AttributionTheoryMattZellnerEPSY530

Wheredoyouattributeyoursuccess?

Twostudentstakeanexam.Oneofthempasses.

Towhatmighteachofthemattributetheoutcome?

Howwillthatimpactthemotivationofeachstudentinthefuture?

Whatattributiontheoryassumes

• Thecausesindividualsattributetoeventshaveanimpactonthewaytheycognitively,affectively,andbehaviorallyrespondonfutureoccasions.

• Peoplearenaivescientists:tryingtounderstandcausaldeterminantsoftheirsandother’sbehavior.• Whythingshappen,whypeoplesayanddothings

Relevanttomanydomains

• Achievement• Affiliation• Sports• Politics• Economics• Criminaljustice

• Howdoattributionsexplainachievementmotivation?

• Howdoattributionsandtheattributionalprocessinfluencesubdomainsinachievement?

Whatisanattribution?

• Attributionsmayormaynotbeactualcauses.• Givesprecedenceto“anindividual’sconstructionofreality.”

• Inlinewithotherconstructivecognition/learningtheorists:• Bruner• Piaget• Vygotsky

Therootsofattributiontheory

• AttributiontheoryisrootedintheworkofKurtLewin,JulianRotter,JohnAtkinson,FritzHeider,HaroldKelley,andBernardWeiner.

• Heider (1958)arguedthatpeopletrytoidentifythedispositionalpropertiesthatunderlieobservedbehavioranddosobyattributingbehavioreitherto:• external(situational)causes• internal(dispositional)causes.

Therootsofattributiontheory

• Keyplayer:BernardWeinerandhiscolleaguesintheearly1970s.• WeinerwasastudentofAtkinson.• 3dimensionalmodelofattributiontheory

• Attributiontheoristsinvestigatetheperceptionofcausality,orthejudgmentofwhyaparticularincidentoccurred.Theallocationofresponsibilitymanifestlyguidessubsequentbehavior(Weiner,1972).

Weiner’sattributiontheorymodel

• Antecedentconditions• Perceivedcauses• Causaldimensions• Psychologicalconsequences• Behavioralconsequences

Thegeneralattributionalmodel

Antecedentconditions:Environmental

SpecificInformation&SocialNorms

• Actor-observerinformationdifferences• Feedback:task,teacher,andmore.• Taskdifficultyrelativetopeers

Consensus,Consistency,Distinctiveness

• Basicquestionforperceiver:howtoassigncausalitytothepersonortheenvironment,inlightofprinciplethatbehaviorisboth (Kelley,1967).

• Distinctivenessofentities• Consensusacrosspersons• Consistencyovertimeandsituations

• Evidenceshowsthatpeopledonotweightallfactorsequally!• Consistencymostused• Consensusleastused

Attributions&themovies

• IfAnnerecommendsamovietoRoger,hemustdecide:• Isthemoviegood?(theentity)• DoesAnne’srecommendationderivefromsomethingabouther?(theperson)

WhataresituationsinwhichRogermightattributetherecommendationtoAnne?Tothemovie?

Kelley,1967asdescribedinSchunk etal.,2002

Antecedentconditions:Personalfactors

• Causalrulesandschemas• Thevariousprinciplesandbeliefsthatindividualshavelearnedaboutcausalitytheyusetomakeattributions

• Sixgeneralprinciples(Fiske&Taylor,1991):• Causesmustprecedeevents.• Eventsthatsharetemporalcontiguitywithtargeteventaremorelikelytobeseenascausalfactors.

• Eventsthatspatiallycontiguousaremorelikelytobelinkedincause/effectrelationship.• Perceptuallysalientstimulimorelikelytobeseenascausalthanstimuliinthevisualbackground

• Causesresembleeffects.• Representativecausesareattributedtoeffects.

Attributionalbiases

• Attributionalbiases• Actor-observerperspective- attributeothersbehaviortodisposition,butowntosituation

• Self-servingbias- acceptpersonalresponsibilityforsuccess,denyresponsibilityforfailure• Peoplemorelikelytoacceptcreditforsuccessthandenyresponsibilityforfailure(Fiske&Taylor,1991).

• Self-centeredbias- Regardlessofsuccessorfailure,peopleacceptmorepersonalresponsibilityforjointoutcome• Falseconsensuseffect- individualscometoseetheirbehaviorastypical,perhapsbyassociatingwithotherwithsimilarviews

Fundamentalattributionerror

ClassicstudybyJones&Harris,1967:Ineachoftheexperimentsthesubjectswereinstructedtoestimatethe"true”attitudeofatargetpersonafterhavingeitherreadorlistenedtoaspeechbyhimexpressingopinionsonacontroversialtopic.Independentvariablesincludedpositionofspeech(pro,anti,orequivocal),choiceofpositionvs.assignmentofposition,andreferencegroupoftargetperson.Themajorhypothesis(whichwasconfirmedwithvaryingstrengthinallthreeexperiments)wasthatchoicewouldmakeagreaterdifferencewhentherewasalowpriorprobabilityofsomeonetakingthepositionexpressedinthespeech.Otherfindingsofinterestwere:(1)atendencytoattributeattitudeinlinewithbehavior,eveninno-choiceconditions…

Antecedentconditions:Personalfactors

• Priorknowledgeandindividualdifferences

• Rotter(1966)- Locusofcontrol• Internals- highcontingencybetweenbehaviorandoutcomes• Externals- Notastronglinkbetweenbehaviorandoutcomes

Learnedhelplessness

• Learnedhelplessnesstheoryaddressesindividualdifferences.• Perceptionoflittlerelationshipbetweenbehaviorsandoutcomes.

