Attribution Theory
Attribution theory research papers are written for psychology courses that require research on psychological theories. Paper Masters can custom write your research paper on attribution theory for a psychology class or for education majors that also study motivational theories.
Attribution Theory looks at the fact that human beings are unique among living things in that we ask the question, "Why?". Human beings long for explanations and reasons for just about everything that happens in our lives and around us. This begins seemingly by instinct when we are children and begin to demand answers of our parents to every question under the sun from "Why is the sky blue?" to "Why do people die?" As we get older, we tend to ask fewer questions about the things going on around us, and more questions about the things that happen to us directly. We want to know why they happened. Attribution Theory suggests that there are two possible types of explanation for things that happen to us.
- One, we can make an external attribution.
- Two, we can make internal attribution.
An external attribution assigns cause to an outside agent or force. Or as some might say, "The devil made me do it." An external attribution claims that some outside thing motivated the event. By contrast, an internal attribution assigns cause to factors within the person. Or as the sinner would say, "I'm guilty, grant me forgiveness." An internal attribution claims that the person was directly responsible for the event.
Attribution Theory and Motivation
Attribution theory is a cognitive theory of motivation and is based in general, on a principal of the individual that suggests individuals are conscious, rational, and knowledgeable decision-makers and therefore responsible for their own education. It is the opposite of a machine as metaphor that says human behavior is a non conscious automation that can produce output or behaviors, in reaction to a certain type of stimulus. It is a contention that this automation is triggered by something inside that will react in a particular way to stimulus. This automation is the opposite of the cognitive theory of attribution.