2/13/21; Week 6: Response to Attributional Tendencies

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Attributional Tendencies in Culture 



According to Sparknotes Attribution tendencies "are inferences that people make about the causes of events and behavior. People make attributions in order to understand their experiences. Attributions strongly influence the way people interact with others". Professor Ivers from BYU-Idaho University explains that "Attributional Tendencies refer to what do we attribute success, to what do we attribute our personal failures, to what do we attribute the successes of others, to what do we attribute the failures of others". He also says that "in all cultures, we're always attributing things to other things". 


I need to tell you that I've never heard about that before. However, reading some material about that I realized that is what we typically refer to as cause and effect. Depending on the culture, people are used to attribute their failure and success, as well as the failure and success of others, to specific conditions, sometimes internally, other times externally. 


Internal Attributions occur when people infer an event or a person’s behavior to personal factors such as traits, abilities, or feelings. For example, "I got that job because I am so talented" or "She was able to buy that house because she always works hard".




External Attributions occur when people infer an event or a person’s behavior to situational factors. For example, "I got that job because there were just three people applying for that job" or "He couldn't finish his job because his kids were too noisy".



Professor Ivers shares that people in all cultures use their internal and external attributions "to explain both their personal successes and personal failures". In India, for instance, they attribute their success internally, while in Japan, they usually attribute their success externally. But it's natural that we sometimes judge wrongly those attributions. When something bad happens to you, sometimes it's your fault, sometimes it's not. When something good happens to you sometimes it's your merit, sometimes it's not. As Professor Ivers says "each circumstance is different. Life is not black and white, it's very complex.


In a TESOL classroom setting, it's very useful to know how your students attribute their success and failures. When a teacher faces a student who always blames himself for bad behaviors or events, it would be helpful to expand the views and look at that student as a whole human being and find a way to approach him and help him to have a better perspective over his circumstances. The opposite feeling also needs attention. For example, when a student always attributes his behaviors and bad events externally, he maybe needs help to look inside and find ways to be more responsible for his acts.


Even we are just English Teachers, we can do so much for our students, in order to create a trustworthy environment where they feel comfortable enough to accept our help and instructions. 





References:

https://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/socialpsychology/section3/

https://wattersattribution.wordpress.com/

https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Attributional+Tendencies+in+Cultures/0_u45682wd


 


Comentários

  1. Rosa Sepúlveda13 de fevereiro de 2021 às 20:48

    Hi, Larissa
    This is the first time I hear about this topic too; it is very interesting.
    I agree: as teachers, we have to help students to deal with internal and external attributions.
    In my country, it is usual that students attribute their success to them and their failure to the teacher.
    Nice post!

    ResponderExcluir

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