10/22/2021; W06: Attributional Tendencies

When I first read the term 'Attributional Tendencies' I was a little confused, but it's really not that complicated. Attributional tendencies refer to what we attribute our successes or failures to. There are two kinds, internal attributions when we refer our accomplishments or failures to accomplishments to ourselves; and external attributions when we refer to the accomplishments or failures to our circumstances or to other people.

Even though these examples are negative, they can also be positive! For example, if the person receives a good grade and says: "Yeah! I did it, I'm the best!". Then, we are talking about an internal attribution. Contrarily, if the person says: "The test has really easy, that's why I passed". Then, that's an external attribution.

In the world, different cultures have different attributional tendencies rooted in our minds. When we talk about our own success or failures, Individualists attribute their successes to themselves and their failures to external factors (self-serving attributions). Collectivists, on the other hand, attribute their successes to external factors and failures to themselves.

Do you remember this scene in the 2010 Karate Kid film? Meiying was nervous not to get into the music program she would audition for, even though she had been practicing a lot! Because she had been taught that not getting in meant she had not practiced enough and so it was her fault.

This is the perfect example of the attributional tendencies in collectivist cultures. TESOL teachers do we have an idea of the pressure that our students coming from a collectivist culture might feel? Do we realize the impact that it has on students' self-esteem?

We can help our students understand that a lot of times, our attributions are not true. It's just our own conception of the world. As Dr. John Ivers said:

If something bad happens to you, sometimes it is your fault, sometimes it's not your fault! Every circumstance is different.

Finally, the way we judge others' successes or failures. When we give the credit of good consequences to the situations and of bad consequences to their faults, then, we are being participants of what is known as fundamental attribution error. Individualists tend to fall into this misunderstanding more than collectivists.

That we, as TESOL teachers can be more sympathetic and help our students be more kind to themselves and to others. And do the same!