Attribution Theory

Attribution deals with how individuals perceive the causes of everyday experience as being either external or internal; models to explain this process are called attribution theory. Psychological research into attribution began with the work of Fritz Heider in the early 20th century and was further advanced by Harold Kelley and Bernard Weiner, with Heider first introducing the concept of perceived locus of causality to define the perception of one's environment. Psychologists have identified biases in how people attribute causation, notably the fundamental attribution error, the tendency to attribute dispositional or personality-based explanations for others' behavior rather than considering external factors, while attributing one's own misfortunes to external factors; the theory has been criticised as mechanistic and reductionist for assuming people are rational, logical and systematic thinkers, and for failing to address the social, cultural and historical factors that shape attributions of cause. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/