People aren't satisfied with merely describing a person from the viewpoint of observable behavior. When perceivers learn about conflict or transgression they would like to assign responsibility and blame. Serious legal and social significance of attributions. How victims are treated. How perpetrators of crimes are punished.
Central issue is how people infer causality.
It is an inference. Not directly given in perception. First theorist Fritz Heider . Born 1896, Germany. At U. of Kansas.