ABSTRACT
The origin of attribution theory traces back to a long-standing philosophical interest in epistemology, or the study of knowledge. In an article providing a foundation for the theory, Heider (1944) asked why we see a building when it is only rays of sunlight hitting our eyes. This question later shifted to how we are able to infer intentions of others when inner thoughts are not directly observable. Heider believed that the laws of physical or object perception are similar to the laws of person or social perception (although the latter are more complex). In both, there must be transformation from “beyond the information given” to something inferred and not directly observable. That is, the observer moves sequentially in the perceptual sequence from the proximal or immediate stimulus, which is the sensory information, to the distal and inferred stimulus, which is a building or an intention. What has been presented here follows in this tradition. It has been contended that we observe someone who has not tried, and then infer that lack of effort is a controllable cause and the person is responsible or “immoral.” The sequence is from proximal stimuli to “beyond the information given.”
