AttributionTheory
MattZellner
EPSY530
Wheredoyouattributeyoursuccess?
Twostudentstakeanexam.Oneofthempasses.
Towhatmighteachofthemattributetheoutcome?
Howwillthatimpactthemotivationofeachstudentinthefuture?
Whatattributiontheoryassumes
• Thecausesindividualsattributetoeventshaveanimpactontheway
theycognitively,affectively,andbehaviorallyrespondonfuture
occasions.
• Peoplearenaivescientists:tryingtounderstandcausaldeterminants
oftheirsandother’sbehavior.
• Whythingshappen,whypeoplesayanddothings
Relevanttomanydomains
• Achievement
• Affiliation
• Sports
• Politics
• Economics
• Criminaljustice
• Howdoattributionsexplain
achievementmotivation?
• Howdoattributionsandthe
attributionalprocessinfluence
subdomainsinachievement?
Whatisanattribution?
• Attributionsmayormaynotbeactualcauses.
• Givesprecedenceto“anindividual’sconstructionofreality.”
• Inlinewithotherconstructivecognition/learningtheorists:
• Bruner
• Piaget
• Vygotsky
Therootsofattributiontheory
• AttributiontheoryisrootedintheworkofKurtLewin,JulianRotter,
JohnAtkinson,FritzHeider,HaroldKelley,andBernardWeiner.
• Heider (1958)arguedthatpeopletrytoidentifythedispositional
propertiesthatunderlieobservedbehavioranddosobyattributing
behavioreitherto:
• external(situational)causes
• internal(dispositional)causes.
Therootsofattributiontheory
• Keyplayer:BernardWeinerandhiscolleaguesintheearly1970s.
• WeinerwasastudentofAtkinson.
• 3dimensionalmodelofattributiontheory
• Attributiontheoristsinvestigatetheperceptionofcausality,orthejudgmentof
whyaparticularincidentoccurred.Theallocationofresponsibilitymanifestly
guidessubsequentbehavior(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:howtoassigncausalitytothepersonor
theenvironment,inlightofprinciplethatbehaviorisboth (Kelley,
1967).
• Distinctivenessofentities
• Consensusacrosspersons
• Consistencyovertimeandsituations
• Evidenceshowsthatpeopledonotweightallfactorsequally!
• Consistencymostused
• Consensusleastused
Attributions&themovies
• IfAnnerecommendsamovietoRoger,hemustdecide:
• Isthemoviegood?(theentity)
• DoesAnne’srecommendationderivefromsomethingabouther?(theperson)
WhataresituationsinwhichRogermightattributethe
recommendationtoAnne?Tothemovie?
Kelley,1967asdescribedinSchunk etal.,2002
Antecedentconditions:Personalfactors
• Causalrulesandschemas
• Thevariousprinciplesandbeliefsthatindividualshavelearnedaboutcausalitythey
usetomakeattributions
• Sixgeneralprinciples(Fiske&Taylor,1991):
• Causesmustprecedeevents.
• Eventsthatsharetemporalcontiguitywithtargeteventaremorelikelytobeseenascausal
factors.
• Eventsthatspatiallycontiguousaremorelikelytobelinkedincause/effectrelationship.
• Perceptuallysalientstimulimorelikelytobeseenascausalthanstimuliinthevisual
background
• Causesresembleeffects.
• Representativecausesareattributedtoeffects.
Attributionalbiases
• Attributionalbiases
• Actor-observerperspective- attributeothersbehaviortodisposition,butownto
situation
• Self-servingbias- acceptpersonalresponsibilityforsuccess,denyresponsibilityfor
failure
• Peoplemorelikelytoacceptcreditforsuccessthandenyresponsibilityforfailure(Fiske&
Taylor,1991).
