Intimate Relationships Exam 2 Practice

Stability in attribution theory is about whether the cause of a behavior remains constant over time. If a factor is stable, it tends to persist, so you’d expect similar behavior in the future. This makes the outcome more predictable because the underlying cause isn’t just a one-time fluke. It doesn’t specify whether the cause is inside or outside the person—that’s a separate dimension (locus)—it only tells you that the influence is enduring across time. For example, attributing a low score to ability is a stable internal cause (likely to recur), whereas attributing it to mood on a single day would be an unstable factor (likely to change). So the term Stable implies the behavior is driven by a factor that remains consistent across time, making future occurrences likely.