History
The concept of internal attribution was first introduced by Fritz Heider in his book, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, published in 1958. Heider proposed that people make attributions about the causes of behavior by considering two factors: the actor’s intent and the situation. If the actor’s intent is seen as good, then the behavior is attributed to internal factors, such as ability or effort. If the actor’s intent is seen as bad, then the behavior is attributed to external factors, such as luck or difficulty of the task.
Characteristics
Internal attributions are those that are made to explain behavior in terms of the person’s internal characteristics, such as their abilities, personality, or motives. External attributions, on the other hand, are made to explain behavior in terms of the person’s external environment, such as the situation, luck, or other people.
An internal attribution (also known as a dispositional attribution) is when an individual uses a personal reason as the cause for a situation or event instead of an external (or environmental) attribution.
For example, a person gets a bad grade on a test. They question themselves as to why they got such a bad grade. Internal attributions might be that they were tired or that they are not smart enough for the class. External attributions would that the instructor didn’t teach the material well enough or that the test was too difficult. Internal attributions are a feature of attribution theory and are a characteristic of people with an internal locus of control.
There are a number of different factors that can influence the tendency to make internal or external attributions. One factor is the actor’s intent. If the actor’s intent is seen as good, then people are more likely to make internal attributions. For example, if someone helps an elderly person across the street, people are more likely to attribute this behavior to the person’s kindness or compassion than to the fact that they were in a hurry.
Another factor that can influence the tendency to make internal or external attributions is the difficulty of the task. If a task is seen as difficult, then people are more likely to make external attributions for failure. For example, if someone fails a test, people are more likely to attribute this failure to the difficulty of the test than to the person’s lack of intelligence.
Related Terms
- Locus of control: This is a personality trait that refers to the extent to which people believe that they control their own lives. People with an internal locus of control believe that they are in control of their own destiny, while people with an external locus of control believe that their lives are controlled by fate or other external factors.
- Self-efficacy: This is a person’s belief in their own ability to succeed at a task. People with high self-efficacy are more likely to make internal attributions for success, while people with low self-efficacy are more likely to make external attributions for failure.
- Learned helplessness: This is a condition in which people learn to believe that they are helpless to control their own outcomes. Learned helplessness can be caused by a number of factors, including repeated failure, negative feedback, or abuse.
Sources
- Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.
- Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548-573.
- Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80, 1-28.