CASE STUDY

CASE STUDY

    Attribution theory, by fritz Heider, is a very simple theory that explains why and how people explain their behavior and the behaviors of others. There are two classifications that can be used to explain people's behavior. These two classifications are: external and internal attribution. External attribution is a factor that lies outside of the individual, this occurs when you are influenced to behave a certain way by a factor that is beyond your control. It is known as a situational attribution, because the behavior is brought on by some situation that was experienced. The second factor is Internal attribution, This comes from the inside of the individual, it is controlled, and not influenced by any situation. This factor is also known as Dispositional attribution because it is not based of a situation and can be controlled. Below is a scenario that displays examples of both internal and external attribution classifications.   

     Ashley went up to the counter first, ordering a coffee and muffin.  Christina was next.    

    "Hi," Christina greeted the young man behind the counter.

    "Hey, what can I get you?" he puffed.

    "I want a bacon, egg, and chesese sandwich and a medium coffee, light with three sugars."

    He punched her order in and announced the total of $6.45 to her.

    Christina shuffled through her wallet for a few moments.  She then pulled out a 50 dollar bill and handed it to him.

   He looked at the bill dissaprovingly.  "Do you happen to have anything smaller than this?" he asked.

    Christina rolled her eyes, "no.  No I don't.  You can't break that?  It's not like it's a 100," she said.

    Ashley was mortified.  Oh no, not this again, she thought to herself.  Why does Christina have to be so difficult sometimes?  There is no need to get an attitude like that with the guy.  Ughh.  She can be such an unpleasant person sometimes.  However Ashley remained silent as she watched as the young man behind the counter answered that he could break it, it was just that he was running low in his drawer.

    He took the bill unenthusiastically, broke it, and handed Christina her coffee about a minute later.  She took one sip.  Ashley watched as her nose wrinkled in disgust and her eyes narrowed.  She braced herself, knowing this wasn't good.

    "What is it?" Ashley asked urgently.

    "Ugh.  Hold on..." she made her way towards the counter again.  Oh no, Ashley dreaded.

    "Um, excuse me!" she waved to get the young man's attention.  "Yeah, so there's definitely no sugar in my coffee at all and I definitely asked for three sugars," she snapped.

    "Oh, I thought I put sugar in there, I must have forgot," he answered cooly.

    "Yeah, I guess you must have," she retorted. 

    "Well I can put some in now if you want," he offered unenthusiastically.

    "No.  It's fine, I can do it myself there's sugar over here," she answered, swirling around.

    Ashley could feel her face heating up.  Why does she have to do this?!  I hate when she let's her rude and impatient side come out!  Even if he did forget to put sugar in, there was no reason to yell at him for it if she was just going to do it herself anyway!  Plus, it's not even that big of a deal!  I just want to smack her!  She's acting like a spoiled, immature, little brat!  Ashley continued fuming inwardly at her annoyance with Christina.

    "Christina," Ashley said in a mid-whisper, "it's really not that big of a deal!  Why'd you freak out like that?"

    "Freak out?  I didn't freak out," she answered, ripping open a sugar packet.  "That guy was giving me an attitude the whole time, I just thought he should know that I noticed him purposely not putting any sugar in my coffee."

    "Oh my God, Chris!  That's ridiculous!  He probably just forgot.  Ughh.  I'm just going to go sit down over at that table and you can meet me when you get your sandwich."

    Ashley was in disbelief.  Purposely not putting any sugar in her coffee?  She's so crazy! 

    After Christina got her sandwich she came to the table sat down. Ashley was staring at Christina with a look of disgust on her face.

    Christina asked, “What? What’s wrong? why are you looking at me like that?” as she opened up her sandwich, and notice that they didn’t put any ketchup on her sandwich. She got up and stormed up to the counter yelling at the sandwich maker, “I told you that I wanted ketchup on my sandwich!” as she slammed it down on the counter.

    The sandwich maker was frustrated and apologized.    

    Christina replied “yea you do that, and try to do it right this time.”

    Ashley, back at the table sat down shaking her head, as she sat she mumbled “I can’t stand when she acts like this, sometimes I am embarrassed to be seen with her.”

Shortly after Christina joined Ashley at the table, as they sat there was a heavy tension between the two girls. It was clear that Ashley was upset with Christina’s behavior, a minute had passed and not a word had been said between the two girls.

    Christina bit into her bacon egg and cheese sandwich, wiped her face and asked Ashley if she was not going to talk to her all throughout their breakfast.

    Ashley replied, "It's just you know that I don’t like when you act that way. I really think that you need to work a little harder on controlling your temper. I mean they made mistakes that were very minor it wasn‘t anything for you to get so angry about.” She then added “You act like this all the time.”

       Christina quickly replied “are you serious I don’t act like this all the time.”

    Ashley cutting her off before she was able to fully explain herself, “What about two weeks ago when we ate at Mr. Chow’s, you nearly got kicked out of the restaurant. Or what about a week before that when we were at the pizza shop, and you yelled at the server because he didn’t heat your pizza up enough!"

    Christina then replied by saying, “Alright, alright I get your point. Lately I have been trying to be better at controlling my self. It's just that today I have been having a really bad day. I Tossed and turned all night because I had to sleep on the couch last night due to the fact that my mom is visiting, so therefore I was very tired when I woke up. On top of the fact that I am very tired, it seemed like there was a problem with everything that I ordered. So if I came off a little cranky today, that’s why.”

 

Question 1. Do you think that all types of behavior can be classified into these two different factors internal, and external?

 

Question 2. What kind of attribution style do you think you tend to use more often when applying causes to your behaviors both negative and positive?

Question 3. What type of Attribution Theory do you notice from this case study? Give an example.

Question 4. Think of an example from your life where you have displayed External Attribution. (When you were influenced to behave a certain way that was beyond your control?)