Attribution Theory and its Applicability in Education
An overview
The most influential theory that has consequences for academic motivation is arguably the attribution theory (Weiner, 1980, 1992). It emphasizes the notion that students are highly driven by the rewarding experience of being able to feel good about their learning themselves. In that it emphasizes how learners' current self-perceptions will substantially influence how they will interpret the success or failure of their current efforts and, in turn, how likely they are to repeat these behaviors in the future, it integrates both cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory.
Characteristics
- First off, internal or external factors may have contributed to the success or failure. That is, we may succeed or fail as a result of elements that we think originated within us or as a result of elements that originated in our environment.
- The second point is that the success or failure may have stable or unstable causes. If we act in the same way again, the result will probably be the same if we assume the cause to be stable. If it is unstable, the result is probably going to be different the next time.
- Third, the reason for success or failure may be within your control or out of your control. A controllable element is one that we feel we have the power to change if we choose to. We consider a factor to be uncontrollable if we don't think it will be simple to change. An internal component may be manageable (we may manage our effort by working harder) or unmanageable (the majority of people find it difficult to change their fundamental intellectual capacity or transition from being introverts to extroverts). Similar to internal factors, external factors might be in our control or out of our control. For example, a student who fails a difficult subject may succeed by enrolling in a less challenging course.
The idea that people would interpret their environment in a way that helps them retain a good self-image is a key tenet of the attribution theory. In other words, people will give reasons for their triumphs or failures that will make them feel the best about themselves. This generally indicates that when students perform well in an academic activity, they are likely to want to credit their own efforts or skills; but, when they perform poorly, they will want to credit outside causes like poor instruction or bad luck. According to the fundamental tenet of attribution theory, motivation is largely determined by an individual's judgments of their own success or failure.
- Ability, task difficulty, effort, and luck are the four elements of attribution theory that affect motivation in education. These four criteria can be examined in light of the qualities previously stated in the following manner: Ability is a largely internal and stable variable that the learner has little direct control over.
- Task complexity is an uncontrollable external component that is steady and unchanging.
- The learner has a lot of control over the internal, erratic component known as effort.
- Luck is an uncontrollable external component that the learner has very little control over.
The impression of the learner governs how attributions will affect future effort. A student would think of himself as "fortunate," and for him, luck would be an innate quality over which he has little control. In other words, for this person, everything the preceding list refers to as a "ability" or personality trait is instead what they call "luck."
Additionally, a person can think that she made a lot of effort when she didn't or that a work that was actually simple was difficult.
A person's own judgments or attributions for success or failure impact the amount of effort they will put forth on that activity in the future, according to the fundamental tenet of attribution theory as it relates to motivation.
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