Attributional Focus as a Determinant of Information Selection

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Abstract
An experiment tested the hypothesis that, in seeking a causal attribution for an observed effect, people prefer different types of information depending on their attributional focus. One hundred and fifty-two college Ss read brief descriptions of simple actions. Attributional focus was manipulated through instructions to determine either whether the effect was caused by something about the actor (person focus), something about the entity involved (object focus), or something about the particular circumstances (circumstance focus). Ss then selected from three types of information that most useful for arriving a t an attribution. The information types offered were distinctiveness (whether the actor behaved similarly toward other objects), consensus (whether other people behaved similarly toward the object mentioned), and consistency (whether the actor responded similarly to the object on past encounters). As predicted, Ss focused on the person preferred distinctiveness information, those focused on the object preferred consensus information, and those focused on the circumstances preferred consistency information. The results suggest that the perceiver contributes to the attribution process by differentially seeking out and attending to particular types of information.

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