Attribution Theory

One of the most amazing features of human beings is this: They can explain anything.   There is a theory about how people explain things. It is called Attribution Theory. Psychologists have defined attributions as an individual’s perception of the causes of events and outcomes.  Attribution theory is about how people make causal explanations; about how they answer questions beginning with "why?" The theory deals with the information they use in making causal inferences, and with what they do with this information to answer causal questions. The theory developed within social psychology as a means of dealing with questions of social perception.  It also describes the processes of explaining events and the behavioral and emotional consequences. 

There are some theories explaining how attribution works, that people act on the basis of their beliefs.  Therefore, beliefs must be taken into account if psychologists were to account for human behavior. This would be true whether the beliefs were valid or not. Heider also suggested that you could learn a great deal from commonsense psychology. He stressed the importance of taking the ordinary person's explanations and understanding of events and behaviors seriously.  This is why attribution theory is naïve psychology (Heider, 1958, 88-92).  In the Correspondent Inference Theory of Edward Jones and Keith Davis they described how an "alert perceiver" might infer another's intentions and personal dispositions (personality traits, attitudes, etc.) from his or her behavior (Jones and Davis, 1965, 18-24). Harold Kelley’s Model of Attribution Theory, theory is not limited to interpersonal perception. His theory concerns the subjective experience of attributional validity. He asks the question: "How do individuals establish the validity of their own or of another person's impression of an object?" (Kelley 1967, 192-238).  Attribution theory can be applied to health mental or the learning disabilities by some ways in terms of development of therapeutic relationships between health care professionals and clients, development of correct attributions, alteration of incorrect attributions, altering the focus of attributions, attributing characteristics to the individual, and maintenance of perceived personal effectiveness.  Through all these development attribution theory has been used to explain the difference in motivation between the people with mental health problems.  Attribution theory explains this by an individual who has mental problems will approach rather than avoid tasks related to succeeding because they believe success is due to high ability and effort which they are confident of (Kelley, 1973, 107-128).

There are the four types of attributions, effort, ability, level of task difficulty, and luck (Doris, 1993, 97-116).  Further investigation has revealed the three properties of attributions, locus of control, stability, and controllability. Locus of control refers to the source; internal or external to the learner, of the attributed cause and also to an individual's generalized beliefs regarding the contingency of reinforcement. Once, the belief of an individual's own behavior or relatively permanent personal characteristics (i.e., ability, effort) it will result to a particular outcomes or events which is referred to as internal locus of control while external locus of control is evident when an individual believes that events or outcomes are contingent on factors beyond the individual's control (i.e., chance, fate, luck, bias of others). Ability and effort are an internal locus because the individual has control over them. Task difficulty and luck are external, or beyond learner control. Learners generally view their ability and the task difficulty as constant or stable. These are the most difficult, if at all possible, of the four attributions to change. Effort and luck, however, are viewed as unstable, or easily changed. Controllability is the level of control that a learner believes they have over an attribution. Of the four attributions, only effort allows the learner any controllability. 

The theory of locus of control proposes that a person has an internal locus of control if he/she interprets events as being dependent on his/her own behavior or stable characteristics, and external control when he/she thinks that events are in some way contingent upon luck, fate, chance or the influence of other powerful persons. Applying this theory to health settings, those who feel that they have control over their own health and place a high value on health are more likely to pursue health-promoting behaviors than those who feel that their health is contingent upon external factors. It has been proposed that locus of control beliefs may be generalized from specific situations to similar or related ones.  Further, it is drawn attention to the fact that the value dimension must be taken into consideration when predicting health behavior with locus of control beliefs. It has been proposed that locus of control is only part of a larger construct called perceived control, which also includes the person’s capability of implementing health-promoting behavior. These might be the reasons why locus of control beliefs has not been found to predict well health behavior. 

The Health Locus of Control scale was developed as a unidimensional measure while people's beliefs that their health is or is not determined by their own behavior (Gredler, 1992, 35-44). Increasing numbers of investigators are turning to the health locus of control measure as the preferred alternative for studying health and sick-role behaviors. Using health locus of control scales to measure health related locus of control is used to evaluate health education program success. For evaluative purposes, changes in beliefs or expectancies are only relevant if accompanied by desired behavioral change.   

In addition, learning disability in light of discussion of "sin versus sickness" may offer some clues as to how teachers conceptualize learning disability. Weiner identified certain causes of outcomes in life, such as disability, as being sicknesses and others, such as drug abuse, as sins. Sicknesses are conceptualized by most individuals as internal to the individual, generally stable, and outside the control of the individual; therefore, they are seen as worthy of high levels of pity and low levels of anger. Outcomes resulting from these causes are rewarded at high levels and punished at low levels. Conversely, sins are viewed as unstable and under the control of the individual, and thus they elicit more anger and less pity; they are viewed as worthy of little reward but deserving of great punishment.  Learning disability is rooted in the traditional medical model of disability, that is, it can be seen as a condition, needing diagnosis that is centered within the child rather than in the educational environment.   

The current federal definition of learning disability and its within-child orientation further supports this view. Although some have begun to challenge this conceptualization, it remains the dominant model for identifying and remediating specific learning disabilities in the classroom. It seems reasonable, then, to propose that most teachers will conceptualize specific learning disability as internal to the child, stable, and uncontrollable.  Learning disabilities is also a disorder that affects people's ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain (Wallston and Wallston, 1978, 107-117). These limitations can show up in many ways as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, coordination, self-control, or attention. Such difficulties extend to schoolwork and can impede learning to read or write, or to do math.  Learning disabilities can be lifelong conditions that, in some cases, affect many parts of a person's life: school or work, daily routines, family life, and sometimes even friendships and play. In some people, many overlapping learning disabilities may be apparent. Other people may have a single, isolated learning problem that has little impact on other areas of their lives.  

