{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.attribution","code":"thing-q900584","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q900584/","name":"attribution","alternateNames":["blame","blame in organizations","self-blame","reprimand","causes of climate change"],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.2.0-wave.3","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Activities and processes","entryKind":"thing","plane":"ACT","domain":["ACT.PRC"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"The cognitive process of explaining the causes of events and behaviour, studied in social psychology as attribution theory, which describes how people infer dispositional or situational causes and fall into biases such as the fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias, and in practice as the assignment of responsibility, credit or blame, including blame in organisations, self-blame and reprimand; in science the term also names formal attribution of effects to causes, such as attributing observed climate change to human activity.","purpose":"Let an agent explain attribution as a cognitive and social process, relay attribution theory and biases from psychological sources, describe blame dynamics in organisations, and distinguish psychological attribution from scientific attribution such as climate attribution.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Causal explanation","Dispositional versus situational","Systematic biases","Responsibility assignment"],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"understand","name":"Understand","description":"What attribution is.","layers":[{"id":"definition","name":"Definition","description":"Definition and theory.","findings":[{"id":"definition-finding","name":"Definition","description":"Definition.","questions":[{"text":"What is attribution, and what do Heider, Kelley and Weiner theories say about how people explain behaviour?","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Is the question about psychological attribution, blame in practice or scientific attribution?","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"biases","name":"Biases","description":"Biases.","findings":[{"id":"biases-finding","name":"Biases","description":"Biases.","questions":[{"text":"What are the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer difference and self-serving bias, with evidence attributed?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits the specific bias?","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"blame","name":"Blame","description":"Blame and responsibility.","layers":[{"id":"organisations","name":"Organisations","description":"Blame in organisations.","findings":[{"id":"organisations-finding","name":"Organisations","description":"Organisations.","questions":[{"text":"How do blame cultures and just culture approaches affect safety and learning in organisations?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which references are standard?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"self","name":"Self","description":"Self-blame.","findings":[{"id":"self-finding","name":"Self","description":"Self.","questions":[{"text":"What does research say about self-blame and its effects on wellbeing, in general terms?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Is the user describing distress, which may need support services?","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"science","name":"Science","description":"Scientific attribution.","layers":[{"id":"climate","name":"Climate","description":"Climate attribution.","findings":[{"id":"climate-finding","name":"Climate","description":"Climate.","questions":[{"text":"How do scientists attribute observed warming and extreme events to causes, as the IPCC describes?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits climate change attribution?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"methods","name":"Methods","description":"Causal methods.","findings":[{"id":"methods-finding","name":"Methods","description":"Methods.","questions":[{"text":"How does formal causal inference differ from everyday attribution?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which sources are cited?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"context","name":"Context","description":"Culture and law.","layers":[{"id":"culture","name":"Culture","description":"Cultural variation.","findings":[{"id":"culture-finding","name":"Culture","description":"Culture.","questions":[{"text":"How does attribution vary across cultures, as research shows?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits cross-cultural psychology?","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"law","name":"Law","description":"Law and responsibility.","findings":[{"id":"law-finding","name":"Law","description":"Law.","questions":[{"text":"How do legal systems assign responsibility, and how does that relate to attribution?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which entry fits legal responsibility?","kind":"action"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Explain attribution theory and the documented biases such as the fundamental attribution error.","Help a user examine how they are explaining an event, with the theory's limits stated."],"mustNot":["Diagnose a person's character or motives from their behaviour in a single situation.","Present attribution research findings as reliable predictions about an individual.","Use attribution framing to blame victims for what happened to them.","Apply attribution models to profile employees or customers without their knowledge."],"requiresHuman":["Using attribution analysis in hiring, discipline or clinical assessment of a person."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Explaining behaviour by character rather than circumstance is how blame falls on the vulnerable.","Much of the research comes from narrow samples and does not generalise across cultures."],"affectedParties":["People whose motives are judged","Victims blamed for their situation","Employees and students assessed"]},"owners":{"steward":"Nobody owns the concept; psychology research bodies maintain the evidence base.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q781413","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"cognitive process","type":"related","note":"in registry terms"},{"target":"attribution theory","type":"related","note":"within social psychology"},{"target":"blame","type":"related","note":"when responsibility is assigned"},{"target":"climate change attribution","type":"related","note":"in science"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.attribution","Wikidata: Q900584 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q900584)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"recognition":{"applicability":"optional","items":["Explaining causes of events and behaviour","Dispositional and situational attribution, blame, self-blame, reprimand, climate attribution","Causal inference in statistics is formal; authorship attribution identifies authors","Not a visible object; judgements about causes."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["explain attribution theory","relay biases","describe blame in organisations","distinguish scientific attribution"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Attribution biases leading to unfair blame","Blame cultures suppressing error reporting","Confusing psychological and scientific senses"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["No regulation of the process","Just culture and disciplinary policies in organisations","IPCC frameworks for detection and attribution"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Not applicable; a cognitive process.","dispositional and situational attribution","attribution biases such as the fundamental attribution error, actor-observer and self-serving biases","blame and credit assignment","blame in organisations and just culture","self-blame","reprimand as a formal response","scientific attribution such as detection and attribution of climate change"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Wikidata item Q900584: attribution","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q900584","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Attribution (psychology)","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_%28psychology%29","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Should attribution theory and blame be separate primary entries?","How should psychological references be linked?","The registry entry has merged aliases including climate attribution; should it be split off?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q900584/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q900584/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-13T02:44:35Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-06T19:52:02+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane ACT: no invented physical properties."},"score":1.0}}