Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory

1. A body of research into the way students understand their success or failure, usually in terms of ability, effort, task difficulty and luck.

2. 3 Dimensions

   • Locus of control
     • The extent to which people believe they have power over the events in their life
       • the cause of success or failure originates because of factors within us or in the environment (internal vs. external)
   • Stability
     • Continuing without change; permanent
       • factors (like luck or skills) that affect our behavior over time (stable vs. unstable)
   • Controllability
     • To have command or power over
       • cause of success/failure something that we have or do not have control over (controllable vs uncontrollable)

3. 4 Factors(Can be both negative or positive)

   • Ability(High Nach*Self-efficacy*respond better to praise)
     • a relatively internal and stable factor over which the learner does not exercise much control
       • Internal
       • Stable
       • Uncontrollable
     • Examples
       • Positive eg. The student is very gifted and talent, and he or she always gets a high score in most of subjects.
       • Negative eg. The student is very stupid in some ways, and this is a kind of characteristic that he or she cannot change, so he or she can only gain a lower score.
   • Effort(High Nach*Self-efficacy*respond better to praise*can help us to change attributions<De charms>)
     • internal & unstable factor over which the learner can exercise a great deal of control
       • Internal
       • Unstable
       • Controllable
     • Examples
       • Positive eg. The student makes an effort to his or her psychology subject and he or she gets a very good ressult in this subject finally.
       • Negative eg. The student is very hard-working, but he or she still keep failing the exams.
   • Luck(Low Nach*Learned helplessness*DWeck)
     • external & unstable factor over which the learner exercises very little control
       • External
       • Unstable
       • Uncontrollable
     • Examples
       • Positive eg. Fortunately, this copy of exam paper or task is quite easy to answer or finish.
       • Negative eg. Unfortunately, this time, the test is very diffifult and student cannot complete it.
   • Task difficulty(Low Nach)
     • an external & stable factor that is largely beyond the learner’s control
       • External
       • Stable
       • Uncontrollable
     • Examples
       • Positive eg. The students find the queations on the test paper are easy to answer.
       • Negative eg. The questions teachers set are too difficult for students to answer.