Mental health professionals stress that since no one knows what causes learning disabilities, it doesn't help parents to look backward to search for possible reasons. There are too many possibilities to pin down the cause of the disability with certainty. It is far more important for the family to move forward in finding ways to get the right help.  In addition, a leading theory is that learning disabilities stem from subtle disturbances in brain structures and functions. Some scientists believe that, in many cases, the disturbance begins before birth.

People with learning disabilities are more vulnerable to mental health problems and psychiatric illnesses than the general population.  People with learning disabilities are not always able to access general psychiatric services as and when they wish to. To do so would require mainstream mental health services to become more responsive, and specialist learning disability services to provide facilitation and support.  Learning disability is a life-long condition that starts before adulthood. Learning disabilities occur as a result of genetic or developmental factors or damage to the brain.  They affect a person s level of intellectual functioning usually permanently and sometimes their physical development too. Learning disabilities tend to be fairly fixed and often cannot be treated and/or controlled with medication or other therapies; although much can be done to help people with learning disabilities achieve the best possible quality of life. 

Mental health problems are not usually evident in the early years of a person’s life, although some can appear in childhood. People diagnosed as mentally ill have feelings or behave in ways that are unacceptable to themselves or others, but these feelings and behaviors are often temporary and can change over time. Unlike learning disabilities, mental illnesses are not usually thought of as a result of damage to the brain and they do not usually result in permanent disabilities of intellectual functioning. There is much disagreement about the causes of mental health problems, but few proven facts. Issues such as difficult family background, experience of abuse in childhood, suppression of feelings, stressful life events, biochemistry and genetic predisposition have been implicated. Societal causes, for example, poverty and discrimination, should also be considered.

            Mental illnesses can also occur in episodes, with the person feeling well for some of the time and in crisis for the rest, with the severity of the crisis varying from time to time. Such crises are often referred to as the acute periods of a person s mental health problem. It is possible to recover completely from mental health problems and many people do.  Although mental health problems and learning disabilities are two separate diagnoses, people with learning disabilities can experience the full range of mental health problems, although the precise impact of mental illness in this population is not clear. The problem for people with learning disabilities is that they are not often able to express their feelings into words, so their actions may have to speak for them. Sudden changes in behavior can often be viewed as a phase, and so appropriate help may not be given.

            Health professionals and service providers are beginning to realize that people with learning disabilities who also experience mental health problems have complex needs. However, these needs can be poorly identified and this can mean that people are sometimes referred between different agencies and do not receive adequate therapeutic services. There are very few specific services able to deal with the complex needs of those with a dual diagnosis and it is hard to know where to refer such people.

            People with learning disabilities can experience mental health problems for the same reasons that the rest of us do, although it is often far more difficult to distinguish between symptoms and find suitable therapeutic interventions for them. As a result, mental health problems such as depression tend to be under-diagnosed and many symptoms of mental illness can be written off as challenging behavior.  In addition, most people with learning disabilities do not find work and so must live on welfare benefits.  

            Health and social services play a particularly significant role in the lives of many people with learning disabilities and their families. For many people, it is no exaggeration to say that the quality of their daily lives is dependent on the quality of the services they receive.  The services required by people with learning disabilities are often complex. People with learning disabilities have individual levels of disability, which vary a great deal from person to person.

            People with learning disabilities can lead full and rewarding lives, as many already do. But others find themselves pushed to the margins of our society.  People react in different ways to those who have learning disabilities. Some are embarrassed and avoid contact; others are over-protective and insist on helping people with things they are able to do themselves. Both attitudes are equally damaging. People with learning disabilities are often disabled more by the behavior of others towards them than by their own lack of ability. 

            It only shows that people with learning disabilities needs a fully attention because persons or individuals that has this kind of problems tends to run in families, so some learning disabilities may be inherited.  Learning disabilities memory difficulty in remembering information and instructions.   

            The day-to-day lives of people with a learning disability and their families have always been much affected by the way they are perceived and treated by the communities they live in.   It is important to know that attribution theory is an evolving field, it means that it really needs a practical insights regarding motivation, a motivation in order for the individual to be encourage and pursue their learning goals even though they have this kind of learning disabilities.

            In general, people differ with respect to the amount of control they believe they have over events in their lives.  Some people tend to believe that they have control over what happens to them, while other people believe that what happens is largely due to external factors such as chance or fate.  Those who believe they have control are more likely to face problems as challenges rather than stressful events or crises, and are more likely to seek out solutions. Those who believe that they do not have control over events in their lives tend to take a more passive role, leaving the decisions up to other people, or allowing events to just happen to them. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy, helplessness, and depression, particularly if very few positive events occur.

            It is very important for us to know and to recognize that a belief that one should have complete control over every aspect of life is not a healthy one and there are very few things in life that can be completely controlled.  We better know it is very important for everyone of us to recognize that there are things in their lives that they can control, but to be flexible in this belief, and to accept that in fact there are some things that we have to learn to accept and live with.

            In general, we all have a need to explain the world, both to ourselves and to other people, attributing cause to the events around us. This gives us a greater sense of control. When explaining behavior, it can affect the standing of people within a group especially ourselves.

            Attribution have been contributing or affecting those people with mental health or learning disabilities (Pintrich, Anderman, & Klobucar, 1994, 27,360-370).  People with learning disabilities seem less likely than non-disabled peers to attribute failure to effort, an unstable, controllable factor, and more likely to contribute failure to activity.  Conversely, people with learning disabilities are more likely to attribute success to external, uncontrollable factor such as luck, ease of task, or assistance received, rather than to internal factors such as ability or effort.

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