Attribution Theory

Psychology Of education
Motivation
Dr Moyo N.
Cognitive Approaches to Motivation

 In Cognitive theories, people are viewed as active and curious, searching for
information to solve personally relevant problems.
 Thus, cognitive theorists emphasize intrinsic motivation.
 In many ways, cognitive theories of motivation also developed as a reaction to the
behavioural views.
 Cognitive theorists believe that behaviour is determined by our thinking, not simply
by whether we have been rewarded or punished for the behaviour in the past.
 Behaviour is initiated and regulated by plans, goals, schemas, expectations and
attributions.
Attribution theory
 This is a theory by Fritz Heider and further developed by Bernard Weiner.
 He is one of the main educational psychologists responsible for relating attribution
theory to school learning.
 The basic principle of attribution theory states that a person’s attributions for
success or failure determine the amount of effort the individual will expend on the
task.
 In other words, a person’s motivation is affected by attributions that one makes
about success and failure.
 Attribution Theory is a theory about how people explain things.
 Every day, people encounter events or situations that require explanation.
 They often ask questions pertaining to why certain things happened to them.
 After all, people typically do not ask why they did well in an examination, or why
they received warm greetings from a friend, but rather why they failed and why they
received rejection from a friend.
 Suppose you don’t do well in a test and you get a low mark, you would wonder why
you got a low mark and you will make some attributions that would have
contributed to you getting a low mark such as ‘l did not study hard’, ‘the test was
difficult’, ‘l am not smart enough’. Whereas the one, who did well, would say his/her
ability or the extra work earned him/her that mark.
 Learners may attribute their successes and failures to ability, effort, mood,
knowledge, luck, help, interest, clarity of instructions, the interference of others,
unfair policies etc.
 To understand the successes and failures of others we also make attributions- that
the others are smart or lucky or work hard, for example.
 Attribution theories of motivation describe how the individual’s explanations,
justifications and excuses about self or others influence motivation.
 The theory says attribution affect motivation in various ways. These are; locus of
control, stability and controllability.
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1. LOCUS OF CONTROL
 A locus of an attribution is the location of the source of success or failure.
 The location of the source can be internal or external.
 Internal locus of control assigns causality to factors within the person.
 Claims that the person was directly responsible for the event.
 External locus of control assigns causality to an outside agent or force.
 Claims that some outside thing motivated the event.
 The theory suggests that if one has an internal locus of control he/she is more likely
to be motivated but if it is external he/she is less likely to get motivated.
2. STABILITY
 The stability of an attribution is on its relative permanence.
 The degree to which the cause remains the same or changed.
 Ability is a lasting quality, it is stable.
 If you attribute your mark to effort, it is unstable because effort can change.
 In order for one to be motivated, it is better to look for things that can be changed.
3. CONTROLLABILITY
 It refers to the extent to which an individual can influence something.
 The degree to which the concerned person can control the cause .
 Effort to study is an example of something controllable, while luck is not something
controllable.
 NB- The theory is saying these attributions combine to motivate the learners.
 It motivates learners to attribute academic success or failure to factors that are
internal and controllable.
 Believing that performance depends on luck or excessive difficult of material means
you have an external locus of control and that removes or destroys motivation in
you.
 SUMMARY
 Learners should have an internal locus of control. This is where learners believe that
their own behaviour rather than external circumstances lead to success and failure.
 Learners who have an external locus of control become less motivated because they
do not see themselves as having the ability to change their circumstances.
 External locus of control diminishes the drive to work for better grades.
 Teachers should make their learners to believe that there are able and failure is a
result of lack of effort.
QUESTIONS
1. Explain the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
2. With reference to any theory of motivation, discuss the major strategies teachers
can use to motivate learners in a class situation.
3. Assess the role of motivation in the teaching and learning of your curriculum subject.
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Psychology Of education

Cognitive Approaches to Motivation

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