the identification of the mechanisms of the formation of various emotional attitudes towards the perceived bang is called the study of attraction. Attraction is both the process of forming the attractiveness of a certain person for the perceiver, and the product of this process, i.e. some quality of attitude.
Attraction can be viewed as a special type of social attitude towards another person, in which the emotional component predominates (Gozman, 1987), when this “other” is assessed mainly in the categories characteristic of affective assessments. The author studies, in particular, the question of the role of similarity between the character of the subject and the object of perception in the formation of an attraction, the role of "ecological" characteristics of the communication process (proximity of communication partners, frequency of meetings, etc.). Different levels of attraction are highlighted: sympathy, friendship, love. There are even two mutually exclusive theories of love: pessimistic, which asserts the negative impact of love on personality development (the emergence of dependence on a loved one), and optimistic, which asserts that love helps relieve anxiety, a more complete self-actualization of the individual. Love styles: passion, play, friendship, reflection, obsession, selfless dedication.
We often try to understand the reasons for the actions of others. At the same time, the assessment of behavior can be associated both with the circumstances and with the personal characteristics of a particular person. This assessment is called "causal attribution." What is causal attribution theory is a question that requires detailed consideration.
What is causal attribution?
Experts in the field of psychiatry say that causal attribution is a separate phenomenon of interpersonal perception, which consists in interpreting, attributing the reasons for the actions of another person with a lack of information about the real reasons for his behavior. This term was formed in Western social psychology and was able to get a general idea in the theory of attribution developed by researchers.
Causal Attribution - Types and Errors
Causal attribution in psychology reveals various patterns that lead to perceptual errors. People can explain their own failures and the success of others using situational attribution. Often we all try to be more loyal and gentle to ourselves than to the people around us. Personal attribution is used to analyze one's own successes and the failures of others. An interesting fact can be called the fact that the reason for success is often associated with their own merits, and circumstances can be blamed for failures. This is the peculiarity of the human psyche.
Types of causal attribution
When talking about what causal attribution implies, it is important to keep the types in mind. Psychologists name three types of causal attribution:
- Object causal attribution - a causal relationship is attributed to the object to which the action is directed.
- Personal - attributed to the person who committed the act.
- Circumstantial - attributed to circumstances
Causal attribution errors
There are some common mistakes in causal attribution:
- The tendency to overestimate the role of personality factors and the ability to underestimate the impact of a situation and circumstances. This error is typical for those who can be called observers. When assessing the behavior of another person, you can often see a certain pattern. So, in case of failures, they say that someone did not try very hard, or that people do not have enough abilities. When the result of the activity is successful, we can say that they were lucky. If we are talking about self-attribution, then the opposite trend can be observed, since its main goal is to maintain a positive one.
- False consent error - it is common for a person to interpret his own behavior as typical, which is characteristic of many people.
- The error of different possibilities of role behavior - different social roles may imply different behavior. For this reason, during attribution, the perceiver interprets the behavior of others according to their social roles.
- Ignoring the informational meaning of what did not happen - the tendency to take into account extremely obvious facts.
Causal attribution and interpersonal attraction
In psychology, interpersonal attraction is understood as sympathy, affection, etc. Each of us not only perceives others, but also forms our own attitude towards them. Moreover, it will be individual for everyone. This attraction influences the very phenomenon of causal attribution. In other words, when the attitude towards a person is positive, then both the explanation of the reason for the actions and the behavior can be softer and more loyal. When a person is downright unsympathetic, the reasons for the person's actions can be mercilessly criticized.
Causal attribution in communication
To understand what causal attribution means, it is important to know when it occurs. It appears when unexpected obstacles arise in the path of joint activities - when difficulties and conflicts arise, clashes of interests and views. The moment all this is happening, people are applying causal attribution. In other words, we attribute the reasons for the behavior to other people and the more difficulties in interaction, the more seriously we approach the search for the cause.
An example of causal attribution would be being late for a meeting with friends. Some of the waiters are sure that this may be due to the weather, another believes that a friend is late due to frivolity, and the third even doubts whether the late was informed about the meeting place. So all friends have different ideas about the reasons for being late: circumstances, features and, the reason is in oneself.
Causal attribution - this or that understanding of human behavior due to the fact that we have invented about him and ascribed to him.
Causal - causal, due to one reason or another. Attribution - attribution, attribution of characteristics to oneself or another person. Causal attribution is understood as the interpretation of the behavior of a communication partner by making assumptions about him, intentions, emotions, reasons for behavior, personality traits, and then attributing them to a partner.
The less we know about a person, the more inclined we are to be buggy about him, to invent about him. We often attribute situational motives to the usual, common behavior of people ("this is because of the situation!"), And to non-standard ones - personal ones ("this is his decision or peculiarities"). The most common mistake ("fundamental attribution error") is the explanation of behavior by the personal characteristics of a person, where it was actually determined by the situation.
