Attributional Ambiguity

Definition

Attributional ambiguity is a psychological state of uncertainty about the cause of a person's outcomes or treatment. It can be experienced with regard to one's own outcomes or treatment or those of another person, and with regard to positive as well as negative outcomes or treatment. It occurs whenever there is more than one plausible reason for why a person was treated in a certain way or received the outcomes that he or she received.

Antecedents of Attributional Ambiguity

A variety of factors may contribute to attributional ambiguity. Most research on this topic has examined a particular form of attributional ambiguity: that which arises in social interactions between people who differ in their social identities or group memberships and in which there is uncertainty about whether an individual's treatment is based on his or her personal deservingness (such as abilities, efforts, personality, or qualifications) versus on aspects of his or her social identity (such as family wealth, appearance, ethnicity, gender).

Attributional ambiguity arises in such interactions when a particular social identity or group membership is associated with a set of stereotypes or beliefs that are valenced, that is, that make a person more or less valued in society. Simple differences among people are not sufficient. Thus, for example, it is unlikely that a student majoring in art would experience attributional ambiguity in his or her interactions with students majoring in psychology unless he or she believed that psychology majors held positive or negative stereotypes about art majors. For individuals to experience attributional ambiguity in their interactions with others, they must suspect that others have some ulterior motive for responding in a particular way. This is more likely to occur when they believe that others are aware of their social identity, are aware of others' stereotypes about their social identity, and have some knowledge of the content or valence of these stereotypes.

People who have a stigmatized social identity (such as members of devalued ethnic groups and the overweight) experience more attributional ambiguity in their everyday encounters than do those who are not stigmatized. Those who stigmatized are aware that others hold negative stereotypes about, and prejudicial attitudes against, their social identity. For some individuals, their stigmatized identity plays a central role in how they see themselves and in how they interpret others' reactions to them. Hence, when they are treated negatively by someone who is aware of their [Page 73]social identity, they may be unsure whether it is due to something about them personally or due to prejudice against their social identity.

Positive outcomes also can be attributionally ambiguous for the stigmatized. When there are strong social sanctions against expressing prejudice, those who are stigmatized may become suspicious of positive feedback. They may wonder, for example, whether an evaluator's positive feedback on their essay accurately reflects the quality of their work or reflects the evaluator's desire not to appear prejudiced. Social programs designed to remediate past injustices, such as affirmative action programs, can introduce attributional ambiguity when they are seen as providing an explanation for positive outcomes based on social identity. When such programs make it clear that advancement is based on merit as well as social identity, such ambiguity diminishes. Those who are stigmatized may also find unsolicited kindnesses or offers of help attributionally ambiguous. They may wonder whether these responses reflect genuine caring for them as individuals or feelings of sympathy or pity because of their stigma.

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