Attribution theory deals with how people make causal explanations for events and behaviors. It examines what information people gather and how they use it to form causal judgments. A key process is that people first perceive a behavior, believe it was intentional, and then determine whether internal characteristics or external forces caused it. People have biases like fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias that can lead to incorrect attributions. Kelley's co-variation model examines consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency to determine whether to attribute a behavior internally or externally. Teachers can help students develop self-efficacy, the belief in one's abilities, through performance experiences, social persuasion, and helping students visualize success.

1. Attribution
Theory
Mina Johndeil B.

2. “Attribution theory deals with how the
social perceiver uses information to arrive
at causal explanations for events. It
examines what information is gathered and
how it is combined to form a causal
judgment” (Fiske, & Taylor, 1991)

3. What is Attribution
Theory?
Attribution theory is concerned with how
individuals interpret events and how this
relates to their thinking and behavior.
Attribution theory assumes that people
try to determine why people do what they do,
i.e., attribute causes to behavior. A person
seeking to understand why another person
did something may attribute one or more
causes to that behavior.

4. A three-stage process underlies an
attribution: (1) the person must perceive or
observe the behavior, (2) then the person must
believe that the behavior was intentionally
performed, and (3) then the person must
determine if they believe the other person was
forced to perform the behavior (in which case the
cause is attributed to the situation) or not (in
which case the cause is attributed to the other
person).

5. • People make sense of their surroundings on the basis
of what they have consider is the cause and the effect
of a phenomenon is.
• It suggest that individuals observe their own behavior or
experience, try to figure out what caused it, and then
(whatever or not their conclusion is in fact correct)
shape their future behavior accordingly.
• For example, if a consumer has had bad experience with
a locally-made product( and good experience with an
imported one) he or she may conclude that the bad
product is bad because it is locally made.

6. • The purpose behind making attribution is to
achieve COGNITIVE CONTROL over one’s
environment by explaining and understanding
the causes behind behaviors and environmental
occurrences.
• Making attributions gives order and
predictability to our lives; helps us to scope.
Imagine what it would be like if you felt that you
had no control over the world.

7. INTERNAL and EXTERNAL
Attribution
Internal Attribution:
The process of assigning the cause of
behavior to some internal characteristic, rather
than to outside forces. When we explain the
behavior of others we look for enduring internal
attributions, such as personality traits.
For example, we attribute the behavior of a
person to their personality, motives or beliefs.

8. 2. External Attribution:
The process of assigning the cause of
behavior to some situation or event outside a
person's control rather than to some internal
characteristic.
When we try to explain our own behavior
we tend to make external attributions, such as
situational or environment features.

9. • INTERNAL- dispositional
• EXTERNAL- situational

10. INTERNAL vs. EXTERNAL
• In an internal, or dispositional, attribution, people infer
that an event or a person’s behavior is due to personal
factors such as traits, abilities, or feelings.
• In an external, or situational, attribution, people infer
that a person’s behavior is due to situational factors.
• Example; Maria’s car breaks down on the freeway. If she
believes the breakdown happened because of her
ignorance about cars, she is making an internal
attribution. If she believes that the breakdown
happened because her car is old, she is making external
attributions.

11. INTERNAL EXTERNAL
ABILITY
(Am I smart or what?)
TASK
DIFFICULTY
(Math is hard)
EFFORT
(I studied a lot)
LUCK
(Man I got lucky)

12. ATTRIBUTION BIAS
When people make an attribution, they are
guessing about the causes of events or
behaviors.
These guesses are often wrong. People have
systematic biases, which lead to make
incorrect attributions
These biases include the fundamental
attribution error, the self-serving bias, and
the just word hypothesis.

13. Kelley's Co-variation Model
• Kelley’s (1967) co-variation model is the best-known
attribution theory. He developed a logical model for
judging whether a particular action should be attributed to
some characteristic (internal) of the person or the
environment (external).
• The term co-variation simply means that a person has
information from multiple observations, at different times
and situations, and can perceive the co-variation of an
observed effect and its causes.
• He argues that in trying to discover the causes of behavior
people act like scientists. More specifically they take into
account three kinds of evidence.

14. Consensus
The extent to which other people behave
in the same way in a similar situation. E.g.,
Alison smokes a cigarette when she goes out
for a meal with her friend. If her friend smokes,
her behavior is high in consensus. If only Alison
smokes, it is low.

15. Distinctiveness
The extent to which the person behaves
in the same way in similar situations. If Alison
only smokes when she is out with friends, her
behavior is high in distinctiveness. If she
smokes at any time or place, distinctiveness is
low.

16. Consistency
The extent to which the person behaves
like this every time the situation occurs. If
Alison only smokes when she is out with
friends, consistency is high. If she only smokes
on one special occasion, consistency is low.

18. In this session you will:
• Build a deeper understanding of self-
efficacy, one example of a social- emotional
competency that can help students feel
more motivated to persist and succeed.
• Leave with at least one specific strategy or
technique that you could try in the
classroom to support your students in
developing self-efficacy.
• Identify the role of a teacher can play in
helping students develop self- efficacy

19. Self-efficacy is the belief we have in our own
abilities, specifically our ability to meet the
challenges ahead of us and complete a task
successfully (Akhtar, 2008). General self-efficacy
refers to our overall belief in our ability to succeed,
but there are many more specific forms of self-
efficacy as well (e.g., academic, parenting, sports).

