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The functional relationship between performance outcome and causal attributions
Author(s) -
Milech D.,
Nesdale A. R.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8309.1984.tb00630.x
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , affect (linguistics) , outcome (game theory) , social psychology , function (biology) , cognition , developmental psychology , communication , mathematics , mathematical economics , evolutionary biology , biology , neuroscience
Two experiments were conducted to examine the function relating performance outcome and causal attributions. Unlike previous studies, the degree of success or failure experienced was varied over five rather than only two levels so that the form of this function, as well as that relating outcome to affect, could be studied. It was found that subjects' attributions were not linearly related to their level of success. While the attributions of less successful subjects (10, 30 or 50 per cent correct) were quite similar, the attributions of successful subjects (70 or 90 per cent correct) were quite distinct. In contrast, the affect experienced by subjects was a simple linear function of the degree to which they were successful at the task. The implications of these findings for motivational and cognitive accounts of performance attributions and for the design of future attribution studies are discussed.