An Attributional Theory of Achievement Motivation and Emotion Bernard Weiner University of California, Los Angeles

A theory of motivation and emotion is proposed in which causal ascriptions play a key role. It is first documented that in achievement-related contexts there are a few dominant causal perceptions. The perceived causes of success and failure share three common properties: locus, stability, and controllability, with intentionality and globality as other possible causal structures. The perceived stability of causes influences changes in expectancy of success; all three dimensions of causality affect a variety of common emotional experiences, including anger, gratitude, guilt, hopelessness, pity, pride, and shame. Expectancy and affect, in turn, are presumed to guide motivated behavior. The theory therefore relates the structure of thinking to the dynamics of feeling and action. Analysis of a created motivational episode involving achievement strivings is offered, and numerous empirical observations are examined from this theoretical position. The strength of the empirical evidence, the capability of this theory to address prevalent human emotions, and the potential generality of the conception are stressed.

In 1645, Miyomota Musashi was contem- of the Redwood National Park for their sorry state. Tim plating the causes of his past success as a war- Skaggs, the union business agent, shrugged. 'You could spend a lifetime fixing blame,' he said. (Martinez, 1982, rior. In A Book of Five Rings he mused, Pt. 5, p. 1) When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. And even the former coach of my favorite Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or football team found it necessary to soul search that other schools' strategy was inferior. (1645/1974, p. 35) about causality following a series of losses. About 275 years later, and approximately Again from the Los Angeles Times: 11,000 miles away, the editors of Scientific Here it is Thanksgiving week, and the Los Angeles Rams American were wondering why America was are looking like the biggest turkeys, in town. Coach Ray flourishing. They reasoned, "The wealth and Malavasi has eliminated bad luck, biorhythms, and sun- general prosperity of the country are largely spots as the reasons why his football team has lost 9 of its last 10 games. Now he's considering the unthinkable pos- due to the intelligence and energy of its people, sibilities that: (a) he has lousy players or (b) they aren't but it can hardly be disputed that it is equally really trying. (Robert, 1982, Pt. 3, p. 3) due to the natural wealth of the country" (Staff, 1926, p. 228). Unfortunately, battles are lost Why this constant pursuit of "why"? A as often as they are won, and countries undergo number of explanations come to mind (see economic decline as well as enrichment. Dur- Forsyth, 1980; Weiner, 1985). We might just ing our recent financial recession the Los An- want to know, that is, to understand the en- geles Times reported, vironment, to penetrate ourselves and our sur- roundings. This familiar motivational inter- Timber industry experts blame high interest rates, the pretation is known as the principle of mastery housing slump, tough logging regulation, and expansion (White, 1959). In addition, it clearly is functional to know why an event has occurred. As Kelley (1971) stated, "The attributor is not This article was written while the author was supported simply an attributor, a seeker after knowledge; by Grant MH38014 from the Public Health Service, his latent goal in attaining knowledge is that National Institute of Mental Health. of effective management of himself and his en- The author wishes to thank Sandra Graham for her vironment" (p. 22). Once a cause, or causes, helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Requests for reprints should be sent to Bernard Weiner, are assigned, effective management may be Department of Psychology, University of California, Los possible and a prescription or guide for future Angeles, California 90024. action can be suggested. If the prior outcome 548 ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 549 was a success, then there is likely to be an at- generalizability of the theory beyond the tempt to reinstate the prior causal network. achievement-related theoretical focus. On the other hand, if the prior outcome or event was undesired—such as exam failure, Perceived Causes of Success and Failure social rejection, political loss, or economic decline—then there is a strong possibility that In the opening paragraphs of this article, there will be an attempt to alter the causes to far-ranging examples of causal search are pro- produce a different (more positive) effect. vided. Many investigations have been con- Desire for mastery and functional search, ducted that more systematically examine two of the generators of causal exploration, do causal perceptions, particularly the perceived not seem to specifically characterize one geo- causes of success and failure in achievement- graphical area or one period of human history. related situations. Two appropriate research The Japanese warrior in the Middle Ages and procedures have been followed. In one, subjects today's union representative are engaged in the are provided