The Development Of Attribution Theory Into Spectrad Theory, Using The General Perceptual Model

Attribution theory is in need of a multivariate model to handle its problems. A model for handling the causes of perceptual difference (misperception) in estimating traits in people already exists in trait view theory. A natural extension of this model will cover the remaining half of attribution research: that concerned with perception of the causal action of situations. The model, integrating both, is a subsumption of the psychology of perception under the general behavioral equation. Spectrad theory is so named because it combines a tetrad of spectra (vectors) for (1) the contextual action of (a) the traits, and (b) the situation of the perceived person or situation and (2) the construing action of (a) the traits and (b) the situation of the perceiver. All four enter into predicting the deviation of a perception from the true value (operationally defined) of (a) a trait score, and (b) the behavioral indices by which the meaning and causal action of a situation are expressed.