"You on purpose!" - "No, understand, just such a situation has developed ..." - "I don't believe you! Don't blame everything on the situation!"
We often ascribe our successes to ourselves; failures are explained by such a situation. For other people's successes and failures, the opposite is true.
Similarly, our sympathies are usually on the side of those with whom we have lived more and with whom we spent more time, who are ours to us.
Calmness as a way to diagnose the condition of another person
Calmness is a prerequisite for a high-quality diagnosis of the condition of other people. When you are absolutely calm, you are like a mirror, people look in you and see themselves in you.
Introduction
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
This work is devoted to causal attribution as a socio-psychological phenomenon.
The relevance of this topic is explained by the fact that causal attribution determines social behavior, is included in the structure of many socio-psychological processes, and therefore its research acquires significant theoretical and practical significance. The theoretical aspect is that now in social psychology there is a need to create a unified scientific theory that explains the features and mechanisms of social perception, and one of the mechanisms of social perception is causal attribution. In addition, the study of causal attribution is also of practical importance, since in order to optimize joint activities and interpersonal relationships, it is necessary, among other things, to take into account causal attribution as one of the main mechanisms of social perception.
The aim of the work is to consider causal attribution as a socio-psychological phenomenon.
Research object: the process of social cognition.
Subject of research: causal attribution as a socio-psychological phenomenon.
casual attribution social psychological
1. Causal attribution as a socio-psychological phenomenon
Causal attribution (from Lat. Causa - reason + attribuo - give, endow) is a phenomenon of social perception, a person's interpretation of the reasons for the behavior of another person, as well as his own.
The phenomenon of causal attribution takes place when people interpret the reasons for the behavior of another person in conditions of insufficient information about these reasons, that is, a kind of completion of information is carried out. At the same time, "the scope of attribution becomes much wider - the reasons are attributed not only to the behavior of an individual, but in general to various social phenomena" and the meaning of the phenomenon of causal attribution is reduced to "giving meaning to the environment."
2. Theories of causal attribution by F. Haider and G. Kelly
2.1 F. Haider's theory of causal attribution
F. Haider is the founder of the study of attributive processes. In the concept he proposed, a person seeks to form a consistent and coherent picture of the world, and in the process of this striving he "develops a" everyday psychology "as a result of attempts to explain for himself the reasons for the behavior of another person and, above all, the motives that caused him." At the same time, it is important whether we explain this or that phenomenon by factors localized inside the person or outside him (for example, a person's mistake can be explained by his low abilities, which will represent an internal cause, or by the difficulty of the task, which will be an external cause). Moreover, the nature of the explanation "in each individual case is determined not only by the level of development of the subject, his own motives, but also by the need to maintain a cognitive balance." An example is the fact that when the expected actions and reactions emanating from a familiar person do not coincide, the cognitive balance is disturbed, and psychological forces come into play in the knower, striving to restore it.
Many provisions of the concept of F. Haider have been tested and confirmed experimentally, while he himself refers to the experiment of M. Zillig, carried out back in 1928. "In this experiment, two groups of children - popular and unpopular - performed in front of their classmates with gymnastic exercises. Although the" popular "made mistakes on purpose, and the" unpopular "performed accurately, the audience later said otherwise.
2.2 G. Kelly's theory of causal attribution
The theory of the attributive process, proposed by G. Kelly, quite extensively answers the question of where the reasons attributed to the object of perception come from. This theory deals with two cases:
When the perceiver draws information from many sources and has the ability to combine the behavior of the object and its causes in various ways, choosing one of them, there are repeated observations.
When the perceiver has a single observation and nevertheless must somehow explain the cause of the event,
which can be several.
For each of these two cases, a special section of G. Kelly's theory is intended: the first case is considered in the "Analysis of Variation Model" (ANOVA), the second - in the theory of causal schemes.
The variation analysis model includes such structural elements of the attributive process as: Personality, Stimulus (object), Circumstances. "Accordingly, three types of reasons are named (and not two, as in Haider's): personal, stimulus (or object) and adverbial", while "three types of elements and three types of causes make up a" causal space ", which is depicted using a cube, where the parties designate the types of attribution ", and the essence of the process of attributing reasons is to" find adequate options for combining causes and effects in each specific situation. " In this case, “when the perceiver has the opportunity to use the data of many, and not one, observation, he“ selects ”the reason for those factors with which, as it seems to him, the result will covariate”. It is important to note that this scheme cannot be regarded as absolute, since in a number of cases "an individual can demonstrate a choice of complex reasons, for example, a" personality-object "".
