Why Are You Doing That?

I've always been interested in attribution theory. Basically, how do individuals observing an action decide to what to attribute that action? Why is it that two people observing a single person acting a certain way can make differing attributions? When do you make personal attributions to a behavior as opposed to situational attributions (that is, when do you you attribute a behavior to a person's conscious decision to act that way as opposed to a response to an external situation)?

I have always tended to make situational attributions when others make personal attributions.

But when there is a high consistency of behavior across situations, theory suggests that people would make personal attributions.

What do you do when you think someone is trying to make your life miserable? Whenever you tell them what you would like, you find them ensuring that the opposite happens? And that happens over and over again in a variety of different situations?

For some reason, I find it hard to overcome my natural tendency to make situational attributions. Could it be that this person is actively working to undermine me?