How do people explain their own and other people's behaviour
How do people explain their own and other people’s behavior?
‘Behaviour’ is a term defined by psychologists as an act done by an animal in response to any stimulus provided by the outside world. An assumption held by many social psychologists when attempting to explain the reasons behind the action of people’s behaviour is that we try to find certain reasons that explain our own and other people’s action towards an environmental stimulus. This is also known as the theory of attribution, ie. We often attribute a cause to certain behaviour. Different factors are accounted for when trying to provide an explanation for our own behaviour, and thus, we would also try to attribute reasons for the behaviour of other people. This essay will attempt to explain different theories of attribution as well as put forth supporting and contradicting evidence and theories in order to provide a more holistic view on how behaviour is explained.
In the theory proposed by Heider (1958), he suggested that people are like ‘naïve psychologists’ who are constantly trying to make sense of the social world, making a causal relationship for people’s behaviour. He suggests that human beings tend to see cause and effect even when there isn’t any. By examining and interpreting peoples’ behaviour, we try to infer intention and responsibility. When trying to explain behaviour, Heider suggests that it depends on whether we are trying to explain the behaviour of ourselves or other people. The actor-observer effect states that people are more likely to attribute behaviour of others internally, for example, we would be more likely to attribute the behaviour of other people to their personality. This is also known as dispositional attribution. However, when we try to explain our own behaviour, we are more likely to attribute them to external factors such as the environment. This is also known as situational attribution. Through Heider, these two main ideas are proposed which influenced
‘Behaviour’ is a term defined by psychologists as an act done by an animal in response to any stimulus provided by the outside world. An assumption held by many social psychologists when attempting to explain the reasons behind the action of people’s behaviour is that we try to find certain reasons that explain our own and other people’s action towards an environmental stimulus. This is also known as the theory of attribution, ie. We often attribute a cause to certain behaviour. Different factors are accounted for when trying to provide an explanation for our own behaviour, and thus, we would also try to attribute reasons for the behaviour of other people. This essay will attempt to explain different theories of attribution as well as put forth supporting and contradicting evidence and theories in order to provide a more holistic view on how behaviour is explained.
In the theory proposed by Heider (1958), he suggested that people are like ‘naïve psychologists’ who are constantly trying to make sense of the social world, making a causal relationship for people’s behaviour. He suggests that human beings tend to see cause and effect even when there isn’t any. By examining and interpreting peoples’ behaviour, we try to infer intention and responsibility. When trying to explain behaviour, Heider suggests that it depends on whether we are trying to explain the behaviour of ourselves or other people. The actor-observer effect states that people are more likely to attribute behaviour of others internally, for example, we would be more likely to attribute the behaviour of other people to their personality. This is also known as dispositional attribution. However, when we try to explain our own behaviour, we are more likely to attribute them to external factors such as the environment. This is also known as situational attribution. Through Heider, these two main ideas are proposed which influenced
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