only with outcome information, same endeavor: attempting to assign causality. namely, that success or failure has taken place. Indeed, one might argue that adaptation is not The outcome might be imagined, induced, or possible without causal analysis. The warrior have occurred in a real setting, and might per- needs to know why he is winning battles so he tain to the subject or to another who is being can survive the next one, just as the union rep- judged. The subjects are then asked to explain resentative needs to explain why the industry the outcome, using a free-response procedure is doing poorly in order to urge wiser actions where the possibilities that come to mind are in the future. Because of the apparent pan- listed. In a related methodology, participants cultural, timeless aspect of causal search and are provided with a large list of causes and rate exploration, and because of the evident adap- the contribution of each cause to the outcome. tive significance of this activity, causal ascrip- These causes often were ascertained in pilot tions are proposed to provide the building research using a free-response methodology, blocks for the construction of a theory of mo- and represent the dominant perceptions or tivation and emotion. embracing categories. This article advances an attributional theory A summary of 10 pertinent studies is pre- of motivation and emotion, with achievement sented in Table 1. Table 1 reveals the source strivings as the theoretical focus. Initially, the of the data, the characteristics of the sample most salient causes of success and failure in and task, and the four most dominant causal achievement-related contexts are identified. ascriptions for success. The data for failure re- The basic properties of these causes, or the veal an identical story and are not presented. structure of causal thinking, is then deter- The message of Table 1 is clear, particularly mined from both a dialectic and an empirical inasmuch as the research investigations made perspective. Three causal dimensions are dis- use of a variety of types of subjects judging a covered: locus, stability, and controllability. variety of achievement situations, and involv- The structure of causal thinking is next related ing the self or another. A virtually infinite to emotion and motivation. Thus, this article number of causal ascriptions are available in progresses from a description of causal per- memory. However, within the achievement ceptions to causal structure, and then from domain, a relatively small number from the causal structure to an examination of the dy- vast array tend to be salient. The most domi- namics of action. It is documented that causal nant of these causes are ability and effort. That stability influences changes in goal anticipa- is, success is ascribed to high ability and hard tions, while the three causal dimensions de- work, and failure is attributed to low ability termine the emotional experiences of anger, and the absence of trying. This holds true for gratitude, guilt, hopelessness, pity, pride, and the majority of cultures that have been ex- shame. Guided by Expectancy X Value theory, amined (see Triandis, 1972). The economy or I presume that expectancy and affect direct simplicity in causal thinking evident in the motivated behavior. Examples of research on achievement domain appears in the explana- the disparate topics of parole decisions, smok- tion of other outcomes, such as wealth and ing cessation, and helping behavior suggest the poverty (Feather & Davenport, 1981; Furn- 550 BERNARD WEINER ham, 1982a, 1982b) and affiliative acceptance achievement-related activities, such as ability and rejection (Anderson, 1983a; Sobol & Earn, and effort, may be quite unlike the perceived in press). However, relatively few studies have causes of social acceptance and rejection, such been conducted outside of achievement-related as personality or physical attractiveness. One contexts. puzzle that arises is the relation or the com- parability between the various causal expla- The Structure of Perceived Causality nations—in what way(s) are ability and effort, or ability and physical beauty, alike and in I now turn from causal description and what way(s) do they differ? A taxonomic struc- identify the underlying structure of perceived ture enables this question to be answered, for causality. A reasonable initial question to raise by finding the underlying properties of causes, is why does one want to determine causal or their common denominators, previous in- structure? What purpose or role does this play comparable qualitative distinctions can be re- in the goal of theory construction? In response placed with quantitative causal comparisons. to this query, consider that, within any partic- For example, rather than merely being differ- ular activity, a myriad of distinct causal ex- ent, both ability and physical beauty may be planations are possible. Furthermore, for ex- considered properties of the actor and thus are ample, the causes of success and failure at similar, whereas they both differ from a cause

Table 1 Investigations of the Perceived Causes of Success and Failure

Experiment Subjects Perspective Task Dominant attributions

