An integrative model was offered to specify a theo retical link between Kelley's (1967) analysis of variance model of attribution processes and Jones and Nisbett's (1971) discus sion of divergent actor and observer attributional tendencies. Specifically, two different causal schemata were proposed to account for actors' preference for environmental attributions based on distinctiveness and observers' preference for personal attributions based on consensus information. Further, empirical discrepancies with regard to observers' use of consensus were explained by distinguishing between normative and autonomously generated consensus information.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Garland, H., Hardy, A., & Stephenson, L.Information search as affected by attribution type and response category. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1975, 1(4), 612-615.
2.
Harvey, J.H., Arkin, R.M., Gleason, J.M. & Johnston, S.Effect of expected and observed outcome of an action on the differential causal attributions of actor and observer. Journal of Personality , 1974, 42,(1), 62-77.
3.
Jones, E.E., & Nisbett, R.E.The actor and the observer: Divergent perceptions of the causes of behavior . Morristown, N. J.: General Learning Press, 1971.
4.
Kelley, H.H.Attribution theory in social psychology. In D. Levine (Ed.) Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967.
5.
McArthur, L.A.The how and what of why: Some determinants and consequences of causal attribution . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1972, 22, 171-193.
6.
Nisbett, R.E., & Borgida, E.Attribution and the psychology of prediction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1975, 32(5), 932-943.
7.
Orvis, B.R., Cunningham, J.D., & Kelley, H.H.A closer examination of causal inference: The roles of consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1975, 32(4), 605-614.
