In 3 months, I will be taking the comprehensive examination that will determine whether I shall become Sensei Chee, or Come-Back-in-the-Fall-and-Try-Again Chee...
:::chuckle::: but REALLY :::weak nervous laughter:::
So just now, having had a glass of wine (which always helps), I've decided that I will utilize my blog as a place to study, by a theory a day. Or a concept a day. Or a scholar a day, possibly two when I start panicking. I will do what I would have students do should I teach Communication Theory one day and how I've been taught, and that is first, by examining the theory itself and addressing its salient tenets, assumptions, and finally by applying it to real life situations through the theoretical lens so we have a better understanding of how it functions. Because let's be honest, why do we study communication theory at all if we cannot somehow make it meaningful to our own lives?
Today, we will talk about what is quite possibly my FAVORITE communication theory: Fritz Heider's (1958) Attribution Theory. I'll explain why it's my favorite shortly.
Quick segue -- CLEARLY I'll sound a bit lecture-y/dry/academic during these posts, so pardon my occupational psychosis (Kenneth Burke, from some year which I will identify when I get into Burke). As for any glaring grammatical mistakes or typos -- that'll be the wine ($8 from Costco - 2011 Casamatta Bibi Graetz, only a 86.8 average review from cellartracker.com)
Let's get started!
This theory, which falls under the context of "The Communicator," (I'll explain the contexts in a separate post) is one of the theories that tries to explain why we as people, do what we do (Littlejohn & Foss, 2011, p. 84). It's a theory that helps us figure out the cause behind people's behaviors, including our own.
Heider cites multiple causal attributions people make and outlines them as such:
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Situational -- being affected by the environment
- Personal effects -- influencing things personally
- Ability -- being able to do something
- Effort -- trying to do something
- Desire -- wanting to do something
- Sentiment -- feeling like it
- Belonging -- going along with something
- Obligation -- feeling you ought to
- Permission -- being permitted to
We explain behavior in one or more of these ways and we also decide whether it was deliberate, or unintentional and making a decision. We also make decisions as to whether the actions are due to internal or external forces. In other words, attribution is the process of our drawing inferences (Griffin, p. 137).
The process of attribution has three steps --- incidentally, everything in communication or perhaps the world, tends to occur in threes. I've not looked into this, but I enjoy it nevertheless ;)
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Perception of action -- the other as the causal agent; "I saw that"
- Judgment of intention "You meant to do that"
- Attribution of disposition "You're a horrible person"
So how we arrive at such decisions Heider says unsurprisingly, tends to be biased, especially when it comes down to our judgment of others as contrasted against our own. He identifies the following tendencies:
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We tend to hold others more responsible for negative results than for positive results.
- We tend to hold others more responsible for not trying than for incompetence.
- We tend to hold others more responsible when they aim to improve a position than to avoid loss.
- We tend to hold others more responsible for their outcomes when we fear the same thing could happen to us.
- We tend to hold others more responsible than we hold ourselves *DOUBLE STANDARD ALERT*
Now, critiques against this theory are that Heider seems to favor rationality over emotions, and that he does not take into consider the impact of emotion in how we may attribute our own and others' behaviors. While this may be true, let's consider just how applicable this theory is by applying it to everyday occurrences.
Alas, my progress has been tempered by pleasant distractions -- the application AND further analysis for this theory will continue tomorrow.
Sneak peek at how attribution theory can be applied: "Ugh, my students are not completing assignments, it must mean they're not motivated, and simply don't care about college nor their education." vs. "Man, I have too much work, I really try, but I just cannot get the paper done so I'll just go in and ask for an extension, professor so-and-so will totally understand. I'm a good student after all. It's very clear when I DO participate."
Wink. And, Day 1. Wrapped. :)
