Attribution Theory and Performance

Fritz Heider first introduced the concept of attribution theory in the 20 th century. The
theory postulates that people perceive a given behavior differently (Pekrun & Marsh, 2018).
People tend to automate a thought process after seeing behavior in someone. There are two types
of attribution that people assign an emotion or behavior. One is the dispositional idea of
attribution, which assigns behavior to someone based on their internal process of thinking or
personality traits. There is also situational attribution based on the idea that external forces
determine individual behavior and emotions.
The theory classifies attribution into dimensions like stability, locus control, and
controllability. Stability and controllability play a significant role in the context of learning by
facilitating the development of an internal and external sense of control (Pekrun & Marsh, 2018).
Such implies that students can engage in an internal project in a learning setup and still be
motivated by the external environment. Applying attribution theory in a learning environment
ensures that the children develop the controls responsible for retaining knowledge and
understanding.
I was born and brought in a religious family where good daughters never said no to their
parents. My father wanted me to enroll in a local school where I would pursue a course in health
sciences. I was academically proactive, and scoring A’s was important to my parents. I did not
have to study hard to achieve the desired academic results, and passing exams was evident.
However, when I took my final test, I scored a C which was far from my expectations. The grade
had a significant impact on my overall performance, where I ended up scoring an aggregate point
of B. That meant I could not pursue my course of choice since I failed to meet the minimum

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requirements. I blamed my failure on the teacher, whom I claimed did not like me. I could not
admit I failed because of overconfidence or wrongly written paper. My parents could be
disappointed in me.
Blaming the teacher for my failure implied that they were in the wrong. They gave me a
lower grade through biased evaluation, which affected my overall performance. My self-image
was also adversely affected because I believed in myself, and my parents had banked their hopes
on me. The claim that the teachers were biased was meant to neutralize the guilt of
overconfidence and not taking responsibility for my performance.
Today, I perceive failure as a learning opportunity and not a platform for blame games. If
I encounter failure, I consider assessing the factors that contributed to the failure and how to
handle the situation to avoid a repeat of the same. I learn to embrace that failure is a process, and
when I fail, I take full responsibility. It does not mean that I have not tried, but next time I find
myself in a similar situation, I will respond differently to get positive outcomes.

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Reference

Pekrun, R., & Marsh, H. W. (2018). Weiner’s attribution theory: Indispensable—but is it
immune to crisis?.