Attribution Theory Finding Good Cause in the Search for Theory

• Published in: Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication pp. 39 - 51
• Main Authors: Spitzberg, Brian H., Manusov, Valerie
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2022
• Edition: 3
• Subjects: Human Resources Management Communications; Relational Framing Theory; Inclined; Darker Side; Workplace Harassment; Daughters In Law; Medical Cannabis; Hurtful Messages; Make Trait Inferences; Unstable; Cross-situational Generality; Word Cloud; Violates; Multiple Goals Theories; Everyday Speech Acts; Attribution Theory; Human Sense Making; Cannabis; Fundamental Attribution Bias; Affection Exchange Theory; Hold; Key Word; External Attributions; Interpersonal Communication Scholars
• ISBN: 9780367425319; 9780367425296; 0367425319; 0367425297
• DOI: 10.4324/9781003195511-4

Attribution Theory focuses on people’s tendency to make sense of why things occur and who was responsible for their occurrence. Originally a psychological concept, authors Brian H. Spitzberg and Valerie Manusov discuss the ways in which attributions are also a communication construct. They review the origins and primary foci of attribution research with an emphasis on the ways that people sense-make about interpersonal interaction, including their use of correspondence, co-variation, responsibility judgments, and biases. They highlight attributions in close relationships and for the darker sides of interpersonal communication and show some of the ways in which our attributions may affect subsequent interpersonal communication. In this chapter, the authors blend original and contemporary research to present a set of theories and concepts created to explain and predict interpersonal attribution-making, offer a critique of the theory consistent with criteria for judging post-positive theory development, and present opportunities for relevant new applications of the theory for interpersonal interaction.