ATTRIBUTION THEORY

Beliefs about Causes and Control

Bernard Weiner
Beliefs a n d Self-Schemas
• What do students • Let us start with
believe about a basic question:
themselves – their “What do they
competence and the believe about
causes for success ability?”
or failure?
Beliefs a n d Self-Schemas
Entity view of Incremental view
ability of
ability
• Belief that ability is
a fixed • Belief that ability is
characteristic that a set of skills that
cannot be changed can be changed
 A t t r i b u t i o n Theories
of M o t i v a t i o n
• Describe how the individual’s
explanations, justifications, and excuses about self
or others, influence motivation.
• According to Bernard Weiner, most of the attributed
causes for successes or failures can be characterized
in terms of 3 dimensions:
1.locus (location of the cause –internal
or external to the person)
2.stability (whether the cause is likely to
stay the same in the near future or can change)
3.controllability (whether the person
can control the cause).
 Attribution Theory
• Every cause for success or failure can
be categorized on these 3
dimensions (locus, stability,
controllability).
• For example, luck is external
(locus), unstable (stability),
and uncontrollable
(controllability).
• Ability is usually considered stable and
uncontrollable, but incremental
 Interactions Among Attributional
Factors and Dimensions

Dimension
Attributional
Factors Locus Stability Controllability

Ability Internal Stable Uncontrollable

Effort Internal Unstable Controllable

Task Difficulty External Stable Uncontrollable

Luck External Unstable Uncontrollable

 Attribution Theory
• Feeling in control of your own learning:
 choosing more difficult academic
tasks
 putting more effort
 using better strategies
 persisting longer in schoolwork

(Scunk, 2000; Weiner, 1994a, 1994b).

A t t r i b u t i o n s in the Classroom
• Usually when successful students fail, they
often make internal, controllable
attributions: eg. They misunderstood
the directions, lacked the necessary
knowledge, or simply did not study
hard enough.
• As a consequence, they usually focus on
strategies for succeeding next time.
• This often leads to achievement,
pride, and a greater feeling of
control
 Attributions in the
Classroom
• Motivational • Such students may
problems: seem resigned to
 students attribute failure, depressed,
failures to helpless ---
stable, uncontroll unmotivated
able causes. (Weiner, 2000).
 Beliefs a b o u t Self-Efficacy
a n d Learned Helplessness
• Self-efficacy is • Bandura (1997)
our belief about defines self-efficacy
our personal as “beliefs in
competence or one’s capabilities
effectiveness in a to organize and
given area. execute the
courses of action
required to
produce given
attainments”
(p.3).
 Self-Efficacy &
Attributions
• Self-efficacy and • But if success is
attributions attributed to luck
affect each or to the
other. intervention of
• If success is others, then self-
attributed to efficacy may not
internal or be strengthened.
controllable causes
such as effort, then
self-efficacy is
enhanced.
 Le arne d Helplessness
• When people believe • Learned Helplessness:
that the events and  3 types of deficits:
motivational, cognitive, and
outcomes in their
affective.
lives are mostly
• Students who feel hopeless -
uncontrollable, they will be unmotivated and
have developed reluctant to attempt work.
learned helplessness • They become
(Seligman, 1975). pessimistic about
learning, they miss practice
to improve skills and
abilities, so they develop
cognitive deficits.