Today I learned about attributional tendencies. This term was a new one for me, but when I break it down it makes more sense. When consequences happen a person decides whether they are responsible or outside factors are responsible--this is the attribution. Whether someone is more likely to attribute those consequences to internal or external factors--this is the tendency.
The video shared the tendencies of three different cultures. Americans are more likely to believe they are responsible for their successes and others are responsible for their failures. They also believe the opposite for others. Others are responsible for the failures internally while external factors are responsible for their successes. This sounds like the culture that I live in. People are individualistic and they see that they can win or lose based on their choices, but are slow to realize their influence on their failure. Its easier to see all the obstacles that lead to failure instead of all the stepping stones that lead to success. However, it's easy to see the stepping stones that others have and difficult to see their obstacles.
My aunt was once told that she had a perfect life. She was so upset because that woman couldn't see all the trials and hard times she had gone through. She told me no one has a perfect life.
Professor Ivers also mentioned that in religious cultures like ours we attribute things to both internal and external factors simultaneously. So you may be receiving a blessing because Heavenly Father loves you and because of your righteousness. I've seen this with a lot of women as they try to get pregnant. It's so easy to listen to the other women say Heavenly Father blessed me with this child and think you must be doing something that precludes you from this blessing. I struggled for 3 years to get pregnant the first time. It was really difficult to remember that it's just a part of who I am and not a success or a failure. Blaming ourselves or blaming God only puts roadblocks into figuring out how to solve the problem.
The other two cultures mentioned were Hong Kong and Japan. These are both collectivist cultures. They tend to do the opposite of US cultures--recognizing that the group contributes to their successes. In Japan, they blame themselves for their failures while they credit others for their successes. This is particularly harsh because they ignore the outside influences that could also have led to their failures. They have one of the highest suicide rates because of this.
This is important for a teacher to remember especially when giving feedback and keeping the affective filter low. If a student has decided that they just aren't smart enough to learn then they will stress and/or turn off in class. Likewise, if a student is intent on blaming external factors for poor performance then they will be less responsible for their own learning and more likely to make excuses. This is something that I will use when dealing with students from other cultures in my classroom.
In my home culture, we transfer blame very easily and then we get offended that others would stand in our way or point out our personal responsibility. I think that it will take a lot of personal checks to make sure that we are not living with this bias on a day to day basis. Also, it will take patience with other's mistakes and learning to bite our tongues when it's not appropriate to share our opinions of blame. For my daughters, I want to teach them to be rational about how and where blame is placed. I will have to model this and talk to them about it regularly.
The video shared the tendencies of three different cultures. Americans are more likely to believe they are responsible for their successes and others are responsible for their failures. They also believe the opposite for others. Others are responsible for the failures internally while external factors are responsible for their successes. This sounds like the culture that I live in. People are individualistic and they see that they can win or lose based on their choices, but are slow to realize their influence on their failure. Its easier to see all the obstacles that lead to failure instead of all the stepping stones that lead to success. However, it's easy to see the stepping stones that others have and difficult to see their obstacles.
My aunt was once told that she had a perfect life. She was so upset because that woman couldn't see all the trials and hard times she had gone through. She told me no one has a perfect life.
Professor Ivers also mentioned that in religious cultures like ours we attribute things to both internal and external factors simultaneously. So you may be receiving a blessing because Heavenly Father loves you and because of your righteousness. I've seen this with a lot of women as they try to get pregnant. It's so easy to listen to the other women say Heavenly Father blessed me with this child and think you must be doing something that precludes you from this blessing. I struggled for 3 years to get pregnant the first time. It was really difficult to remember that it's just a part of who I am and not a success or a failure. Blaming ourselves or blaming God only puts roadblocks into figuring out how to solve the problem.
The other two cultures mentioned were Hong Kong and Japan. These are both collectivist cultures. They tend to do the opposite of US cultures--recognizing that the group contributes to their successes. In Japan, they blame themselves for their failures while they credit others for their successes. This is particularly harsh because they ignore the outside influences that could also have led to their failures. They have one of the highest suicide rates because of this.
This is important for a teacher to remember especially when giving feedback and keeping the affective filter low. If a student has decided that they just aren't smart enough to learn then they will stress and/or turn off in class. Likewise, if a student is intent on blaming external factors for poor performance then they will be less responsible for their own learning and more likely to make excuses. This is something that I will use when dealing with students from other cultures in my classroom.
In my home culture, we transfer blame very easily and then we get offended that others would stand in our way or point out our personal responsibility. I think that it will take a lot of personal checks to make sure that we are not living with this bias on a day to day basis. Also, it will take patience with other's mistakes and learning to bite our tongues when it's not appropriate to share our opinions of blame. For my daughters, I want to teach them to be rational about how and where blame is placed. I will have to model this and talk to them about it regularly.
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