Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2021 - 18

vibe in the room. Gestures and tone
changes are a normal part of human
communication, as is assigning meaning
to those non-verbal responses. And
although this practice is natural, it is
fair to question the accuracy of those
interpretations as well as how much
weight we give them.
In the early 1970s, social psychologist
Bernard Weiner developed the
Attribution Theory to explain how ordinary
people attribute logical causality
to the events and physical behaviors we
observe. Weiner outlined the following
three stages in a typical attribution
process: observation, attribution, and
response.
First, you observe an action and assign
a label to what you think you saw.
Next, you interpret the action as deliberate
and ascribe a logical reason for
what you decided you saw. Finally, you
do something (react) based on your previous
interpretations. Our brains then
assess these attributions according to
three criteria: locus of control, stability,
and controllability (David 2007).
Locus of control focuses on whether
the event was due to an inherently internal
cause (personality, ability, amount of
effort) or an external source (uncontrollable
events or phenomenon). Stability
considers whether the level of effort is
variable or consistent over a given period
or throughout a type of task. In other
words, does a person exert a lot of effort
in one case, but not in another? If the
level of exertion is the same throughout,
we can say it is stable. If not, it is considered
unstable. If the level of effort is
stable, we can then consider the ability
(level of skill) as a solid aspect of causality.
In cases of unstable effort, it can be
more difficult to determine if the results
are related to a lack of skill or because
the person did not try hard enough.
The third criterion for assessing attribution
is controllability, which examines
causes that we can control against
ones we can't. For instance, people can
control their level of effort, but they may
not have control over their competence
(Culatta, InstructionalDesign.org). For
example, I am not a singer, so I will only
progress so far regardless of how much
I practice or how many lessons I take.
Weiner identified two critical errors
we make when trying to determine
causality. The first is the Fundamental
Attribution Error, which states that
people tend to overemphasize personal
traits when determining the root cause
of specific behavior. If someone does
something wrong, we tend to believe
the person is incompetent. The second
is the Self-Serving Bias that suggests
we tend to think our inherent skills
were the reason for any successes we
achieve, while external sources are to
blame when things go awry (Hopper
2018).
In a 2010 article, Weiner wrote: " It
has been repeatedly documented that
individuals
overestimate
themselves
on virtually all positive characteristics, "
and " individuals regard themselves as
smarter, more moral, better
drivers,
having more common sense, and so on,
than others and compared to what they
really are (Dunning et al.). A similar
conclusion can be reached regarding
causal reasoning: individuals relatively
believe that they caused their own success,
whereas failure was due to outside
PASSION.
OPPORTUNITY.
KENT STATE.
Offering BFA and MFA programs
in Design Technology & Production
Summer training and employment
opportunities at Porthouse Theatre
Hair, 2020
Costume Design by
undergraduate Maru Perez;
Lighting Design by associate
professor Jakyung C. Seo;
Scenic Design by MFA
candidate Tetta Askeland;
Sound Design by
undergraduate Parker Strong
www.kent.edu/theatredance
18 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | FALL 2021
http://www.InstructionalDesign.org http://www.kent.edu/theatredance http://www.hhspecialties.com
Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 2021

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