Physical Distinctiveness and Self-Attribution

The relationship between physical distinctiveness and causal attribution was assessed by' asking those high and low in self-reported distinctiveness to make causal attributions for hypothetical events. Compared with subjects low in physical distinctiveness, those who were highly distinctive made significantly stronger self-attributions for neutral events and for negative events involving a social interaction, and significantly weaker self-attributions for positive events of a nonsocial nature. Physical distinctiveness had no impact on attributions for nonsocial negative events. These findings, together with other relevant evidence, suggest that physical distinctiveness strengthens self-attributions for social interactions, but not for nonsocial events.