Attribution theory
How we perceive success and failure
When I’ve been working towards a professional goal and I fail, I tend to see the cause as being due to my faults. I didn’t try hard enough, I didn’t spend enough time, I chose poorly in pursuing that goal etc. There is little acknowledgement of the role of external factors beyond control, such as timing, the characteristics of those I’m up against, or luck. However, at home, when things go wrong, I always find causes that have nothing to do with me!
After researching attribution theory, I realised that these thought processes are both two sides of the same coin. Irrationally finding ways to attribute reasons for failure to myself and others is a way of trying to feel in control of the situation or circumstances.
A need for control is linked to lack of self-esteem. When we need to succeed at our pursuits to feel positive self-worth, then trying to prevent failures from happening again becomes central to our wellbeing.
The problem is lack of control and failure are central to learning and accomplishment.
As part of our skills development attribution theory helps us better understand what shapes our perceptions of our performance and associated emotions. Attribution shapes motivation, which determines how hard we try and how long we persist.
Tina
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Weiner’s Attribution Theory
Attribution explains how we interpret our success or failures, influencing our thinking, feelings and behaviours towards learning and skills development.
There is no one unifying attribution theory, but rather a collection of approaches that study how people perceive why outcomes occurred, or causality.
Weiner’s Attribution Theory provides a framework for understanding how people interpret their own success or failures, and those of others. First published in the 1970s, Weiner built on the work of Gestalt psychologist Fritz Heider. In the decades since Weiner and colleagues have further developed the theory, mapping a sequence that explains our psychological process of attribution.
The framework begins with emotions that result from a success or failure and then shows different aspects of a causal search individuals undertake to determine why the outcome occurred. Two key aspects of Weiner’s model are the causes and dimensions of attribution.
Causes for success or failure are often attributed to:
- Ability
- Effort
- Task difficulty
- Luck
- Mood
- Help or hindrance from others
- Locus - the location of the cause within or outside the actor (internal vs. external).
- Stability - a cause may be constant or changing over time (stable vs. unstable)
- Controllability - whether a cause can be changed with deliberate action (controllable vs. uncontrollable)
For example:
- Negative feelings arise and motivation decreases when we attribute the reasons for failure as being caused by stable and uncontrollable factors e.g. due to task difficulty or luck.
- Positive feelings and motivation will increase when we attribute the reasons for success to unstable and controllable factors e.g. due to ability (if perceived as malleable) or effort.
There isn’t consensus in the literature about the dimensional nature of ability, whether it is fixed (stable) or malleable (unstable). In her bestselling book Mindset, Dr. Carol Dweck makes the case that achievement and mastery are driven by a growth mindset whereby ability is be perceived as malleable.
Weiner’s Attribution Theory has been applied in a number of fields to better understand the causal factors that shape motivation, achievement and self-efficacy. Particularly in terms of schooling, sports and workplace performance.
Women are more likely than men to suffer from negative attribution dispositions; to ascribe their own accomplishments to environmental factors such as 'luck' rather than credit their own ability to successfully and competently complete a task (Stipek, 2002).
References
Weiner, B. 2018. The Legacy of an Attribution Approach to Motivation and Emotion: A No-Crisis Zone. Motivation Science. 4: 10.