Below you will see a set-up for the assignment followed by six questions. After reading the set-up (and gathering your field-experience in attributions!), make sure to provide me with enough support for your observations in each question. My advise is to use the one-sentence-per-point rule of thumb. If a question is worth 5 points, have a minimum of five sentences! More sentences are welcome, but that’s the minimum to fully answer the question! Finally, make sure this is based on a conversation that resolves around someone who is NOT a part of the conversation itself. I want to see how the people you are talking to describe the attributions of the person who is “absent”. If you want to download a pdf version of the assignment first, use this link Assignment #1 – Attribution Assignment Worksheet (instructure.com) or simply read the “set-up” below
As you can see, the letter writer says her biggest problem is her mother (relying on external factors) while Ann Landers made a dispositional attribution about the letter writer (“get into counseling”).
You can watch the attribution process in action, too. All it takes is a friend (or a group of friends) and an interesting topic to discuss. Get into a conversation with at least one other person (a friend, group of friends, significant other, or family member NOT in this class), and listen to him or her. Your friend will probably tell you about an interesting encounter he or she had with another person that day, or your group might be talking about a mutual friend who is not currently present in the group, but everyone in the group knows. As this other person talks, your assignment is to pay very close attention to what they say. There is a good chance your friend(s) will be trying to figure out why the person being discussed did what they did, or said what they said. In other words, they will be making attributions about someone not currently present. Your job is to keep track of their comments (without them knowing you are working on an assignment) and later write about the attributional strategies they are using. WRITE ABOUT A CONVERSATION YOU HAVE NOT HAD YET. I want to see you interact with your new knowledge, not recalling a past event.
In particular, is your friend(s) making internal attributions about another person’s character or personality, or are they making situational attributions about non-personality variables that may have contributed to the person’s response? Does your friend(s) seem to prefer making one type of attribution over the other? If their interpretation is dispositional (they focus on the person’s character or personality), what happens when you suggest another possible interpretation, one that is situational? If their interpretation is situational, what happens if you suggest a dispositional cause? Do they agree or disagree with you? What kinds of information do they offer as “proof” that their attribution is correct? Observing people when they are making attributions in real conversation will show you just how common and powerful this type of thinking is when people are trying to understand each other. Answer the six questions in the “Quiz” to describe your interaction
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