• Self-centeredbias- Regardlessofsuccessorfailure,peopleacceptmorepersonal
responsibilityforjointoutcome
• Falseconsensuseffect- individualscometoseetheirbehaviorastypical,perhapsby
associatingwithotherwithsimilarviews
Fundamentalattributionerror
ClassicstudybyJones&Harris,1967:
Ineachoftheexperimentsthesubjectswereinstructedtoestimatethe"true”attitudeofatarget
personafterhavingeitherreadorlistenedtoaspeechbyhimexpressingopinionsona
controversialtopic.Independentvariablesincludedpositionofspeech(pro,anti,orequivocal),
choiceofpositionvs.assignmentofposition,andreferencegroupoftargetperson.Themajor
hypothesis(whichwasconfirmedwithvaryingstrengthinallthreeexperiments)wasthatchoice
wouldmakeagreaterdifferencewhentherewasalowpriorprobabilityofsomeonetakingthe
positionexpressedinthespeech.Otherfindingsofinterestwere:(1)atendencytoattribute
attitudeinlinewithbehavior,eveninno-choiceconditions…
Antecedentconditions:Personalfactors
• Priorknowledgeandindividualdifferences
• Rotter(1966)- Locusofcontrol
• Internals- highcontingencybetweenbehaviorandoutcomes
• Externals- Notastronglinkbetweenbehaviorandoutcomes
Learnedhelplessness
• Learnedhelplessnesstheoryaddressesindividualdifferences.
• Perceptionoflittlerelationshipbetweenbehaviorsandoutcomes.
• Theseincludedsignificantlylowerinitialestimatesofsuccess,lesspersistence,
attributionoffailurestolackofabilityandofsuccessestofactorsbeyond
personalcontrol,andgreaterdecrementsinexpectancyofsuccessfollowing
failure.
• Butkowsky,I.S.,&Willows,D.M.(1980).Cognitive-MotivationalCharacteristicsofChildrenVaryinginReadingAbility:Evidencefor
LearnedHelplessnessinPoorReaders.JournalofEducationalPsychology,72(3),408–422.http://doi.org/10.1037/00220663.72.3.408
Perceivedcauses
• Earlyattributionalresearchlookedatfourcausesforsuccess/failure:
•
•
•
•
Ability
Effort
Taskdifficulty
Luck
• Laterresearchincludedmoreattributionpossibilities
• Theseitemscamefromself-reportedstudydata.
• Abilityandeffortseenascausescrossculturally.
Contentofattributions
Causaldimensions
• Themotivationalpushofattributionsderivesfromtheirclassification
alongdimensionsbasedonananalysisoftheircausalstructure.
• Dimensions
• Stability
• Internality
• Controllability
• Alloftheseimpact:
• Expectancybeliefs
• Emotions
• Motivatedbehaviors
Weiner’sdimensions
Locusdimension
• Isthecauseisinternalorexternaltotheindividual?
• Internal
• Ability
• Effort
• External
• Taskdifficulty
• Luck
Stabilitydimension
• Howstablethecauseisovertime?
• Stableversusunstable.
• Causes:Fixedorvariableoversituationandtime?
• Betteradaptivelytonothaveapurelylocusmodel:wewanttothinkthat
internaleffortisunstablecauseoverstableability.
• Globality vsspecificity:howmanysituationsdoesacausegeneralizeto?
rd
The3
dimension:Controllability
Controllabilitydimension
• Howcontrollablethecauseis
• Controllableversusuncontrollable
• Arethereexternalcontrollablecauses?
• Intentionalityandcontrollability
• AccordingtoWeiner,thesamething!
Dimensions&ExpectancyBeliefs
Somenotablefindings:
• Failure:adaptivetoattributetounstableandcontrollablecauses.
• Forattributionstohaveeffects,theymustnotbediscreditedbyfuture
outcomes
• Realisticabilityjudgmentsledtothebestperformance.
• Stabilitydimensionmorecloselylinkedtoexpectancyforsuccessthanlocus
Attributions&Emotions
• Sowhataboutemotions?
• Attributiontheorydoesn’texplainemotions.
• Emotionsarereallyjustkindsofattributions.
• Emotions≠valuesfromexpectancyvaluetheory!
Developmentaldifferences
• Findingsforattributiontheorymayvarybyage.
• Weiner(1985) describedabilityastheprototypicexampleofaninternal,
stable,anduncontrollablecausalattribution,whereaseffortexemplifiesan
internal,unstable,andcontrollableattribution.
• Researchshowschildrendonothavethesamemeaningsfor
attributionsasadults!
Nicholl’s
developmentalstages
&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.