Causal Attribution and Investment Decision-Making: A Cultural-Psychological Model from Ancient Indian Texts

This study examined causal attribution in ancient Indian literature as a culturally embedded framework for understanding personality and decision-making. Through a thematic analysis of the Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Upanishadic thought, five recurring attribution styles were identified: karmic, agentic, divine, dispositional, and transcendental. These styles reflect systematic patterns in how individuals explain events, assign responsibility, and regulate action. The findings suggest that attribution in these texts is neither singular nor dichotomous but layered, dynamic, and context-sensitive. Unlike contemporary models within Attribution Theory, which largely rely on internal–external distinctions, the present analysis demonstrates that causal explanations in Indian thought simultaneously operate across temporal (karma), volitional (agency), cosmic (divine order), dispositional (nature), and ontological (maya) dimensions. This multi-level structure provides a more comprehensive account of how individuals make sense of complex and uncertain situations. Importantly, these attribution styles extend beyond interpretation into behavioral domains, particularly financial decision-making. Karmic and dharmic orientations encourage long-term, ethically aligned investment behavior; agentic attribution supports active and goal-directed financial engagement; divine attribution promotes stability under uncertainty; dispositional attribution informs heuristic judgments; and transcendental attribution regulates emotional responses to volatility. Together, these patterns indicate that investment behavior in culturally Indian contexts is not merely economic but deeply embedded in moral and philosophical systems of causality. The study contributes to cultural psychology by proposing that attribution styles can function as implicit personality orientations shaped by indigenous knowledge systems. By integrating textual analysis with contemporary psychological constructs, it expands the scope of attribution research beyond Western frameworks and highlights the necessity of culturally grounded models in understanding both cognition and behavior. Future research may empirically test these attribution styles using psychometric tools and examine their relationship with personality traits and financial behavior in contemporary populations. Such work would further establish the relevance of culturally embedded attribution frameworks in modern psychological and economic contexts.

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