Attribution Theory:
Attributions are things we do on an every day basis: explanations to why people do things
Why do you think they did it?
2 types of attributions (that we talk about):
Internal: your personality, disposition; why did you act that way? Because you are that type of person
External: it's not you it's something or someone else that is affecting you; something about the environment
Make attributions about other people and ourselves

Covariation Model:
How we come up with attributions are unconscious thoughts
Consensus: do other people have similar responses? (look for words like always and similar)
Distinctiveness: Does the person respond similarly to other stimuli? (when see the word unusual in most cases is distinctiveness)
Consistency: Is the person's response consistent over time?
Ex: Student falls asleep in class
Internal: the student is lazy (something about them)
External: the student wasn't able to get enough sleep because something outside of their control happened (something happened to them)
Consensus: are other students falling asleep in class as well? Does that mean that you are just a boring teacher?
Distinctiveness: Does the person fall asleep in other classes as well? Maybe it's not me, it is not unusual
Consistency: Does the student fall asleep every class? Or just once a semester? If the student falls asleep consistently, then attributions can be made
Make judgments about people and formulate our response about the behavior; makes the teacher less likely to want to help the student
If the student is working full-time and going to school full-time then more likely to give the student benefit of doubt and help them out

	Created by samanthatyer over 12 years ago

Week Three: Chapter 4