Assignment # 1 – Attribution (Winter Semester Course)Forming attributions is a major part of daily life. Consider this column written to Ann Landers“Dear Ann Landers: I’m writing to you in desperation, hoping you can help me with a problem Iam having with my mother. A little over a year ago, I moved in with my boyfriend, despite mymother’s protests. She has never liked “Kevin.” I’ll admit he’s far from perfect and we’ve hadour problems. He’s an alcoholic, has a bad temper, is mentally abusive, is a compulsive liar, andcannot hold a job. I am in debt over my head because of him, but my biggest problem is that mymother is obsessed with my situation. I understand her concern, but I can only take so much …OVER-MOTHERED IN MICHIGAN”To which Ann Landers replied:“Dear Overly-Mothered: Your mother didn’t write to me. You did. So you’re the one who isgoing to get the advice. Get some counseling at once and find out why you insist on hangingonto an alcoholic, abusive, unemployed liar …”As you can see, the letter writer says her biggest problem is her mother (relying on external factors)while Ann Landers made a dispositional attribution about the letter writer (“get into counseling”).You can watch the attribution process in action, too. All it takes is a friend (or a group of friends)and an interesting topic to discuss. Get into a conversation with at least one other person (a friend,group of friends, significant other, or family member NOT in this class), and listen to him or her.Your friend will probably tell you about an interesting encounter he or she had with another personthat day, or your group might be talking about a mutual friend who is not currently present in thegroup, but everyone in the group knows. As this other person talks, your assignment is to pay veryclose attention to what they say. There is a good chance your friend(s) will be trying to figure outwhy the person being discussed did what they did, or said what they said. In other words, they willbe making attributions about someone not currently present. Your job is to keep track of theircomments (without them knowing you are working on an assignment) and later write about theattributional strategies they are using. WRITE ABOUT A CONVERSATION YOU HAVE NOTHAD YET. I want to see you interact with your new knowledge, not recalling a past event.In particular, is your friend(s) making internal attributions about another person’s character orpersonality, or are they making situational attributions about non-personality variables that may havecontributed to the person’s response? Does your friend(s) seem to prefer making one type ofattribution over the other? If their interpretation is dispositional (they focus on the person’s characteror personality), what happens when you suggest another possible interpretation, one that issituational? If their interpretation is situational, what happens if you suggest a dispositional cause?Do they agree or disagree with you? What kinds of information do they offer as “proof” that theirattribution is correct? Observing people when they are making attributions in real conversation willshow you just how common and powerful this type of thinking is when people are trying tounderstand each other. Using the questions on the next page, write about your observations.Attribution Assignment WorksheetInstructions: Answer the following six questions about a discussion you have with your friends orfamily. Make sure you answer ALL questions thoroughly. My suggestion is to have at minimum 1sentence per point. So, if a question is worth 3 points, have a minimum of 3 sentences!

1. Briefly describe the setting. How many people are in this conversation? How many aremale/female? Are they friends, family or coworkers etc.? (3 points)

2. Briefly describe the event you were discussing that led your friend(s)/family to makeattributions (if there are many events, just focus on one). (3 points)

3. Does your conversation partner(s) seem to be making dispositional or situationalattributions?

First, define what you mean by dispositional or situational. Second, describetheir actual attribution in detail. Third, tell me WHY it was dispositional or situational. (8points). This is an important one worth 8 points, so be specific!

4. What happens when you suggest the opposite attribution (if THEY focus on a dispositionalattribution, then YOU suggest a situational attribution, or vice versa)? (4 points)

5. What kinds of “proof” do they offer to support their attribution? You can cheat a bit here andpoint out some similar items from #3 and #4 above, but only if they use it as proof. (4 points)

6. Now tell them about the assignment, and see if they agree or disagree with your insights.Make sure to explain the concepts of dispositional and situational attributions to them. Dothey think they tend to engage in one or the other more often? Why? (3 points)

My grading rubric is on the next pageGrading Rubric (Applies to each of the questions above)Poor (0% of points) Fair (50% of points) Good (100% of points)Content/IdeaDevelopmentUp to 2 points(questions 1, 2, 6)Up to 3 points(questions 4, 5)Up to 7 points(question 3)- No key elements arepresent- No understanding ofmaterial- No analysis of content- Some key elements arepresent- Little understanding ofmaterial- Little analysis ofcontent- All key elements arepresent- Content is accurate- Clear understandingof material- Strong analysis ofcontentStyle/Mechanics& OrganizationUp to 1 point eachquestion- Lots of grammar orspelling mistakes- Did not followdirections- Few or no grammaror spelling mistakes- Followed all of thedirectionsAn “Example” of a good paper turned in by a prior student of mine is on the next pageAttribution Assignment (Assignment #1) –

Example of a “Good” Student Paper

1. Briefly describe the setting. How many people are in this conversation? How many aremale/female? Are they friends or coworkers etc.? (3 points)There were five people in all in the setting. There were two males and three femalesincluding myself. Three out of five of the individuals are related while the fifth individualand myself are friends of their family. We were sitting on couches in the family home.

2. Briefly describe the event you were discussing that led your friend(s) to make attributions (ifthere are many events, just focus on one). (3 points)We were discussing a night out that we all shared with each other the night before. We wentto a nightclub and one of the females in the group (my friend) sat down by a couple of peoplethat she didn’t know. After sitting there for about five minutes a young lady asked her tomove and told her that the section was paid for and the people that paid for it didn’t knowher, so she couldn’t sit there. I listened to everyone discuss the situation and every one of myfriends said that the section was not paid for by those individuals. In fact they all believedthat my friend was told to move for no apparent reason and that the young lady that told herto move was very rude for doing so even though she insisted that she was not trying to berude. The group of my friends came to the consensus that not only did the young lady lieabout why my friend couldn’t sit there but she was also being rude and therefore, was a rudeand confrontational person.

3. Does your friend(s) seem to be making dispositional or situational attributions? Describe. (8points)My friends were making dispositional attributions because they weren’t taking intoconsideration the reasons why the young lady didn’t want my friend to sit in the section thatthey were in. It could have been for many different reasons. Yet, it was interpreted by theconversation that my friend had with the young lady instead of what could have led up totheir exchange of words.

4. What happens when you suggest an alternative attribution (they are focused on dispositionalattribution, and you suggest a situational attribution, or vice versa)? (4 points)I told my friends that maybe the young lady wanted only her friends to sit next to her becausethey were celebrating something intimate and that she probably wasn’t trying to be rude,however they disagreed. They felt as though no matter what the young lady was rude forsaying what she said. I even said that maybe there were other individuals that weren’t a partof the young lady’s group that sat there before my friend did and ruined their celebration insome way, which caused her to want their celebration to remain intimate. That would be agood enough reason to not want anyone else to sit next to them and ruin their night.Therefore she wasn’t being rude, but instead just expressing her preference. Of course theyweren’t going for that either.

5. What kinds of “proof” do they offer to support their attribution? (4 points)The “proof” they offered was that we made it inside the club around or at the same time thatthe young lady and her friends got there. Therefore, there was no group of tyrants that satnext to them and rubbed them the wrong way prior to my friend sitting next to their group.With that being said my situational disposition went out the window.

6. Now tell them about the assignment, and see if they agree with your insights. How did theyrespond to the assignment? (3 points)When I told them about the assignment they still did not agree that something could have ledup to the young lady’s request. They insisted that she was just a rude individual in a club thatwanted to be a snob by choice. However, they did agree that maybe in other situations theywould assess a situation through the different forms of attribution that I told them aboutinstead of making a rash opinion.