• Theseincludedsignificantlylowerinitialestimatesofsuccess,lesspersistence,attributionoffailurestolackofabilityandofsuccessestofactorsbeyondpersonalcontrol,andgreaterdecrementsinexpectancyofsuccessfollowingfailure.• Butkowsky,I.S.,&Willows,D.M.(1980).Cognitive-MotivationalCharacteristicsofChildrenVaryinginReadingAbility:Evidencefor

LearnedHelplessnessinPoorReaders.JournalofEducationalPsychology,72(3),408–422.http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.72.3.408

Perceivedcauses

• Earlyattributionalresearchlookedatfourcausesforsuccess/failure:• Ability• Effort• Taskdifficulty• Luck

• Laterresearchincludedmoreattributionpossibilities• Theseitemscamefromself-reportedstudydata.• Abilityandeffortseenascausescrossculturally.

Contentofattributions

Causaldimensions

• Dimensions• Stability• Internality• Controllability

• Alloftheseimpact:• Expectancybeliefs• Emotions• Motivatedbehaviors

• Themotivationalpushofattributionsderivesfromtheirclassificationalongdimensionsbasedonananalysisoftheircausalstructure.

Weiner’sdimensions

Locusdimension

• Isthecauseisinternalorexternaltotheindividual?

• Internal• Ability• Effort

• External• Taskdifficulty• Luck

Stabilitydimension

• Howstablethecauseisovertime?• Stableversusunstable.• Causes:Fixedorvariableoversituationandtime?

• Betteradaptivelytonothaveapurelylocusmodel:wewanttothinkthatinternaleffortisunstablecauseoverstableability.• Globality vsspecificity:howmanysituationsdoesacausegeneralizeto?

The3rd dimension:Controllability

Controllabilitydimension

• Howcontrollablethecauseis• Controllableversusuncontrollable• Arethereexternalcontrollablecauses?

• Intentionalityandcontrollability• AccordingtoWeiner,thesamething!

Dimensions&ExpectancyBeliefs

Somenotablefindings:• Failure:adaptivetoattributetounstableandcontrollablecauses.• Forattributionstohaveeffects,theymustnotbediscreditedbyfutureoutcomes• Realisticabilityjudgmentsledtothebestperformance.• Stabilitydimensionmorecloselylinkedtoexpectancyforsuccessthanlocus

Attributions&Emotions

• Sowhataboutemotions?• Attributiontheorydoesn’texplainemotions.• Emotionsarereallyjustkindsofattributions.

• Emotions≠valuesfromexpectancyvaluetheory!

Developmentaldifferences

• Findingsforattributiontheorymayvarybyage.• Weiner(1985) describedabilityastheprototypicexampleofaninternal,stable,anduncontrollablecausalattribution,whereaseffortexemplifiesaninternal,unstable,andcontrollableattribution.

• Researchshowschildrendonothavethesamemeaningsforattributionsasadults!

Nicholl’sdevelopmentalstages&conceptofability

Entityversusincrementalviewofintelligence

• Nicholls:ReliedonSternberg’sinvestigationsofintelligence.• Thehardwareofhowyourbrainworkstoachievegoals.

• Fluid• Crystalized

• Isitpossibletolookatintelligenceasanattribution?• Intelligenceisafuzzyconcept…

Nextstepsinattributiontheory

• SandraGraham• FollowsuponworkbyWeiner.• Looksataggressionandachievement• Howdowehelpunstable/externalattributorsimproveperformance?

References• Butkowsky,I.S.,&Willows,D.M.(1980).Cognitive-MotivationalCharacteristicsofChildrenVaryinginReading

Ability:EvidenceforLearnedHelplessnessinPoorReaders.JournalofEducationalPsychology,72(3),408–422.http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.72.3.408

• Heider,F.Thepsychologyofinterpersonalrelations.NewYork:Wiley,1958.• Kelley,H.H.(1967).Attributiontheoryinsocialpsychology.In Nebraskasymposiumonmotivation.Universityof

NebraskaPress.• Malle,B.F.(2004).Howthemindexplainsbehavior. FolkExplanation,MeaningandSocialInteraction.

Massachusetts:MIT-Press.• Nicholls,J.G.(1990).Whatisabilityandwhyarewemindfulofit?Adevelopmentalperspective.Competence

Considered.• Rotter,J.B.(1966).Generalizedexpectanciesforinternalversusexternalcontrolofreinforcement. Psychological

monographs:Generalandapplied, 80(1),1.• Schunk,D.H.,Meece,J.L.,Pintrich,P.R.(2014).Motivationineducation:Theory,research,andpractice (4th Ed.).

Boston,MA:Pearson.• Weiner,B.(1972).Attributiontheory,achievementmotivation,andtheeducationalprocess. Reviewof

educationalresearch, 42(2),203-215.• Weiner,B.(1985).Anattributionaltheoryofachievementmotivationandemotion. Psychologicalreview, 92(4),

548.