| dc.description.abstract | Previous research has shown that the causes children attribute their successes and failures to such as ability, effort, and luck are related to self-concept, school performance and other academic behaviors (Bar-Tal, 1978; Covington, 1984; Marsh, Cairns, Relich, Barnes, & Debus, 1984; Weiner, 1979). Although much research has been done to establish these relationships, their precise nature is still debated, particularly as they pertain to very young children.
In this project, the development of self-concept and academic attributional style in children who are just beginning their formal schooling was investigated. Attributional style is a construct that identifies the causes children point to as reasons for success and failure. Children can either indicate internal or external reasons and stable or unstable reasons. The descriptors, "internal/external" and "stable/unstable" refer to the child's locus of control, a related construct that is regarded more as a personality characteristic from which attributional style develops. For example, "I do bad in math because math is too hard for me" is an internal, stable cause, referring to a lack of ability and "I don't remember the story because I wasn't paying attention" is an internal, unstable cause. In contrast, "I do bad in school because the teacher doesn't like me" is an external cause referring to the influence of powerful others.
Lefcourt (1991) described locus of control as a personality characteristic that accounts for why some people are motivated to succeed in the face of challenge, while others fall prey to negativity and defeatism. Attributional style stems from locus of control research (Marsh, 1984). Attributional researchers typically place more emphasis on particular perceived causes of success and failure (e.g., ability, effort, powerful others) as well as the impact of various situational variables. Marsh (1984) pointed out that this emphasis on situational variables leaves in question whether the theoretical constructs in this research also apply to dispositional differences in subjects' perceptions of their own behavior. This distinction between dispositional and situational research may be key to unraveling much seemingly contradictory data in attributional research. | en |
