title: A behavior analytic interpretation of attributions in the context of behavior therapy.
abstract: Clients often provide reasons, justifications, and explanations (i.e., attributions) about the causes of their problems and what they believe needs to be done to ameliorate them. Behavior therapists also frequently generate hypotheses about causal factors contributing to client behavior problems. We discuss the function of attributing in the context of behavior therapy and interpret the cognitive construct of attributions from a behavior analytic perspective as a verbal act of relating otherwise arbitrary events with origins in a social-verbal community. The applied implications of our interpretive analysis of attributions and their role in client problems suggest different therapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown 26506-6040, USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Forsyth
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Chase
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hackbert
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D001527:Behaviorism; D015984:Causality; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D019336:Cognitive Science; D006801:Humans; D012919:Social Behavior; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D014705:Verbal Behavior