The essence of the configuration principle is that "if, in real situations, a person does not have any information about the subject's reactions to similar stimuli or about the reactions of other people to the same stimulus (that is, he cannot use the criteria of similarity, difference, and correspondence), then he must outline for himself the entire configuration of possible causes and choose one of them ", and to facilitate this process, it is proposed to take into account the following possible characteristics of causes: a) depreciation (the subject discards those reasons that have an alternative due to their" depreciation "), b ) amplification (more often a reason is attributed that is amplified by something: for example, it seems more likely because it meets an obstacle), c) systematic distortion of information (attribution error), which together form "principles of configuration".
3. Errors of causal attribution
3.1 Fundamental errors of causal attribution
On the whole, fundamental mistakes represent "the tendency of people to ignore the situational causes of actions and their results in favor of dispositional ones," that is, their nature is an overestimation of personal and underestimation of circumstantial causes. Ross, who calls this phenomenon "overattribution," outlines the conditions for these errors:
"False consent" is expressed in the fact that the perceiver accepts his point of view as "normal" and therefore believes that others should have the same point of view, otherwise the blame falls on the "personality" of the perceived one.
"Unequal opportunities" are noted in role behavior: in certain roles, it is easier to manifest their own positive qualities, and the appeal is made precisely to them, that is, the same to the person's personality, but in this case, having a role that allows him to more express himself, which leads to an overestimation of the personal reasons for behavior without taking into account the role of the actor.
"Greater confidence in facts in general than in judgments" is manifested in the fact that the first glance is always directed to the individual.
The "ease of constructing false correlations" is that the naive observer arbitrarily connects any two personality traits as necessarily accompanying each other, thereby automatically attributing the reason for the behavior of the observed personality through an arbitrary "bundle" of traits and causes.
3.2 Motivational errors of causal attribution
Motivational mistakes "are represented by various" defenses ", predilections, which the subject of the attributive process includes in his actions." Initially, these errors were identified in situations where the subjects tried to maintain their self-esteem in the course of attributing the reasons for the behavior of another person. The magnitude of self-esteem depended to a large extent on whether successes or failures were attributed to oneself or to another. ... A significant development of this problem belongs to B. Weiner, who proposed to consider three dimensions in each cause:
internal - external;
stable - unstable;
controlled - uncontrolled.
So different combinations of these measurements give eight models - possible sets of causes. Weiner suggested that the choice of each combination is due to different motivations.
When considering all experiments concerning the use of the first two pairs of reasons (the most studied), then "the result is everywhere unambiguous: in case of success, internal reasons are attributed to themselves, in case of failure - external (circumstances); on the contrary, when explaining the reasons for the behavior of the other, different options arise" described by B. Weiner.
Conclusion
In the course of this work, the socio-psychological phenomenon of causal attribution was considered, for which an idea was drawn up about the origin and essence of such a concept as causal attribution in social psychology, the most significant theories of causal attribution were considered, and the types and essence of errors of causal attribution were identified. From all of the above, the following conclusions can be drawn.
The attributive process is a phenomenon of social perception, which is motivated by the individual's desire to understand the causes and consequences of the actions of other people, that is, the meaning of human relations, as well as the need to predict the further course of these relations, which are the most important condition for a person's orientation in the social world around him.
The most significant theories on this topic include F. Haider's theory of causal attribution, E. Jones and K. Davis's theory of correspondence inference, and G. Kelly's theory of causal attribution. But all these theories, despite interesting findings in the description of attributive processes, consider them outside the social context, which leads to numerous disagreements. The theory of social attribution tries to overcome this omission, where attribution is considered taking into account the belonging of the cognizing and cognizable individuals to a certain social group.
Errors of causal attribution include fundamental (overestimation of personal and underestimation of circumstantial reasons) and motivational (represented by various “defenses”, addictions that the subject of the attributive process includes in his actions) and are more likely not “errors”, but a distortion of the perceived.
Bibliography
1.Andreeva G.M. Psychology of social cognition: Textbook. manual for students of higher educational institutions. - Ed. 2nd, rev. and add. - M .: Aspect Press, 2000 .-- 288 p. [Electronic resource]. URL: # "justify"> 2. Pochebut L.G., Meizhis I.A. Social Psychology. - SPb: Peter, 2010 .-- 672 p. [Electronic resource]. URL: # "justify">. Semechkin N.I. Social psychology at the turn of the century: history, theory, research: Part 1. - Vladivostok: Publishing house of the Far Eastern University, 2001. - 152 p. [Electronic resource]. URL: # "justify">. Contemporary foreign social psychology. Texts / Edited by G.M. Andreeva, N.N. Bogomolova, L.A. Petrovskaya. - M .: Publishing house of Moscow. University, 1984 .-- 256 p. [Electronic resource]. URL: # "justify">. Stepanov S.S. Popular psychological encyclopedia. - M .: Publishing house "Eksmo", 2005. - 672 p. .A. V. Yurevich To the analysis of studies of causal attribution in foreign social psychology / A.V. Yurevich // Questions of psychology. - 1986. - No. 5. - S. 168-175.
