The Making of Heroes: An Attributional Perspective

The supervision process is examined from an attributional perspective. Counselor supervision is conceptualized as an interactional process in which trainees learn to describe and manage cause‐effect relationships. Attribution theory from the social psychological literature is reviewed, and common biases and errors in the attribution process are discussed in terms of their relationship to supervision. Finally, several interventions are proposed to help supervisors minimize the influence of these attributional biases on their own and their trainees' perceptions and behaviors.

This paper explores the effects of failure on an individual's self-concept. A model based on attribution theory, among others, is elaborated to predict how an individual's self-concept will be affected by failure situations. It is argued that where the individual chooses to attribute causality for failure, the situation will determine the effects of that failure on his self-concept unless the individual's belief system modifies the attribution process. This attribution is related to one major individual difference: a person's generalized expectancy for control. It is hypothesized that an individual's predisposition to conceive of causality as deriving from either controllable forces or uncontrollable forces will mediate the attribution process and hence the effect of the failure on his self-esteem. The hypothesized effects of failure on self-concept are tested by analysis of 122 undergraduate students' responses to a series of ten hypothetical failure situations. Responses to the situations were ...

We argue that although attributional processes appear to affect virtually all goal and reward oriented behavior in organizations, they have not received adequate attention in the organizational sciences. In this Incubator, we encourage scholars to unlock the potential of attribution theory to develop more complete explanations of organizational behavior. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article discusses the prospects and problems of applying theoretical constructs and empirical findings in the area of human attribution and judgmental processes to cognitive behavioral treatment approaches. The widespread existence of biases and judgmental errors among lay people are discussed together with suggestions for the uses of techniques to reduce these biases. Finally, the limitations of attributional retraining and debiasing techniques are highlighted particularly for clients with more severe problems where traditional behavioral and or pharmacological interventions may also be required.

The purpose of this study was to examine postprogram exercise motivation and adherence in cancer survivors who participated in the Group Psychotherapy and Home-Based Physical Exercise (GROUP-HOPE; Courneya, Friedenreich, Sela, Quinney, & Rhodes, 2002) trial. At the completion of the GROUP-HOPE trial, 46 of 51 (90%) participants in the exercise group completed measures of attribution theory constructs. A 5-week follow-up self-report of exercise was then completed by 30 (65%) participants. Correlational analyses indicated that program exercise, perceived success, expected success, and affective reactions were strong predictors of postprogram exercise. In multivariate stepwise regression analyses, program exercise and perceived success were the strongest predictors of postprogram exercise. Additionally, perceived success was more important than objective success in understanding the attribution process, and it interacted with personal control to influence expected success and negative affect. Finally, postprogram quality of life and changes in physical fitness were correlates of perceived success. We concluded that attribution theory may have utility for understanding postprogram exercise motivation and adherence in cancer survivors.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a positive and functional attributional model of leadership, using both leadership perceptions and leadership effectiveness as criteria. Drawing from cognitive complexity theory, and attributional complexity theory, this article identifies attributional accuracy of managers as the fundamental component of the functional model developed here. The model of leadership developed here focuses on such key leadership constructs as leader information processing using complex schemata, leader attributions and their accuracy, leader behaviors that follow their attributions, mediating variables such as subordinate self‐efficacy, satisfaction, and motivation, and outcome variables such as leadership perceptions and subordinate performance. These variables are linked in a process model.Design/methodology/approachThe article depends on a critical review of the literature to build a theoretical model consistent with theory building guidelines.FindingsAccurate attributions and the avoidance of attributional biases are identified as key factors determining effectiveness and leadership perceptions. Leader interactive behaviors, feedback latency, and the development of strategies for improving performance are identified as key consequences of attributional accuracy.Practical implicationsThis article has implications for the ways in which managers are selected and trained to provide leadership in organizations.Orginality/valueThe theory developed here breaks new ground in the investigation of the positive and functional attributional processes of leaders leading to organizational or unit effectiveness. This research contributes to knowledge by pointing to the functional role of accurate attributions and the delineation of the processes through which such attributions can lead to enhancing subordinate motivation and hence leadership effectiveness.

Perceptions of clothes can be distinctive, varying across individuals, situations, cultures, and time. Evidence from daily life and from existing literature across disciplines, although disparate, all point to the importance of clothing in the workplace. With a systematic inductive approach, we identify three universal and distinctive clothing characteristics at work - formality, provocativeness, and fashionability - as well two other categories - uniforms and religiosity of clothing - which are tied to particular social groups. Drawing on attribution theory and the stereotype content model, we provide a cohesive conceptual framework in which clothing characteristics influence observers’ perceptions of wearer’s competence and warmth through observers’ dispositional attribution process. These perceptions, in turn, influence performance appraisals and supportiveness directed at wearers. We conclude by offering suggestions for future research and implications for employees and employers with regard to managing clothing practices and avoiding potential biases.

In an advertising experiment investigating message claim credibility, realistically the researcher probably is not dealing with naive respondents. Thus, the respondents’ past experiences with advertising become a part of the attributional process. A reply is made to “Comments on Attribution Theory and Advertiser Credibility.”

The main thrust of this longitudinal study was directed at providing empirical evidence for a model of entrepreneurial behaviour and firm success employed in recent research. The model, grounded on Miner's task role motivation theory and Weiner's approach to attribution theory, specifies the influence of role requirements on certain motivational patterns, and identifies the mediating effects of attributional processes for failure and success, and of perceived environmental uncertainty, on a type of entrepreneurial behaviour likely to spawn firm success. The findings of this study support, overall, the predictive feature of I he model.