attribution theory
Lineage
In 1958, Fritz Heider posited that humans act as naïve scientists, doing causal analysis on the human behavior they experience. In Heider's analysis, attribution assigned beahvior to either dispositional cause or situational cause. This bifurcated classification formalized attributing as conditioning an act within a causal schema.
In 1965, Edward E. Jones and Keith Davis authored Correspondent Inference Theory, which refined Heider's model by focusing on intentionality. In their analysis, attributing occurs when observers infer that a behavior correlates with a stable trait in the actor.