What is the Difference Between Internal and External Attributions?
🆚 Go to Comparative Table 🆚The difference between internal and external attributions lies in the factors they attribute to the cause of an event or behavior.
- Internal Attributions: These are explanations that emphasize personal factors, such as traits, abilities, and physical characteristics. When people make internal attributions, they believe that an event or behavior is due to these personal factors. For example, if someone assumes that their friend's good performance in sports is because of their natural talent and hard work, they are making an internal attribution.
- External Attributions: These are explanations that focus on environmental or situational factors, such as task difficulty, social influences, and the physical characteristics of a particular environment. When people make external attributions, they believe that an event or behavior is due to these situational factors. For example, if someone assumes that their friend's poor performance in sports is because of the bad weather conditions, they are making an external attribution.
In summary, the main difference between internal and external attributions is that while internal attributions highlight personal factors, external attributions emphasize situational factors when making inferences about the causes of events or behaviors.
Comparative Table: Internal vs External Attributions
The difference between internal and external attributions lies in the factors they focus on when explaining events or behaviors. Here is a comparison table highlighting the key differences:
| Internal Attribution | External Attribution |
|---|---|
| Also known as dispositional attribution | Focuses on situational factors as the cause of behavior |
| Assumes events or behaviors are caused by personal factors, such as an individual's abilities or personality traits | Emphasizes environmental or situational forces as the cause of behavior |
| People often make internal attributions when explaining their own successes | People often make external attributions when explaining their own failures or undesirable behaviors |
| Can lead to the fundamental attribution error, where people over-emphasize internal factors and underestimate external factors when explaining others' behaviors | Can help in understanding the influence of situational factors on behavior |
In summary, internal attributions focus on personal factors as the cause of events or behaviors, while external attributions emphasize situational factors. People tend to make internal attributions when explaining their own successes and external attributions when explaining their own failures or undesirable behaviors.
- Internal vs External Stakeholders
- Attribution Theory vs Locus of Control
- Internal vs External Validity
- Internal vs External Customers
- Internal vs External Business Environment
- Internal vs External Audit
- Internal Audit vs External Audit
- Internal vs External Fragmentation
- Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
- Internal vs External Respiration
- External vs Internal Fertilization
- Internal vs External Quantum Efficiency
- Internal Hard Drive vs External Hard Drive
- Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal Conflict
- Accountability vs Responsibility
- Internal Audit vs Internal Control
- Internal Check vs Internal Control
- Cause vs Effect
- Internal vs External Combustion Engine