Frieze (1976) College students Self and Hypothetical school Effort, ability, luck, and other other and game persons performance Elig & Frieze (1979) College students Self Anagrams Task, ability, stable effort, and mood Frieze & Snyder (1980) 1 st-5th graders Other Hypothetical Unstable effort, ability, interest, academic test, art and task project, sports, and game Cooper & Burger (1980) Teachers Other School performance of Typical effort, academic ability, students immediate effort, and attention Burger, Cooper, & Good Teachers Other School performance of Ability, immediate effort, stable (1982) students effort, and attention Anderson (1983a) College students Other Variety of hypothetical Behavioral preparation, situations experience and skill, effort level, and general knowledge Willson& Palmer (1983) Study 1 College students Self School exam Effort, luck/chance, task characteristics, and interest Study 2 College students Self School exam Effort, ability, task characteristics, and interest Bar-Tal, Goldberg, & 7th graders Knaani(1984) Study 1 Advantaged Self Academic test Test preparation, effort for students study, concentration during study, and teacher's ability Study 2 Disadvantaged Self Academic test Test preparation, concentration students during study, effort for study, and self-confidence ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 551

that is not a property of the actor, such as the It is now realized that there are many short- objective ease or difficulty of a task. This type comings of this classification (see Weiner, of analysis facilitates empirical study so that 1983). Ability may be perceived as unstable if other associations may be discovered that con- learning is possible; effort often is perceived as tribute to the meaning and significance of a a stable trait, captured with the labels of lazy cause. and industrious; tasks can be changed to be more or less difficult; and luck may be thought Logical Analysis of Causal Structure of as a property of a person (lucky or unlucky). The first systematic analysis of causal struc- Thus, the causes within the four cells did not ture was proposed by Heider (1958). Rightly truly represent the classification system (i.e., called the originator of the attributional ap- they did not conform to the phenomenology proach in psychology, Fritz Heider has been of the naive attributor). Less ambiguous entries in the background of much of the present the- might have been aptitude, temporary exertion, ory. The most fundamental causal distinction objective task characteristics, and chance (see made by Heider (1958) was stated as follows: Weiner, 1983). Hindsight, however, is better "In common-sense psychology (as in scientific than foresight, and the problems so evident psychology) the result of an action is felt to now were not fully recognized in 1971. depend on two sets of conditions, namely, fac- A third dimension of causality was then es- tors within the person and factors within the tablished with the same deductive reasoning environment" (p. 82). that led to the identification of the stability Since the early 1950s, psychologists have dimension. Rosenbaum (1972) recognized that embraced an internal-external distinction (see mood, fatigue, and temporary effort, for ex- Collins, Martin, Ashmore, & Ross, 1974). But ample, all are internal and unstable causes. the domination of internal-external compar- Yet they are distinguishable in that effort is isons in psychology arrived with the work of subject to volitional control—an individual Rotter (1966), for his classification of individ- can increase or decrease effort expenditure. uals into internals and externals became a fo- This is not typically true of mood or the onset cus for research. Thus, the analysis of the of fatigue, which under most circumstances structure of causality logically began with an cannot be willed to change. The same distinc- internal-external (locus) dimension. tion is found among the internal and stable The argument was then made by Weiner et causes. Some so-called traits such as laziness, al. (1971) that a second dimension of causality slovenliness, or tolerance often are perceived was required. The reasoning was that, among as under volitional or optional control, whereas the internal causes, some fluctuate, whereas this is not characteristic of other internal and others remain relatively constant. For example, stable causes such as math or artistic aptitude ability (or, more appropriately, aptitude) is and physical coordination. perceived as a constant capacity; in contrast, The identification of this property, now other causal factors including effort and mood called controllability (Weiner, 1979), enlight- are perceived as more variable, changing from ened and solved some issues while creating moment to moment or from period to period. other difficulties. Among the illuminated topics Among the external causes the same reasoning was the distinction by Rotter (1966) between applies. For example, success in rowing across internal versus external perceptions of control a lake may be perceived as due to the un- of reinforcement. Within the three-dimen- changing narrowness of the lake or because of sional taxonomy, two of the proposed causal the variable presence of wind. Weiner et al. properties are labeled locus and control. A (1971) thus characterized the causes they cause therefore might be internal yet uncon- thought were most dominant in achievement- trollable, such as math aptitude. If failure is related contexts, namely, ability, effort, task ascribed to poor aptitude, then the perfor- difficulty, and luck, within a 2 X 2 categori- mance is perceived as determined by skill and zation scheme. Ability was classified as internal ability. According to Rotter, this indicates that and stable, effort as internal and unstable, task the outcome is perceived as subject to internal difficulty was thought to be external and stable, control. Yet a genetically determined aptitude and luck was considered external and unstable. will not be perceived as controllable by a failing 552 BERNARD WEINER

