characteristics of another. This is the essence of attribution theory. Since its development, attribution theory has been applied to an array of disciplines. This facet of

cognition is not only of interest to social psychologists, but also to educators, sociologists, marketing professionals, management personnel, and those in the medical field.

Attribution theory states that humans 'tend to give a causal explanation for someone's behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition'

(Myers, 644). As such, it requires three components: an actor, behavior, and observer. For example, if a driver swerves in front of another's car, what is the

explanation the latter will provide for the former's action? The observer may conclude that there was an obstacle in the road or that the actor has fallen ill. These two

explanations credit situational causes to the behavior. What is more likely, however, is for the observer to attribute the actor's behavior to disposition, such as being

a clumsy driver. The way in which an individ

that clearly indicate situational influences. If the observer spots a deer quickly running to the periphery of the road, he is still likely to attribute the actor's behavior as

Within the gifted and talented population of students, there is a segment of under-achievers. Under-achievers are those individuals in which a discrepancy

common cause of such under-achievement. It is an intuitive statement to say that modifying one's attributions will then create changes in one's motivation. It logically

instrumental in the development of this social psychology theory (Brown). He coined the term 'naive psychology' which describes the way in which laypeople utilize

controllability to the lexicon of attribution theory. 'Weiner's theory has been widely applied in education, law, clinical psychology, and the mental health domain'

Some common words found in the essay are:
, Attribution Theory, Schultz Schultz, Harold Kelley, Interpersonal Relationships, attribution theory, Bernard Weiner, Theory Additionally, Social Psychology', Script Theory, Keith Davis', theory 1, gifted talented, brown 1, attribution theory 1, actor's behavior, theory applied, attribute actor's behavior, attribute actor's, attributional style differences, self-serving attributional, weiner added, own behaviors, self-serving attributional bias, female male gifted,
Approximate Word count = 1588
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)