Attributional change and common-sense knowledge

The paper reports a study of change in causal explanations in therapeutic conversations. It shows how attribution of thoughts, feelings and behaviours which are experienced as problematic, e.g. embarrassing, awkward, absurd or painful, is changed from internal to more external. Namely, analysis focuses on how dispositional attribution – attributing problematic thoughts, feelings and behaviours to the self – is modified into biographical attribution – attributing problematic thoughts, feelings and behaviours to biographical factors independent of the self, such as age and childhood experiences.
The data comes from a Swedish radio programme broadcasting half-an-hour telephone conversations between a psychotherapist and people seeking help with various psychological problems. In the study attribution is understood discursively, that is, as verbalised causal explanations. The analysis is built around observations on how causal explanations of the same experiences are altered in the course of an encounter with a psychotherapist, and thus how attributional change is collaboratively accomplished by the conversation participants. The findings indicate that the attributional modification is anchored in invoking common-sense knowledge about ‘natural’ progression of the life course such as normative expectations attached to stages of life. The findings are discussed in view of how the attributional change may promote a more positive self-image.