Causal attribution Causal attribution is an attempt to understand the reasons for the actions, actions and overall behavior of another person. Also, it may not be a person, but certain events, for example. This is a fairly common phenomenon, the so-called “overthinking”. This usually happens due to insufficient information. And then the person turns on his fantasy and begins to independently attribute some reasons to other people’s behavior and events. This is due to ignorance of the true reasons for what is happening. Based on our personal beliefs and observations, we find an explanation for certain actions of others. Until we find an explanation, our brain will not calm down. This phenomenon is considered a cognitive distortion. By the way, emotions are also added here, which interfere with “sober” thinking. Because of this, a person is sometimes prone to dramatization. Usually, “thinking things through” begins when someone else’s behavior does not meet our expectations or is not typical in principle. There is a need to understand the situation. Why does a person tend to attribute reasons to the actions of others: - wants to get rid of anxiety (which arose at the moment when he realized that he did not understand the reasons for what was happening); - does not know how to behave in this case, does not understand what his own behavior was would be appropriate; - strives for the ability to control everything (we can manage and control only when we have a sufficient amount of information about what is happening around us, including the motives of other people). By the way, the choice of attribution is also influenced by our personal attitude towards a person. For example, if he is generally pleasant to us, we will be of the opinion that he could not have acted differently (Example: he did not pass the exam not because he did not prepare, but because the teacher deliberately failed him). And if he is not very pleasant - we will definitely note the connection between his action and personal qualities (Example: she didn’t pass the exam not because she studied other topics, but because she was irresponsible). Examples of causal attribution: - She passed and didn’t say hello, probably she didn’t wants to communicate with me and generally has a bad opinion of me; - He didn’t call last night, it’s probably because he was offended; - I’m in apathy because my work annoys me, the team negatively affects my psyche. There are two types of causal attribution: 1. Internal (internal) Explanation of a person’s actions by his personal qualities, character traits, etc. 2. External (external) Explanation of a person’s actions by external circumstances - events, etc. In addition, there is a fundamental error in causal attribution - attributing the cause of behavior to a person. But most often, on the contrary, we explain our actions by the influence of some external factors or circumstances. The problem with this phenomenon is that a person can come up with any reason, but in the end it will differ from reality. In most cases this is what happens. Developing a level of awareness and self-control skills works wonders - this is a great help in combating causal attribution, which sometimes prevents us from building healthy communication without stress and showdowns.