Table Of ContentSSSP
Springer
Series in
Social
Psychology
SSSP
Bernard
~iner
An Attributional Theory
of Motivation
and Emotion
Springer-Verlag New York Berlin Heidelberg
London Paris Tokyo
Bernard Weiner
Department of Psychology
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California 90024
U.S.A.
With 60 Figures
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Weiner, Bernard.
An attributional theory of motivation and emotion.
(Springer series in social psychology)
Bibliography p.
Includes index.
1. Motivation (Psychology) 2. Emotions
3.Attribution (Social psychology) I. Title.
II. Series.
BF503.W44 1986 153.8 86-1807
©1986 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986
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987 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-13:978-1-4612-9370-5 e-ISBN-13:978-1-4612-4948-1
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4612-4948-1
Better to attempt to light one small candle
than to curse the darkness
Confucius
Preface
For a long time I have had the gnawing desire to convey the broad motivational sig
nificance of the attributional conception that I have espoused and to present fully the
argument that this framework has earned a rightful place alongside other leading
theories of motivation. Furthermore, recent investigations have yielded insights into
the attributional determinants of affect, thus providing the impetus to embark upon
a detailed discussion of emotion and to elucidate the relation between emotion and
motivation from an attributional perspective. The presentation of a unified theory
of motivation and emotion is the goal of this book.
My more specific aims in the chapters to follow are to: 1) Outline the basic princi
ples that I believe characterize an adequate theory of motivation; 2) Convey what I
perceive to be the conceptual contributions of the perspective advocated by my col
leagues and me; 3) Summarize the empirical relations, reach some definitive con
clusions, and point out the more equivocal empirical associations based on
hypotheses derived from our particular attribution theory; and 4) Clarify questions
that have been raised about this conception and provide new material for still further
scrutiny. In so doing, the building blocks (if any) laid down by the attributional con
ception will be readily identified and unknown juries of present and future peers can
then better determine the value of this scientific product.
Engaging in this task requires a degree of both megalomania and courage
megalomania because one assumes that the work deserves the attention of others
and has some belief that their judgments will be positive; courage because nomerous
errors of omission and commission often are more evident to an author than to
readers or critics. The narcissistic aspect of this task will lead me to highlight the
contributions of the attributional perspective; such a book is not the place to hide
"light under a bushel." The more intrepid feature of my goal hopefully will enable
me to write candidly about the shortcomings of the attributional approach that
I advocate.
The empirical investigations described in this book conducted by my colleagues
and me were funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Spencer
Foundation, and the Public Health Service, National Institute of Mental Health.
viii Preface
I am grateful for their support and particularly to the National Institute of Mental
Health for current funding, Grant #38014. In addition, I want to express my thanks
to Franz Weinert and the Max-Planck-Institute, where this book was first started,
and to Julie Verette, for her careful assistance.
Los Angeles, July 1986 Bernard Weiner
Contents
1. Principles for a Theory of Motivation ......................... .
Principles for Theory Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Summary.................................................. 15
Theoretical Overview and Plan of the Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 15
Part I. The Components of the Theory
2. A Descriptiol1 of Perceived Causality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 21
A Working Definition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 21
Causal Search in Everyday Life ...................... . . . . . . . . .. 22
Coding of Written Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
Coding of Verbalizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27
Indirect Attributional Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 31
Summary and Conclusions .................................... 32
The Content of Causal Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 36
Conclusions About Perceived Causality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41
3. The Structure of Perceived Causality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 43
The Logical Analysis of Causal Structure ........................ 44
The Empirical Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 51
Some Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 68
Research Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 72
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 78
4. Perceived Causality and Goal Expectations ..................... 79
Expectancy of Goal Attainment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 80
Theories of Expectancy Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 81
x Contents
An Attributional Approach to Expectancy Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85
Implications of the Stability-Expectancy Relation ............. . . . .. 95
Reinforcement Schedules and Experimental Extinction. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 104
Theoretical and Empirical Issues ............................... 109
A General Law .............................................. 114
Summary .................................................. 115
5. Perceived Causality and Emotional Reactions ................... 117
Approach to Emotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 119
The Cognition-Emotion Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 120
Outcome-Dependent Affects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 122
Attribution-Linked Affects .................................... 127
Causal Locus and Self-Esteem (Pride) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 128
Causal Controllability and Social Emotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 135
Causal Stability and Time-related Emotions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 153
Summary and Conclusion ..................................... 154
Part II. The Structure of the Theory
6. An Attributional Theory of Achievement Motivation
and Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 159
The Mind-Body Problem ...................................... 160
The Complete Theory ........................................ 161
Theoretical Comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 165
Experimental Tests of the Theory Within Achievement Contexts. . . . .. 166
Attributional Therapy ........................................ 180
General Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 190
7. Beyond Achievement Motivation: The Generality
of Attribution Theory ....................................... 191
Helping Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 192
Exploring Other Domains for Attributional Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 205
Extension Into Clinical Psychology .............................. 215
Summary and Conclusion ..................................... 222
8. Elaborating the Theory: Transactional Associations
and Added Relations ........................................ 225
The Influence of Affective States on Cognitive Processes. . . . . . . . . . .. 226
The Influence of Expectancy on Attributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 229
The Influence Communicated Affects on Causal Ascriptions . . . . . . . .. 234
Contents Xl
The Influence of Attributional Dimensions on
Causal Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 239
Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 241
9. Replicating the Theoretical Associations ........................ 243
A Laboratory Course in Attribution Theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 244
Summing Up ............................................... 254
Appendix: Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 256
References ..................................................... 277
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 295
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 301
Chapter 1
Principles for a Theory of Motivation
In which the author tells why attributions provide the
foundation for a theory of motivation. Twelve princi
ples for a general theory of motivation are proposed.
In 1645, Miyamoto Musashi was contemplating the causes of his past success as a
warrior. In A Book of Five Rings he mused:
When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not
due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of
heaven, or that other schools' strategy was inferior. (p. 35)
About 275 years later, and approximately 11,000 miles away, the editors of Scientific
American were wondering why America was flourishing. They reasoned:
The wealth and general prosperity of the country are largely due to the intelligence
and energy of its people, but it can hardly be disputed that it is equally due to the
natural wealth of the country. (Staff, April 1926, p. 228)
Unfortunately, battles are lost as often as they are won, and countries undergo eco
nomic decline as well as enrichment. During the recent financial recession in the
United States, the Los Angeles Times reported:
Timber industry experts blame high interest rates, the housing slump, tough logging
regulation, and expansion of the Redwood National Park for their sorry state. Tim
Skaggs, the union business agent, shrugged. "You could spend a lifetime fixing
blame;' he said, drinking coffee in his office on a dark and rainy day. (Martinez,
November 1982, Part V, p. 1)
Even the coach of my favorite football team found it necessary to soul-search about
causality following a series of losses. Again from the Los Angeles TImes (Robert,
November 22, 1982, Part 1lI, p. 3):
Here it is Thanksgiving week, and the Los Angeles Rams are looking like the biggest
turkeys in town. Coach Ray Malavasi has eliminated bad luck, biorhythms, and sun
spots as the reasons why his football team has lost 9 of its last 10 games. Now he's
considering the unthinkable possibilities that: a) he has lousy players or b) they
aren't really trying.
