situational attribution

the ascription of one’s own or another’s behavior, an event, or an outcome to causes outside the person concerned, such as luck, pressure from other people, or external circumstances. Also called environmental attribution; external attribution. Compare dispositional attribution.

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Psychology term of the day

February 23rd 2025

perceptual organizational deficit

a phenomenon in which a subset of people with schizophrenia have particular difficulty visually integrating the parts of an object and seeing them as an ensemble. For example, if looking at a watch, they will perceive the hands, the dial, and the numbers as separate forms but will have difficulty processing the watch face as a whole. [coined by U.S. psychologist Steven M. Silverstein (1962– )]