10/23/2021; Week 6: Response to Attributional Tendencies

 

Attributional Tendencies

by Aranza Garza

I would like to start by defining this term:

According to professor John Ivers in the video Attributional Tendencies in Cultures, Attributional tendencies refer to "What we attribute success, and what do we attribute our failures." We divide the factors of this term into Internal VS External (like personal behaviors vs situational factors) and Stable and Unstable (unchanging factor and temporary factors).

Every culture has a different view of Attributional tendencies. For example, as mentioned in the previous video, Americans tend to attribute their success internally and their failures externally, contrary to Japan, where they attribute their success externally and their failures externally. 

This difference in culture can bring both good experiences and misunderstandings. One example can be how sometimes when Americans see other people behavior, they attribute this to internal causes, and if someone from another culture may hear these, they might find it scandalous of they may agree with them, it all depends on our paradigms and how we were raised in our culture.

This kind of situation can happen in TESOL and ESL classes due to the diversity that exists in these classes, teachers have to be careful of how they handle the subject. They need to teach students to respect and not make anyone feel bad. A thing that can happen with attributional tendencies, is that students may blame everything on themselves in an exaggerated way, and this may cause self-esteem issues. 

Mostly in education, teachers need to help students understand that there are many factors in success and failure and that they need to celebrate their success, and not blame themselves so hard for their failures. In the video above and the previous information, we mention how in Japan they attribute their failures to themselves, and even though to some point this may be helpful, it can also lead to Japan having a high suicide rate. 

Knowing this information can help us in our day-to-day lives, and in how we see other people and other cultures. It can also help teachers understand and support their students in better ways. We will always have differences, and we should always learn from them and appreciate them. 

Questions to Reflect:

• What type of Attributional tendencies are predominant in your culture?
• What are your personal Attributional tendencies?
• How do you think your future students would react to differences in their classmates' Attributional tendencies?

REFERENCES

Attributional Tendencies in Cultures, BYU Idaho, uploaded by Tim Tanner (March 17th, 2015) LINK

Summary Attribution, Social Psychology, LINK