Explaining Academic Successes & Failures Through Attributional Styles DO I CONTROL MY FUTURE?

EXPERIENCE ANALYSIS: Interpretation & Prediction ACTION THE PROCESS OF ATTRIBUTION

Uncontrollable Negative Event Correct perception of past helplessness, but INCORRECT prediction of future helplessness INACTION THE PROCESS OF LEARNED HELPLESSNESS

 Student’s critical developmental stage  Personal agency and success  Achievement focus ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE & ACADEMICS

The present study looks at the role of attributional styles in students’ response to academic failure.  Three hypothesis were tested  I: unavoidable failure primes students for future failure  II: A failure experience will facilitate the development of a helpless (or maladaptive) attributional style  III: a helpless attributional style primes students for repeated failure HYPOTHESISHYPOTHESIS

 PARTICIPANTS:  Thirty-seven college students  Mean age  27 females and 10 males  MATERIALS:  Logic Puzzle  Possible & Impossible puzzle  The new Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ)  College students  PROCEDURE:  Introduction and “lesson”  timed logic puzzle  new ASQ  final timed logic puzzle.  Debrief METHODS

RESULTS

Unavoidable failure primes students for future failure A significant relationship was found between failure and future behavior. It was observed that success primes students for future success, however failure does not solely prime students for future failure, but for future success as well. HYPOTHESIS I EXPERIENCE ANALYSIS: Interpretation & Prediction ACTION INITIAL SUCCESS INIITIAL FAILURE

A failure experience primes students for the development of a helpless attributional style Results were not consistent with the second hypothesis and one failure experience did not prime students for the development of a helpless attributional style. HYPOTHESIS II EXPERIENCE ANALYSIS: Interpretation & Prediction ACTION STABILITY GLOBALITY TOTAL S F.91.92

A maladaptive or helpless attributional style primes students for repeated failure Results supported the third hypothesis and showed that the dimension of causal stability is positively related to future failure. HYPOTHESIS III EXPERIENCE ANALYSIS: Interpretation & Prediction ACTION STABILITYGLOBALITY SS FS FF

 Among students, success primes for further success while failure can prime for both future failure and improvement  A student’s attributional style will affect how s/he responds to academic failure  A high expectation of negative causal stability is correlated with repeated failure  Causal stability is significant because of task similarity  One uncontrollable negative event is not enough to encourage a helpless attributional style  Style encourages how to respond to that event  An increase in failure experiences would likely increase the measurable effect of failure on attributional style  Attributional style is developed at a young age (some studies say as early as age 10) and consistent throughout one’s lifetime DISCUSSION

 There is literature to support both that  Repeated failure primes for learned helplessness  failure motivates improvement – whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger  Significantly higher mean ASQ scores than those reported by the original, expanded and new ASQ  ceiling effect  3:1 female to male ratio  Depression among females  Depression and helplessness  “Perceived” success & failure is difficult to facilitate and monitor  Low-SES homes high number of uncontrollable negative events DISCUSSION

CONTACT: KATE GWOZDZ