10/23/2020; Attributional Tendencies

 

Attributional tendencies is a big word that simply means where or who people "blame" for something that happens. For example, the typical American might attribute their successes on themselves. They might think "I deserve this success because I worked hard and I earned this." The same person might attribute their failures to someone else. They may blame their personal failures on their teachers who didn't teach them well enough, or their managers who didn't prepare them well enough for the job. 

In other countries, such as Japan, they attribute their successes exactly opposite to Americans. They will attribute their successes externally. They might say "I am successful because I have amazing parents who gave me every opportunity I've ever had" or "I had amazing teachers who set me up for success". But they will also attribute personal failures internally. They will blame any failures on themselves and not others. It's always their fault. 

How does this affect the classroom? An example that could come up might be a group does poorly on a group project. Those who attribute failures externally, like the American example above, would blame the other students in the group before they would blame themselves. Those who attribute failures internally would blame themselves. It is important to acknowledge the way your students attribute their successes and failures and understand how to encourage your students to develop positive coping methods.