Attribution Theory

Demonstrate your understanding of attribution theory. In essence, attribution theory states that individuals tend to make sense of (logically prescribe) situations by associating them to self, others, thoughts, feelings, or actions. This theory suggests that learners should consider why they do what they do, and what or who they are giving credit for both the victories and the failures. Further, this theory suggests that if a person believes that they are not good at something, they may attribute their unsuccessful outcomes to external factors, rather than to themselves. In contrast, if individuals have success, they more often may attribute their successes to internal factors.

Using your required resources to support, discuss the following:

· Describe a time where you feel you have failed and blamed someone else: the teacher, the friend, a loved one. (Failure could be academic, relational, and/or organizational – loss of a job.)

· Do you believe that you blamed external things to support a more stable version of your own self-image? (In other words, it could not be your mistake). If not, what other reasons might external variables be attributed for our own performance?

· How do think stability and controllability affect performance attributions, based on our reading this week?

· Why do you think that self-efficacy plays such a critical role in how we process our learning behaviors?

· What strategies could be applied to utilize what we know about self-perception and attributions to increase your learning performance in the future? (Minimum of two strategies.)