ATTRIBUTION: the process by which individuals explain the causes of behaviour and events.
Dispositional factors are internal, psychological factors that influence behaviour e.g. personality, beliefs, mood. For example, if you fail an exam, you could attribute it to the teacher (situational) or your own lack of study (dispositional)
Situational factors are external factors that influence behaviour e.g. roles, luck, laws. For example, attributing the loss of a soccer game performance to "bad weather."
2 main attribution errors: FAE
Fundamental attribution error
Ross (1977) defines FAE as the tendency to attribute another’s behaviour to dispositional qualities, rather than the situation itself.
For example, assuming students from poor families get bad grades because they are unmotivated (dispositional) vs. they do not receive academic support from their home, have less functioning families, less money to buy stuff for school which may help their performance, therefore less access to learning tools, or less free time (situational).
Supporting studies: Ross et al. (1977) Jones & Harris (1967) Festinger et al. (1956)