math pupil. Thus, confusion is evident in the ther control or intent (a possible distinction be- Rotter one-dimensional taxonomy. Locus and tween these labels will be examined). In three control, not locus of control, describe causal investigations other dimensions have emerged, perceptions. To avoid confusion, the locus di- but they are not manifest in more than one mension should be labeled locus of causality. study. The data therefore strongly support the Empirical Analysis of Causal Structure contention that there are three dimensions or properties of perceived causality, which is con- The logical analysis of causal structure has sistent with the causal properties derived from an inherent limitation: Causal dimensions are the logical analysis (although it must be rec- derived from attribution theorists, rather than ognized that even in the empirical studies the from their subjects. It is conceivable that each dimensions require a subjective or experi- theorist might have his or her own rational menter labeling, and at times the empirical scheme of causal organization and that these methodologies have imposed constraints on postulated structures will not be identical be- the causal perceptions of the subjects). The tween theorists nor the same as those of the empirical dimensions that have emerged are layperson. Empirical evidence therefore is reliable, general across situations, and mean- needed concerning the organization or the in- ingful. Other suggested dimensions are either terrelations in causal structure. Three math- unreliable (perhaps intimating that they are ematical techniques have been used to analyze specific to a particular context) and/or are not the responses of research participants for un- clearly meaningful, as the unnamed factor iso- derlying causal structure: factor or cluster lated by J. Meyer and Koelbl (1982). analysis (Foersterling, 1980; J. Meyer, 1980;J. It also seems to be the case that the structure Meyer &Koelbl, 1982;Wimer&Kelley, 1982), of causality is not merely a convenient classi- multidimensional scaling (Falbo & Beck, 1979; fication system imposed by attribution theo- Lee, 1976; Michela, Peplau, & Weeks, 1982; rists (see Schiitz, 1967, p. 59). The scaling and Passer, 1977; Passer, Kelley, & Michela, 1978; the correlational procedures, as well as those Stern, 1983), and correlations with a priori of factor analyses, yielded comparable dimen- schemes (Stern, 1983). sions corresponding to those that evolved from A brief summary of the empirical research the logical thinking of attribution theorists. concerning causal structure is shown in Table The dimensions, therefore, may be considered 2. Table 2 includes 7 of the 10 pertinent in- part of lay psychology. Finally, there is a rel- vestigations already cited. The research of ative simplicity in the organization of causal Foersterling (1980) and Lee (1976) is omitted thinking, just as there is in the selection of spe- because they only examined the ratings of four cific causes. causes (they did find the locus and stability dimensions). In addition, the study by Falbo and Beck (1979) is excluded because of meth- Causal Comparisons odological flaws (see Michela et al., 1982; Wei- ner, 1983). Recall that one of the purposes of creating It is evident from Table 2 that all studies, a causal taxonomy is to enable the investigator with the possible exception of Passer et al. to compare and contrast causes. Consider, for (1978), identify a locus dimension of causality. example, low math aptitude and physical un- Given the prominence of this psychological attractiveness as respective causes of achieve- property, perhaps this finding increases one's ment failure and social rejection. Both appear belief in the entire set of data. Turning to the to be internal, stable, and uncontrollable stability dimension, investigators with the ex- causes. Similar correspondence can be found ception of Passer (1977), and perhaps Passer between other causes of achievement and social et al. (1978) and Wimer and Kelley (1982), failure such as "the school has hard require- find a temporary-enduring property of cau- ments" versus "religious restrictions on dat- sality. Finally, all of the investigations save ing" (both being external, stable, and uncon- those by Michela et al. (1982) and Wimer and trollable). This demonstrates that the struc- Kelley (1982) describe a dimension called ei- tural analysis is not limited to achievement ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 553 contexts, which is an important consideration identified the same three causal properties, a in the search for theoretical generality. number of pertinent questions nevertheless remain to be addressed. Definitive answers can Issues Concerning Causal Structure be provided only to some of these questions. Might there be less than three dimensions? Although the rational (deductive) and em- This question is guided by a reliable finding pirical (inductive) approaches converged and that the dimensional ratings of causes are cor-

