Attributional Tendencies-Week 6-5/28/22

Attributional tendencies are an interesting concept that we all use often in our lives. Are we to blame for our successes and failures or are other circumstances or people around us to blame? In our culture, no matter what culture that might be, there is a tendency to lean one way or the other. If you succeed in obtaining a good career, is it because you worked hard and earned it, or is it because others set you up for success by helping you along the way? If you didn't get the career you wanted, is it because you were lazy or dumb, or was it because you were born into poverty and that set you up for failure? What we don't realize is that depending on the circumstance, the answer could go either way or be somewhere in the middle. Often though, we only see it one way or the other and that can be dangerous or just untrue. 

In America, we often give our successes to ourselves, while in Japan, they give the successes to others. But when there is a failure, Americans blame others and Japanese individuals often blame themselves. If Americans blame others or circumstances around them, then there would be a tendency towards hatred and lawsuits, which there is. If the Japanese blame themselves, then there would be a likelihood of higher suicide rates, which there are. There are probably other factors to contribute to this as well, but we cannot dismiss that being constantly hard on one's self has negative outcomes. Nor can we dismiss that never taking responsibility for one's actions doesn't come with problems in the home and community. 

The classroom is no different. If we have a student who is always blaming themselves for everything that goes wrong, they will never have enough faith in themselves to achieve anything great. Whereas if we have a student who is always blaming the dog for not turning in their homework, then the student will never see their part in the actions and will also never improve. But if the dog did eat the student's homework, then it is the dog's fault and the student shouldn't blame themselves unless the student fed it to his dog.

If we teach our students to take responsibility appropriately no matter what their cultural background, we will be making good headway in helping all communities. That is a big request, so we might need to start small and accept people where they are. If it is their cultural background to always blame others, then don't let that frustrate you, but see it as a societal struggle that will take time to overcome. Don't let it get you down, keep trying to teach the proper social skills, and hopefully, a few key concepts will sink in to allow for improvement. Also, for the student who is very hard on themselves, teach them positive self-value and help them see how to celebrate the good they have done and work through the bad, through your personal example. We can't change the world, but we can bring change to an individual.

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