Attribution theory explains how individuals infer the causes of events and behaviors, particularly in social contexts. Its central assumption is that people are motivated to understand why outcomes occur in order to predict future events and regulate their responses. The foundations of the theory were laid by Fritz Heider, who described individuals as “naïve psychologists” seeking causal explanations for behavior (Heider, 1958). Heider argued that causal reasoning becomes especially salient when outcomes are unexpected, negative, or socially meaningful.

Heider’s framework distinguishes between internal (dispositional) and external (situational) attributions. Internal attributions locate causality within the person, such as traits, abilities, or effort, whereas external attributions assign causality to environmental factors such as task difficulty, social pressure, or chance. These attributions are not merely descriptive: they shape judgments of responsibility, emotional reactions, and expectations about future behavior.

Later work refined and formalized these ideas. Jones and Davis (1965) examined how observers infer stable dispositions from others’ actions through the process of correspondent inference. They showed that dispositional attributions are more likely when behavior is freely chosen, socially distinctive, and produces non-common effects. Kelley (1972) further systematized attribution theory with the covariation model, proposing that people rely on information about consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency to determine whether behavior should be attributed to the person, the stimulus, or the situation. Together, these contributions portray attribution as a structured inferential process, even though everyday judgments are often biased or based on incomplete information.

Bernard Weiner extended attribution theory to achievement, motivation, and emotion. His model identifies three key causal dimensions: locus of causality (internal vs. external), stability (stable vs. unstable over time), and controllability (controllable vs. uncontrollable) (Weiner, 1985). These dimensions have systematic emotional and motivational consequences. For example, attributing failure to lack of effort (internal, unstable, controllable) tends to preserve motivation, whereas attributing failure to lack of ability (internal, stable, uncontrollable) is associated with disengagement. A well-documented bias within this literature is the fundamental attribution error, namely the tendency to overemphasize dispositional causes and underestimate situational constraints when explaining others’ behavior (Jones & Davis, 1965).

Attribution theory has been widely applied in marketing and advertising. In consumer behavior, attributions strongly shape how individuals interpret product performance, service failures, and brand actions. Empirical research shows that dissatisfaction is more intense when negative outcomes are attributed to controllable, internal causes of the firm, whereas attributions to external or uncontrollable factors reduce blame and negative affect (Folkes, 1984; Weiner, 1985). In advertising, consumers also engage in causal reasoning about persuasive messages by inferring the motives underlying brand communications. When claims are attributed to self-interested intent, persuasion is weakened, whereas attributions to sincere or situationally constrained motives enhance credibility and message effectiveness (Friestad & Wright, 1994).

References

Folkes, V. S. (1984). Consumer reactions to product failure: An attributional approach. Journal of Consumer Research, 10(4), 398–409.

Friestad, M., & Wright, P. (1994). The persuasion knowledge model: How people cope with persuasion attempts. Journal of Consumer Research, 21(1), 1–31.

Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. Wiley.

Jones, E. E., & Davis, K. E. (1965). From acts to dispositions: The attribution process in person perception. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 2, 219–266.

Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92(4), 548–573.