Table 2 Empirical Studies of Causal Dimensions

Dimensions

Control Experiment Procedure Domain Locus Stability (intent) Other

Meyer, J.( 1980) Factor analysis Achievement XXX (hypothetical exam of others) Meyer, }. & Koelbl Factor analysis Achievement X ' X X Unnamed (1982) (examination performance) Wimer & Kelley Factor analysis All X' X? Good-bad; complex- (1982) simple; motivation Passer (1977) Multidimensional Achievement scaling (hypothetical exam performance) Failure X X Success X X" Passer, Kelley, & Multidimensional Marital conflict Michela(1978) scaling (hypothetical other) Actor X Attitude toward partner Partner X? or X? Attitude toward partner Michela, Peplau, Multidimensional Loneliness X X & Weeks (1982) scaling (hypothetical other) Stern (1983) Correlation with Achievement a priori (academic & scheme sports) using concept formation tasks Free-sort X X X Sort-resort X X X Sequential sort X X X Graph X X X building M ultidimensional X X X scaling

* Unipolar. b Only internal causes. 554 BERNARD WEINER related. Consider, for example, a representative posively or knowingly use bad strategy. The study by Anderson (1983a). Anderson had property that perhaps best describes the con- subjects generate causes for success and failure trast between effort and strategy has been la- in both achievement and social contexts. The beled intentionality (Werner, 1979). 63 most dominant causes were then rated by Intent and control generally covary highly, other subjects on the three causal dimensions. with reported correlations near r = .90 (see These ratings were highly intercorrelated, sug- Anderson, 1983a). Individuals intend to do gesting that the dimensions are not indepen- what is controllable, and can control what is dent and that there may be less than three un- intended. But there are important instances derlying causal properties. where intent and control are distinguishable. A number of arguments can be marshaled For example, an overachiever might state that against this position. Many causal perceptions, he or she intends to take some time off from particularly in social contexts, implicate traits. work, but cannot control his or her working Traits tend to be perceived as both internal habits. Or, one might not have intended to kill and stable. Inasmuch as a preponderance of a pedestrian, but should have controlled his or causal ascriptions then fall within an internal- her speeding. The differentiation between in- stable quadrant, the locus and stability dimen- tent and control lies at the heart of the dis- sions will be correlated in the causal ratings. tinction between murder and manslaughter. However, as also noted by Anderson It seems reasonable, then, to separate con- (1983a), a failure of orthogonality at the em- trol from intent and consider them both di- pirical level does not invalidate separation at mensions of causality. A difficult conceptual the conceptual level. For example, height and problem, however, is created. A cause is not weight are positively correlated but nonetheless intentional—intent describes an action, or a are distinct characteristics; certainly tall, light motivational state of an organism. One might individuals as well as those who are short and refer to aptitude as internal, or stable, but can heavy can be identified. As Passer et al. (1978) it be described as unintentional? It seems not; state, "There is no necessity that the elements intent does not appear to be a characteristic used in multidimensional scaling be distrib- of a cause. But solving this difficult philosoph- uted evenly over the space identified by the ical problem is beyond the scope of this article analysis. In fact, there may be psychological and, even further, beyond the capability of this reasons ... for certain regions of the space writer. Thus, the possibility that intentionality not to contain any elements" (p. 961). is a dimension of causality is put aside for now. Might there be more than three dimensions? The contention of Abramson et al. (1978) Two other properties of causes have been sug- is that some causes are specific to a situation, gested, intentionality (Weiner, 1979) and glob- whereas others generalize across settings. For ality (Abramson, Seligman, &Teasdale, 1978). example, an individual may perceive failure at These are discussed in turn. math as due to low math aptitude (specific) or The logical analysis of causality strongly to low intelligence (general). Intelligence is hints that intentionality is a causal property, perceived as influencing performance in a and this label also was suggested in some of greater variety of situations than is math ap- the empirical investigations. Consider, for ex- titude. ample, a logical examination of effort versus The argument in favor of a distinction