What are Attributions?
Attributions are our individual explanations of events that take place in our lives.
In the classroom, they are the ways we explain academic success and failure to ourselves.
What was the cause?
Student attributions can be powerful forces- they make attributions about their school performance, often with little awareness of it. This can affect their interpretation of feedback on past events as well as their future behaviors.
Three Causal Dimensions of Attributions
1. Locus of Control Is the outcome based on internal or external causes? (the student's mood vs. the teacher)
2. Stability Is the outcome based on something that changes? (luck vs. natural ability)
3. Controllability Is the outcome based on something the student can control? (effort vs. interest)
In the classroom, they are the ways we explain academic success and failure to ourselves.
What was the cause?
Student attributions can be powerful forces- they make attributions about their school performance, often with little awareness of it. This can affect their interpretation of feedback on past events as well as their future behaviors.
Three Causal Dimensions of Attributions
1. Locus of Control Is the outcome based on internal or external causes? (the student's mood vs. the teacher)
2. Stability Is the outcome based on something that changes? (luck vs. natural ability)
3. Controllability Is the outcome based on something the student can control? (effort vs. interest)
"Attribution theory is one about perceptions, of how people construct and understand their world. Attribution formulation is an activity carried out countless times each day, either purposefully or subconsciously, by everybody." (Halim, 55)
(Diagram modified from Weiner, 1971)
The same outcome may elicit two very different attributional processes in students.
Learn more about your students' internal attributions and take a short quiz!
The same outcome may elicit two very different attributional processes in students.
Learn more about your students' internal attributions and take a short quiz!
Think about your students:
In what ways do you believe they currently interpret their success or failure?
How stable or controllable do they think their successes or failures are?
How is this affecting their Self-Efficacy and Motivation?
Look at some of the reasons students
give for task failure in the chart below:
In what ways do you believe they currently interpret their success or failure?
How stable or controllable do they think their successes or failures are?
How is this affecting their Self-Efficacy and Motivation?
Look at some of the reasons students
give for task failure in the chart below:
Do they sound familiar?
Were you aware of the causal attributions behind them?
Were you aware of the causal attributions behind them?
Attributional Differences between Collectivists and Individualists
Collectivist
- Influenced by Confucian philosophy - Belief that performance is directly related to effort - Refer more to the environment of learner and effort Attributional retraining exercises can help collectivist students develop a self-concept related to their innate ability rather than their environment alone. They can also learn that sometimes failure is not controllable and teachers can guide them away from negative emotions and task-avoidant behaviors. |
Individualist - Related to Rights of the Individual - More likely to make errors in attributions - More likely to attribute to uncontrollable factors Attributional retraining exercises can help individualist students learn to make more accurate attributions. By making attributions explicit and emphasizing factors that are CONTROLLABLE, like EFFORT, students will be more likely to approach tasks that seem difficult.
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Concepts of Individualist's Attributions
"Americans, it turned out, were more willing than were Japanese and Chinese to attribute children's academic successes and failures to innate abilities and disabilities; the Asians referred more to environmental factors and children's own effort in their explanations of school performance." (Stevenson, 1991 p 8)
"Ethnographers, philosophers, and historians of science have observed that lay theory in the modern West locates the responsibility for behavior primarily in the individual, a tendency that may be described as dispositionism. This is in contrast to the lay theory in East Asia focusing on the whole context of behavior, which may be called situationism or contextualism." (Choi, 1999)
"Americans explained their acquaintances’ behavior, either good or bad, predominantly in terms of corresponding traits, whereas Hindu Indians explained similar events in terms of social roles, obligations, and other context-specific factors. Contextual attributions were twice as frequent for Indians as for Americans, but dispositional attributions were twice as common for Americans as for Indians. The cultural difference was larger for bad behavior than for good behavior." (Choi, 1999)
Concepts of Collectivist's Attributions
"For the collectivist society of Asians, positive feelings about the self are not only derived from task accomplishment but also from being able to: belong to the group, fit in, occupy one’s proper place, engage in appropriate action, promote others’/group’s goals, and maintain harmony.” (Halim, 58)
For Collectivists, “seemingly self-deprecating attributions are actually formed in consideration of others.” (Halim, 58)
Specific efforts to not deny other’s contribution to success and help others “save face” by not blaming them in failure help maintain harmony in relationships. (Halim, 58)
Japanese’s focus on one’s weaknesses can be due to the drive for continuous self-improvement. Hence, self-serving attributions may be perceived more negatively in Asian society than in Western culture. (Halim, 58)
Individualist Students Believe Tests Show Ability Collectivist Mothers Place Importance on Effort
(Stevenson, The Learning Gap. 1992)
(Stevenson, The Learning Gap. 1992)
Changing World Views
"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." -Thomas Edison
This quote is commonly used in schools in both America and China, and in some ways illustrates the seemingly different perspectives of the Individualist and Collectivist cultures- one emphasizing innate natural ability and one emphasizing effort. Educational philosophy changes, as does our societal beliefs about the changeability of ability and the power of effort. While grades in individualist schools are considered private, class grades in China are public and read aloud to the class. Socially, good grades are often linked to popularity.
The concept of individuals being "malleable" as in the Confucian teachings is now a source of irony in modern Asian cultures as they evaluate the effectiveness of their educational philosophy. The cartoon to the left exemplifies how this concept is currently perceived.
How does this compare to your educational experience?
How would your students respond to this cartoon?
How does this compare to your educational experience?
How would your students respond to this cartoon?
Individualism may cause societies to overemphasize the will of the student. The movement of teaching students that they are special and unique had unique cultural ramifications that are still being studied.
How can educators balance a strong self-concept with the need for effort?
How does so-called 'natural ability' play a role in beliefs about learning?
How can educators balance a strong self-concept with the need for effort?
How does so-called 'natural ability' play a role in beliefs about learning?