Are You Most Exhausted Because You Dabble in Attribution Theory?

The title is a little misleading.

It is in fact not because you dabble in Attribution Theory that you are most exhausted, but because you – and I, him, her, them – we are all acting using aspects of Attribution Theory every day. Here is a description of Attribution Theory:

We all have a need to explain the world, both to ourselves and to other people, attributing cause to the events around us. This gives us a greater sense of control. When explaining behavior, it can affect the standing of people within a group (especially ourselves).

When another person has erred, we will often use internal attribution, saying it is due to internal personality factors. When we have erred, we will more likely use external attribution, attributing causes to situational factors rather than blaming ourselves. And vice versa. We will attribute our successes internally and the successes of our rivals to external ‘luck’.

When a football team wins, supporters say ‘we won’. But when the team loses, the supporters say ‘they lost’.

It’s like Michael says, it’s almost as if we are psychologically wired to blame, and to be upset at people for not doing things the way we prefer things. It’s as if we are wired to be dissatisfied. And it’s as if not-blaming exists only as a conscious, specific task.