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IMPROVING PERSISTENCE THROUGH OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING AND ATTRIBUTION RETRAINING
Author(s) -
CRASKE M. L.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1985.tb02618.x
Subject(s) - psychology , persistence (discontinuity) , attribution , observational study , observational learning , retraining , developmental psychology , neglect , social psychology , experiential learning , psychiatry , medicine , mathematics education , geotechnical engineering , pathology , international trade , engineering , business
S ummary . This study aimed to improve the persistence of learned helpless children through reattribution training accomplished via observational learning. In addition, the relationships of effort attributions and intelligence to persistence behaviour were examined. In the initial phase, 65 Grade 5 and 6 subjects were presented with unsolvable puzzle‐completion problems to gauge persistence levels; they also completed the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale (IARS), and Raven's Progressive Matrices. IARS scores which reflected neglect of the effort factor in academic outcome correlated highly with persistence; intelligence scores were not related to persistence. In the second phase, the 32 least persistent subjects were assigned to control or vicarious reattribution training groups. The treatment was associated with increased persistence in female, but not male, subjects. The results are discussed in terms of exchange theory analysis and self‐worth theory.