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Discounting, In Attribution
Definition
Attribution is the way in which people explain the causes of events or behaviors. At times, individuals must choose among different possible causes as explanations for a particular event or behavior. When people can see more than one reason for something happening, they discount, or minimize, the importance of each reason because they are unsure what the real cause actually is.
Background, History, and Evidence
Harold Kelley introduced the discounting principle in 1971 in his writings on attribution. He demonstrated how people use discounting to explain how job candidates present themselves to interviewers. When candidates act ideal in every way, observers explain that they may be showing their true personalities or may be simply conforming to what the situation demands. However, if they reveal themselves as not ...
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- Salience
- Satisficing
- Schemas
- Scripts
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- Self-Reference Effect
- Self-Serving Bias
- Self-Verification Theory
- Shifting Standards
- Similarity-Attraction Effect
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- Social Impact Theory
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- Spontaneous Trait Inferences
- Spreading of Alternatives
- Subliminal Perception
- Subtyping
- Symbolic Interactionism
- Theory of Mind
- Thin Slices of Behavior
- Three-Dimensional Model of Attribution
- Transactive Memory
- Value Pluralism Model
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