5/30/2019; Week 6: Response post to Attributional Tendencies

Whoa !  This topic makes me glad I'm not studying psychology!  Prof. Iver's lecture on how people judge their own success and failures and others success and failures was pretty clear. A person who attributes successes/failures internally assumes all the credit/blame goes to themselves.  A person who attributes successes/failures externally assumes all the credit/blame goes to others. It is common in the USA for people to attribute success internally ("I did it") and failures externally ("Someone else stole my idea"). 

Thus far, it's pretty clear.  Then we throw in stable vs. unstable and it becomes like a math problem gone all exponential on us ...

Here is a Very Simple example: Suppose a runner wins a race. 
A person who attributes successes internally-stable  might say "I am talented."
A person who attributes successes internally-unstable might say "I worked out really hard this season."
A person who attributes successes externally-stable might say "The other runners are not talented."
A person who attributes successes externally - unstable might say "The other runners didn't practice hard this season."

  -So- how does a teacher in the USA, who is more likely to believe a success or failure is based on personal talent/effort, talk to a student who believes that success or failure depends on good luck or bad luck ?  Or a student who believes success or failure is dependent on where you come from or family background ?

I am not feeling confident in my ability to give the appropriate pep talk !  Certainly, it would require a situation by situation response.  I think if the student/teacher relationship was a good one, with low affective barriers, a teacher could help a student reconsider their personal attribution style.  It seems like many areas of teaching come back to that student/teacher relationship !


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