be- strategy as perceived causes of success and tween general and specific causes certainly failure. One might succeed because of hard cannot be faulted on grounds of face validity. work or because of proper strategy while To elevate this distinction to a dimension, studying, or fail because of insufficient effort however, does pose some problems. A general- or poor strategy. Failure due to lack of effort specific property has not emerged in a single meets the criteria to infer personal responsi- empirical investigation. Thus, it is not known bility, inasmuch as not trying is carried out whether this distinction held by some attri- "purposively, knowingly, recklessly, and/or bution theorists also is perceived or unknow- negligently" (see Fincham & Jaspers, 1980). ingly made by the layperson. But these criteria are not met given poor strat- When personality psychologists discuss egy as a cause of failure. One does not pur- traits, both temporal aspects (consistency over ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 555 time) and generalizability (consistency across some connection, some linkage, between at- situations) are considered. In a similar manner, tributional thinking and goal expectancy. causes can logically be construed in terms of Two possibilities come to mind. On the one those two characteristics. Globality therefore hand, the influence of causal variables on the might be a basic property of causes, but more absolute expectancy of goal attainment could evidence is needed before this possibility is ac- be ascertained. Heider (1958), for example, cepted. reasoned that goal expectancies in achieve- Is the dimensional location of a cause con- ment-related contexts are determined by per- stant? Attributional decisions represent phe- ceived ability and planned effort expenditure, nomenal causality—the causal world as per- relative to the perceived difficulty of the task. ceived by the viewer. Perceived causality cer- This is an enticing analysis to follow, inasmuch tainly will differ from person to person and as attributional concepts already are intro- within an individual over occasions. This is duced. true not only for a specific causal inference, But other theorists have had completely dif- but also for the meaning or dimensional lo- ferent notions about the antecedents of goal cation of the cause. For one individual, luck expectancy. Tolman (1925), for example, stip- may be perceived as an external, unstable cause ulated that expectancy is a function of the fre- of success; for another, luck is conceived as an quency, primacy, and recency of reinforce- enduring personal property. Indeed, a cause ment. According to Rotter (1966), expectancies might convey different meanings in disparate are determined by the percentage of reinforce- contexts (e.g., effort ascriptions connote greater ments of a particular response in a particular stability given success than given failure; see setting, the percentage of reinforcements of this Dalai, Weiner, & Brown, 1985). But although response in similar situations, and individual the interpretation of specific causal inferences differences in the belief that reinforcements are might vary over time and between people and under personal control. And for Atkinson situations, the underlying dimensions on which (1964), expectancy is influenced by the num- causes are "understood" or given meaning re- ber of individuals against whom one is com- main constant. That is, dimensions are con- peting, prior reinforcement history, and com- ceived as invariant, whereas the location of any munications from others concerning the like- specific cause on a dimension is variable (see lihood of success. It therefore is evident that Weiner, 1983). consensus does not exist about the antecedents of goal expectancy, although all theorists would Motivational Dynamics of Perceived agree that past reinforcement history does play Causality: Expectancy Change some important role. A second possibility is initially to find re- Thus far it has been suggested that individ- lations between attributions and changes in uals search for causality and that a relatively expectancy, and then use this information to small number of causes are particularly salient. determine the relation between causal ascrip- In addition, causes share three properties (lo- tions and absolute expectancy of success. In- cus, stability, and controllability) and perhaps asmuch as attributional search is initiated fol- can be characterized according to intention- lowing an outcome—so that change can be ex- ality and globality. I now turn from causal de- amined—this seems to be a promising lead. scription and causal structure to the dynamics In addition, perhaps change in goal expectancy, of behavior. Two topics are of special impor- as opposed to absolute expectancy level, is tance in the understanding of action tenden- more amenable to a general law that transcends cies: expectancy and value. the situational context. Goal expectancies is a concern that keeps reappearing in the study of motivation. Every Investigations of Expectancy Change major cognitive motivational theorist includes the expectancy of goal attainment among the Three psychological literatures are directly determinants of action. If one hopes to con- related to changes in goal expectancy, and struct an attributional theory of motivation, it again the pertinent research has primarily been would therefore seem necessary to search for conducted in achievement-related contexts. 556 BERNARD WEINER