20. A person’s self-efficacy can be influenced by the
following;
Performance experience;
refers to one’s previous and related
experiences, which can influence their
perception of whatever or not on has the
competence to perform the task at hand. This
tends to be what influences self-efficacy the
most.
For example; Alex feels more confident about
preparing a great science for fair this year,
after having placed in the top 3 at last year’s
fair.

21. Vicarious experience
refers to the observed performances
and experiences of other like oneself in a
similar situation. For example; although a
public speaking makes her nervous, Angela
feels better about her upcoming speech to
the student body after having watched her
best friend deliver a speech that was well-
received by their peers.

22. Social persuasion
refers to verbal encouragement or
discouragement about a person’s ability to
perform. Typically, the more credible the source,
the more impact this source is likely to have on a
person’s self-efficacy. For example; when John’s
teacher reminds him how much John has
improved his writing since the beginning of the
year, new writing assignments seem less daunting.

23. Imaginal experience
refers to a person’s use their
imagination to envision his or her success at
a task. For example; before her match,
Karen visualizes her making plays her
soccer team has successfully used to feel to
feel more confident about her ability to defeat
their opponents at this upcoming games.

24. Physical and Emotional
states refers to how ones
experiences physical sensations and
emotional states when facing tasks or
challenges. For example; Nick feels
anxious before the band recital, but he
takes a moment to breathe and reframe
this emotion as excitement to perform
before his family and friends. He finds this
helps him to feel better about how he will
do his performance.

25. Self-Efficacy vs. Self-Esteem
• Self-esteem is conceptualized as a sort of general or
overall feeling of one’s worth or value (Neill, 2005).
While self-esteem is focused more on “being” (e.g.,
feeling that you are perfectly acceptable as you are),
self-efficacy is more focused on “doing” (e.g., feeling
that you are up to a challenge).
• High self-worth can definitely improve one’s sense of
self-efficacy, as high self-efficacy can contribute to
one’s sense of overall value or worth, but the two
stands as separate constructs.

26. Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation
Since self-efficacy is related to the concept of self-
control and the ability to modulate your behavior to reach
your goals, it can sometimes be confused with self-
regulation. They are related, but still separate concepts.
Self-regulation refers to individual’s “self-generated
thoughts, feelings, and actions that are systematically
designed to affect one’s learning” (Schunk & Zimmerman,
2007), while self-efficacy is a concept more closely related
to an individual’s perceived abilities. In other words, self-
regulation is more of a strategy for achieving one’s goals,
especially in relation to learning, while self-efficacy is the
belief that he or she can succeed.

27. Self-Efficacy and Motivation
Similarly, although self-efficacy and
motivation are deeply entwined, they are also
two separate constructs. Self-efficacy is
based on an individual’s belief in their own
capacity to achieve, while motivation is based
on the individual’s desire to achieve. Clearly,
those with high self-efficacy likely have high
motivation and vice versa, but it is not a
foregone conclusion.

28. Still, it is true that when an
individual gains or maintains self-
efficacy through the experience of
success—however small—they
generally get a boost in motivation to
continue learning and making progress
(Mayer, 2010). The relationship can
also work in the other direction to create
a sort of success cycle; when an
individual is highly motivated to learn
and succeed, they are more likely to
achieve their goals, giving them an
experience that contributes to their
overall self-efficacy.

29. Self-Efficacy and
Resilience
While experiences of success
certainly make up a large portion of
self-efficacy development, there is
also room for failure. Those with a
high level of self-efficacy are not only
more likely to succeed, they are also
more likely to bounce back and
recover from failure. This is the ability
at the heart of resilience, and it is
greatly impacted by self-efficacy.

30. Self-Efficacy and
Confidence
Finally, self-efficacy is also positively related to
confidence, but they are not the same thing; in the words of
Albert Bandura,
“Confidence is a nondescript term that
refers to strength of belief but does not
necessarily specify what the certainty is
about… Perceived self-efficacy refers to belief
in one’s agentive capabilities, that one can
produce given levels of attainment” (1997, p.
382).

31. 5 Examples of High Self-
Efficacy
So what does high self-efficacy
look like?
It’s relatively easy to spot because
those with high self-efficacy tend to
be those who achieve, accomplish,
and succeed more often than others.
High self-efficacy can manifest as
one or more of the following traits
and behaviors, among others:

32. • A student who is not particularly gifted in a
certain subject but believes in her own ability to
learn it well.
• A man who has had bad luck with relationships
so far, but retains a positive outlook on his
ability to connect with his upcoming date.
• An expectant mother who is nervous about
caring for a new baby, but believes that she has
what it takes to succeed, no matter how difficult
or scary it is.
•

33. • A new graduate who takes a high-profile,
high-status job that she has never done
before, but that she feels she can succeed
in.
• An entrepreneur who pours his heart and
soul into establishing his business, but
quickly moves on to his next great idea
when his business is hit with an
insurmountable and unexpected
challenge.

34. Increasing Academic
Performance in Students
Students with high self-efficacy
also tend to have high optimism, and
both variables result in a plethora of
positive outcomes: better academic
performance, more effective personal
adjustment, better coping with stress,
better health, and higher overall
satisfaction and commitment to remain
in school (Chemers, Hu, & Garcia,
2001).

35. For students who struggle with
reading, self-efficacy is both an outcome
and a key to their continued success.
Teachers who promote self-efficacy in
struggling readers are apt to find that those
students are more enthusiastic about and
more committed to learning than those who
have not received encouragement through
gradual progress (Margolis & McCabe,
2006).

36. Researchers Margolis and
McCabe (2006) recommend that
teachers focus on boosting students’
self-efficacy through three sources of
self-efficacy:
Enactive mastery
Vicarious experiences
Verbal persuasion