External (or situational) attribution
Assigning the cause of our own or others’ behaviour to external or environmental factors.
External attribution refers to the explanation or assignment of causality of a person’s behavior to a situation or environmental factors beyond their control, rather than to internal factors or personality traits. In other words, it is the tendency to conclude that an individual’s behavior is caused by external circumstances, events, or other people.
For instance, if a student performs poorly on a test and attributes the poor performance to the difficulty of the questions or the poor quality of teaching, rather than blaming themselves, this is an example of external attribution. External attribution is often used to explain other people’s behavior, especially when the behavior seems inconsistent with that person’s usual personality or behavior.
In contrast, internal attribution refers to the explanation or assignment of causality of a person’s behavior to internal factors, such as personality traits that are under their control. For instance, if a student performs poorly on a test and blames themselves for not studying hard enough, they are making an internal attribution. Both external and internal attributions are important for understanding human behavior, and they often work in tandem to provide a more complete explanation of an individual’s behavior.
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