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What Is Dispositional Attribution?

Mary McMahon
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Updated: Feb 15, 2024
Views: 26,138
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Dispositional attribution is the tendency to suggest that behavior is the result of innate personality traits. For example, if someone is standing in line at the movies and another person cuts, the victim might assume that the cutter is thoughtless or rude, and that these internal traits led to the decision to jump the line. The opposite is situational attribution, where people decide that behavior is based on situational factors. In the movie line example, the victim might notice that the cutter was bumped by someone else, and may not have intended to push into the line.

Understanding attribution is an important part of social psychology, the study of human behaviors in social and group contexts. Complex factors play a role in how people decide to attribute their own behavior, as well as the behavior of people around them. As someone assesses another party after committing an action, considerations like race, gender, and ethnicity may determine how the observer decides to explain the action.

Situational and dispositional play a role in the fundamental attribution error, a known phenomenon in social psychology. People have a tendency to blame innate traits for the failings of others, demonstrating dispositional attribution: “He can't get a job because she's lazy” or “She's too mean to be a good teacher.” Conversely, when asked to explain their own behavior, they claim it was the situation: “I can't find a job because the market is tight”; “I had trouble teaching that class because the students were disruptive.”

The phenomenon of dispositional attribution can play a role in numerous social attitudes. In debates over welfare programs, for example, some people may engage in dispositional attribution and argue that recipients of government benefits are lazy or fraudulent and don't really need help. Advocates of such programs might argue that situational factors like employment disparities are to blame for social inequality.

In any situation where individuals are interacting and engaging in activities, they make a series of snap judgments about each other, and attributions are among these judgments. Further to the fundamental attribution error, there can be a tendency to suggest that positive personal behaviors are the result of innately good traits, while personal failures are clearly the result of situations. Conversely, when other people do well it may be attributed to the situation, while failings are considered the consequence of negative character traits. The tendency to stress situational or dispositional attribution more, depending on who is involved and what they are doing, can reveal biases, some of which may be internalized rather than overt.

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Mary McMahon
By Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WiseGeek researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

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Discussion Comments
By Lostnfound — On Dec 11, 2014

@Grivusangel -- Guilty as charged, I'm afraid. Sometimes I'm very quick to judge a person based on one action, and to attribute that to the person being mean, or not intelligent or whatever.

The world would certainly be a kinder place if more people would give others a free pass occasionally, instead of insisting they do what they do because they are bad people.

Maybe we all ought to pause and realize that we are just as prone to making mistakes as others, and even as we excuse ourselves because we know our situation, we could give the same consideration to others.

By Grivusangel — On Dec 10, 2014

I'd never heard of this before, but it's an interesting topic, and it's fascinating to think about how many times people do this every day.

We do this all the time. How many times has someone you know done something that wasn't very smart, and your first thought was, "Well, bless his heart. He's never been the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree." Or something along those lines.

It's kind of a fine line to walk to determine how much of a person's actions are due to their own actions, and how much are dictated by factors beyond their control. The kind action is probably to give people the benefit of the doubt and practice situation attribution rather than dispositional.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a...

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