Educational Psychology / Unit 7 EDP 0623 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Classifying Attributions
The idea
Weiner's three dimensions classify the four classic causes of success and failure. Ability is internal, stable and uncontrollable: it belongs to the student, it does not change from task to task, and the student cannot choose it in the moment. Effort is internal, unstable and controllable. Task difficulty is external, stable and uncontrollable. Luck is external, unstable and uncontrollable. To classify any explanation, ask three questions in turn: is the cause inside or outside the student, will it stay the same next time, and can the student control it?
In practice
Worked example: after a failed chemistry quiz, one student says "I'm no good at science": internal, stable and uncontrollable, an ability attribution. Another says "The quiz was unfair": external, stable and uncontrollable. A third says "I used the wrong study method": internal, unstable and controllable, a strategy attribution that works like effort.
Where people slip
Effort is controllable, not uncontrollable, and ability is uncontrollable, not controllable; mixing these up reverses the theory's advice. The stability dimension also shapes expectations: stable causes predict the same result next time, which is why an ability explanation for failure is so discouraging.
Your place on the trail
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Builds on
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