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Attribution theory and motivation
Attribution theory was developed by the social psychologists Heider, Kelley, Jones and Ross.

The theory is concerned with how people explain or attribute various causes to events.

  1. According to the 'attribution theory' it is normal for people to look for explanations or causes - that can be attributed to their own success or failure.
    An assumption of the attribution theory is that people will interpret their environment in such a way as to maintain a positive self-image.
    There are three main categories of attributes for explaining success or failure:

    • Internal or external
    • Stable or unstable
    • Controllable or uncontrollable
  1. Examples of internal factors may be that you are either stupid or bright or not interested etc.
    It seems women tend to point to internal factors more than the seemingly more self-confident men.
    External factors are anything or anybody else you can blame.
  1. An outcome can also be perceived as stable or unstable.
    If you think the outcome is stable, then it is likely to be the same the next time as well. If, on the contrary, it is unstable, the outcome will probably be different on another occasion.
    If you tend to go for the stable explanation, you may tend to rationalise: 'it doesn't really matter how hard I try, I will fail anyway'.
    If you point to the unstable explanation on the other hand, you think you might succeed if you put in more or smarter efforts.
  1. Success or failure factors may be either controllable or uncontrollable.
    A controllable factor you can alter or influence if you wish to do so.
    An uncontrollable factor is one that you cannot easily alter.
    If you e.g. depend on the teacher for success or if you compete with your peers for the few available high grades, you explain your situation by pointing to uncontrollable factors.
    If you fail in your studies, you can thus attribute this to external, uncontrollable factors by blaming the bad school and the poor teachers.
    This situation you can perceive as stable: No matter how hard you try, these uncontrollable external factors will ensure your failure. In other words, you have very good explanations for your failure, and others are to blame.
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