One set of investigations is associated with level at games of chance. There are, however, some of aspiration; the second concerns the effects exceptions to this general rule. At times, gam- of outcomes at chance tasks on probabilities blers exhibit the belief that they are on a win- of future success; and the third research en- ning or losing streak and anticipate repetitions deavor is linked with resistance to extinction of the prior win or loss. Thus, typical shifts and beliefs about locus of control. also are observed in chance settings, but with Level of aspiration. A number of quite rep- less frequency than are atypical shifts. Note licable findings emerged from level of aspira- that this is the mirror image of the data pattern tion research. Among the most important for given skill tasks. present purposes is that subsequent aspiration Social learning theory integration. The level is in part dependent on the prior outcome. problem is to create a conceptual framework In the vast majority of instances, aspiration able to incorporate the observations of typical increases after goal attainment and decreases and atypical shifts in situations of skill and if a prior aspiration has not been fulfilled. chance. Social learning theorists attempted to These so-called goal discrepancies are referred do just that, primarily examining resistance to to as "typical" aspiration shifts. extinction while manipulating skill and chance It has been assumed that aspiration level in task perceptions. They contended that expec- good part reflects the subjective expectancy of tancy change following success or failure is in- success: The higher the expectancy, the higher fluenced by the perceived locus of control of the aspiration level. Hence, the aspiration lit- the outcome, with internal or personal beliefs erature can be interpreted as revealing that in- about causality (skill tasks) producing typical crements in expectancy follow success, whereas shifts, while external perceptions of causality expectancy decrements follow failure. This (chance tasks) generate atypical shifts. In ad- conclusion also has been documented exten- dition, given that some individuals might per- sively in contexts where expectancy is directly ceive skill tasks as determined by chance, and measured, rather than inferred from state- chance tasks as determined by personal factors, ments about goal aspiration (see, e.g., Diggory, occasional reversals in the usual pattern of data Riley, & Blumenfeld, I960; Montanelli & Hill, would be observed. In sum, social learning 1969; Zajonc & Brickman, 1969). theorists were the first to relate the structure This is not the complete story, however, for of perceived causality (the locus dimension) to in games of skill "atypical" reactions also are expectancy change (see Rotter, 1966). sometimes observed. In these instances, there is a decrease in aspiration level following suc- Attributional Approach to cess and an increase after failure. For example, Expectancy Change Lewin, Dembo, Festinger, and Sears (1944) noted, In this article I have reasoned, however, that Rotter and his colleagues gave insufficient at- In the case of nonachievement which is linked, for instance, tention to the richness of causal explanation to outside disturbances, the subject is not likely to lower his aspiration in a way that he would if he believed that and confounded dimensions of causality. the nonachievement reflected a genuine decrement in his Ability (skill), in addition to being internal, performance ability, (p. 367) also is perceived as relatively stable. On the other hand, in addition to being external, luck Chance tasks. A divergent pattern of data is perceived as relatively unstable. Hence, abil- emerged from research on the subjective prob- ity and luck differ in subjective stability and ability of success at games of chance. Here the not merely on the locus dimension of causality. gambler's fallacy often is observed. That is, The observed differences in expectancy shifts after winning, a loss is expected, and after los- given skill versus chance tasks may therefore ing, a win is anticipated (see Cohen & Hansel, either be attributed to the locus or to the sta- 1956). A related phenomenon at games of bility dimension of causality. chance is labeled the negative recency effect. The attributional position is that the stability This is illustrated in the increased expectancy of a cause, rather than its locus, determines of a heads after the appearance of a tails on a expectancy shifts. If conditions (the presence coin toss. That is, atypical shifts are frequent or absence of causes) are expected to remain ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 557 the same, then the outcome(s) experienced in These ideas gave rise to a wealth of pertinent the past will be expected to recur. A success research, primarily in achievement-related under these circumstances would produce rel- contexts. Two research strategies were repre- atively large increments in the anticipation of sented—correlational, and