Upload
others
View
6
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
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.