APA Dictionary of Psychology

a model describing how people form inferences about other people’s stable personality characteristics from observing their behaviors. Correspondence between behaviors and traits is more likely to be inferred if the actor is judged to have acted (a) freely, (b) intentionally, (c) in a way that is unusual for someone in the situation, and (d) in a way that does not usually bring rewards or social approval. See also attribution theory. [proposed in 1965 by U.S. social psychologists Edward E. Jones (1926–1993) and Keith E. Davis (1936–  )]