#attributiontheory

How we judge others

In psychology, the attempt to determine whether a behaviour is internally or externally caused is called Attribution Theory. We refer to “internally caused” when we consider the behaviour caused by under the control of the individual performing it. Instead, we refer to “externally caused” those behaviours that we believe to be caused by reasons out of the control of the individual. 

The determination depends on:

distinctiveness, that is the extent to which an individual shows different behaviours in different times. When the behaviour is highly unusual, we tend to judge it as externally caused, when it’s usual, we judge it as internally caused;

consensus, that is the extent to which a behaviour is shown in the same way by different people in the same situation. When many people show the same behaviour in the same situation, we judge it as externally caused, when there are different behaviours for the same situation, then we classify it as internally caused;