"Google's philosophy is that they want to attract the 'best of the best,' which means that they need lots of motivated, enthusiastic people to go out and find people like them. This logic is predicated on the assumption that a really great engineer (or, insert discipline here) is worth many times more than the average one, so expending lots of effort on finding those perfectly talented individuals pays off in a big way over time" (Barnes 2013)
Attribution theory attempts to answer why this might be the case: what perceptual issues are factoring into these statements. Another definition of the theory is that it is "how and why ordinary people explain events as they do" (McLeod 2010)
Such misperceptions can negatively affect hiring decisions, promotions and layoffs irrespective of the worker's actual job performance (Randle & Mathis, 2012). In addition, race -- and gender-related stereotypical thinking can also result in attribution errors in the workplace (Bastounis & Minibas-Poussard, 2012)
Finally, a summary of the research and important findings about attribution theory are presented in the conclusion. Review and Analysis Introduced in the mid-1940s (Cabanis & Pyka, 2013) and refined in the late 1950s by Fritz Heider (Sirin & Villalobus, 2011), attribution theory has been the focus of a growing body of scholarship and some authorities argue that it has transcended the theoretical stage to become a legitimate field of study (Gaier, 2015)
28) The foregoing means that people tend to apply attribution theory in the workplace to account for the behaviors of others and to formulate perceptions concerning how they can reasonably be expected to behave in the future, especially under similar circumstances (Christian, 2009). Likewise, attribution theory holds that people tend to make these sorts of observations and interpretations in an effort to gain more control over their environment (Cagney, 2012)
In addition, attribution theory also includes the adaptational implications of these interpretations about the behaviors of other (Tasman & Kay, 2008). In most cases, people tend to apply attribution theory to observed behaviors by asking "Why?" and then developing the most logical answer as the reason (Chadee, 2011)
(p. 28) The foregoing means that people tend to apply attribution theory in the workplace to account for the behaviors of others and to formulate perceptions concerning how they can reasonably be expected to behave in the future, especially under similar circumstances (Christian, 2009)
These types of misinterpreted observations are alternatively termed "attribution errors," "attribution asymmetry" and "self-serving biases" which, left unresolved, can adversely affect the ability of individuals to develop accurate perceptions about others in the workplace (Cabanis & Pyka, 2013). In addition, self-serving biases tend to compel people to misinterpret behaviors in ways that are favorable to themselves but are detrimental to those being observed (Farmer & Pecorino, 2010)
Finally, a summary of the research and important findings about attribution theory are presented in the conclusion. Review and Analysis Introduced in the mid-1940s (Cabanis & Pyka, 2013) and refined in the late 1950s by Fritz Heider (Sirin & Villalobus, 2011), attribution theory has been the focus of a growing body of scholarship and some authorities argue that it has transcended the theoretical stage to become a legitimate field of study (Gaier, 2015)
In sum, attribution theory maintains that people attempt to make sense out of the workplace by assigning causality to the behaviors of their coworkers, and such attributions tend to affect perceptions of their behaviors in the future (Zamani & Giaglis, 2015). Attribution theory is based on the so-called "theory of mind," a term that is used to describe the awareness humans have of the existence of minds in other people and how to explain and interpret their thought processes as well as their own (Herman, 2011)
Because supervisors tend to subconsciously apply attribution theory to the behaviors of their subordinates, inaccurate or uninformed observations may also result in inaccurate performance evaluations or other career development decisions that can have life-altering outcomes (Cagney, 2012). Indeed, the potential exists for supervisors to engage in discriminatory practices based on their misinterpretation of observed behaviors (Randle & Mathis, 2012)
Finally, a summary of the research and important findings about attribution theory are presented in the conclusion. Review and Analysis Introduced in the mid-1940s (Cabanis & Pyka, 2013) and refined in the late 1950s by Fritz Heider (Sirin & Villalobus, 2011), attribution theory has been the focus of a growing body of scholarship and some authorities argue that it has transcended the theoretical stage to become a legitimate field of study (Gaier, 2015)
There are two basic assumptions involved with attribution theory that account for this process as follows: (a) people want and need to make sense of their environment as well as themselves; and (b) people are motivated to better understand the reasons behind the behaviors of others as well as their own behaviors (Gaiter, 2015). In addition, attribution theory also includes the adaptational implications of these interpretations about the behaviors of other (Tasman & Kay, 2008)
Review and Analysis Introduced in the mid-1940s (Cabanis & Pyka, 2013) and refined in the late 1950s by Fritz Heider (Sirin & Villalobus, 2011), attribution theory has been the focus of a growing body of scholarship and some authorities argue that it has transcended the theoretical stage to become a legitimate field of study (Gaier, 2015). In sum, attribution theory maintains that people attempt to make sense out of the workplace by assigning causality to the behaviors of their coworkers, and such attributions tend to affect perceptions of their behaviors in the future (Zamani & Giaglis, 2015)
Gestalt psychologist Fritz Heider is often described as the "father of attribution theory", [3] during the early years of the 20th century. In his 1920s dissertation ...
Attribution theory is concerned with how and why ordinary people explain events as they do. Heider (1958) believed that people are naive psychologists trying to make ...
Summary: Attribution Theory attempts to explain the world and to determine the cause of an event or behavior (e.g. why people do what they do).
In social psychology, attribution involves making inferences about the behaviors of others. Attributions, however, are often prone to errors and biases.
Attribution theory is concerned with how individuals interpret events and how this relates to their thinking and behavior. Heider (1958) was the first to propose a ...
Attribution Theories: How People Make Sense of Behavior. 73 Heider attempted to solve one of the core philosophical problems of phenomenology: