Attribution and Symbolic Interaction: An Impasse at the Generalized Other

Abstract

Attribution theory and symbolic interactionism have developed independently of each another, although both are concerned with the processes employed by ordinary people to make sense of their everyday world. It was inevitable that developments in the one should at last collide with certain well-established tenets of the other. Recent developments in attribution theory respecting differential attributions by Ego of the causes of his own and Alter's behaviors seem to collide with Mead's notion of the Generalized Other. The authors seek to define the current impasse, which they see as further confounding the problem of intersubjectivity.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

BLUMER, H. Sociological implications of the thought of George Herbert Mead . American Journal of Sociology, 1966, 71 (March), 535-544 .

BLUMER, H. Symbolic interactionism. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall , 1969.

GUIOT, J. M. Attribution and identity construction: Some comments . American Sociological Review, 1977, 42 (5), 692-704 .

HEIDER, F. Social perception and phenomenal causality . Psychological Review, 1971, 51, 358-374 .

HEIDER, F. The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley , 1958.

JONES, E. E. , & DAVIS, K. E. From acts to dispositions: The attribution process in person perception. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology. New York: Academic Press , 1965.

JONES, E. E. , & HARRIS, V. A. The attribution of attitudes . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1967, 3 (1), 1-24 .

JONES, E. E. , & NISBETT, R. E. The actor and observer: Divergent perceptions of the causes of behavior. Morristown, N.J.: General Learning Press , 1971.

JONES, E. E. , & WORCHEL, S. Prior expectancy and behavioral extremity as determinants of attitude attribution . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1971, 7(1), 59-80 .

10.

KELLY, H. H. Attribution theory in social psychology, Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 14). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press , 1967, pp. 192-241.

11.

MANIS, J. G. , & MELTZER, B. N. (Eds.). Symbolic interaction (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyne and Bacon , 1967.

12.

MEAD, G. H. Mind, self and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press , 1934.

13.

MIYAMOTO, S. F. , & DORNBUSH, S. A test of the symbolic interactionist hypothesis of self-conception . American Journal of Sociology, 1956, 17(6), 399-403 .

14.

QUARANTELLI, E. L. , COOPER, J. Self-conception and others: A further test of the Meadian hypothesis . Sociological Quarterly, 1966, 7(3), 281-297 .