the manipulation future success, and a failure would strengthen of causal ascriptions. In the correlational re- the belief that there will be subsequent failures. search, subjects were induced to succeed or On the other hand, if the causal conditions are fail at some laboratory task and their expec- perceived as likely to change, then the present tancies of future success as well as causal as- outcome may not be expected to repeat itself criptions were assessed. In the causal manip- and there is likely to be uncertainty about sub- ulation procedure, perceptions of task out- sequent outcomes or a belief that something comes as caused by ability, effort, luck, and different will result. A success therefore would so forth were induced, and expectancy of suc- yield no increments in subsequent expectancy cess was ascertained following success or fail- and could give rise to decrements in the sub- ure. Table 3 includes a considerable (but far jective probability of future success. Similarly, from complete) sample of investigations re- a failure will not augment the belief that there porting that stable, relative to unstable, as- will be future failures. criptions are related to high expectancies of These principles are able to explain the data success after goal attainment and to low ex- in level of aspiration research and in studies pectancies of success following a failure. None involving chance tasks. Success and failure at of the studies are definitive in that often other skill tasks most usually are ascribed to ability possible interpretations of the data have not and effort. Ability is thought to be a relatively been ruled out; nonetheless, the consistency of fixed property, and the belief that success was the findings is quite compelling. caused by hard work usually results in the in- In addition to the data reviewed in Table 3, tent to again work hard in the future (Dalai et a number of "real-life" behaviors without ap- al., 1985). Inasmuch as the causes of a prior parent phenotypic overlap have been shown to success are perceived as relatively stable given be genotypically comparable and explainable skill-related tasks, future success should be given an attributional perspective. These stud- anticipated with greater certainty and there will ies have taken place in nonachievement as well be increments in aspiration level and expec- as in achievement-related contexts. More spe- tancy judgments. Occasionally, however, out- cifically, for example: comes at skill tasks are ascribed to unstable 1. Parole decisions are in part based on the factors, such as the "disturbances" noted by perceived stability of the cause of the crime Lewin et al. (1944). In addition, if failure is (Carroll, 1978; Carroll & Payne, 1976, 1977). ascribed to low effort, then the failing person A criminal perceived as committing a crime may anticipate working harder in the future. because of stable causes (e.g., a psychopathic In these circumstances there would be atypical personality) is considered more of a risk than or minimal shifts in expectancy following is one perceived as committing a crime because failure. of unstable causes (e.g., temporarily unem- Conversely, success at chance tasks tends to ployed). In a similar manner, criminals as well be ascribed to an unstable factor. The actor is as prison officials believe a crime due to stable likely to reason, "I had good luck last time, causes is more likely to be repeated when the but that probably will not happen again." Ex- offender is released than is a crime perceived pectancy therefore should not rise and indeed as due to unstable causes (Saulnier & Perlman, could drop following a positive outcome. But, 1981). Criminals judge the causes of their occasionally, one might conclude that he or crimes to be more unstable than do prison- she is a lucky or an unlucky person or is on a related officials; they also are less likely to ex- winning or losing streak. In these instances, pect recidivism. the cause of the outcome is perceived as stable, 2. Rejection when soliciting blood from so that typical shifts will be displayed. In sum, potential donors that is ascribed to unstable the attributional position can account for the causes (poor soliciting strategy, lack of effort) observed typical and atypical shifts in chance results in higher expectancy of success and as well as in skill settings. greater persistence at solicitation than does re- 558 BERNARD WEINER jection attributed to stable factors such as an school, poor research training; see Day, 1982; inability to persuade others (Anderson, 1983b; Pancer, 1978; Grittended & Wiley, 1980). Anderson & Jennings, 1980). 4. When product failure is perceived as due 3. Intentions to reenter school after drop- to stable factors (e.g., a bad company), con- ping out, to enroll in another psychology sumers anticipate future product dissatisfac- course although doing poorly in one, or to re- tion and express a desire for a monetary re- submit a rejected manuscript for publication fund; if the failure is perceived as due to un- are greater when the prior "failures" are as- stable causes (e.g., bad shipment of goods), cribed to unstable causes (e.g., need a break then subsequent product satisfaction is ex- from school, poor manuscript reviewers) rather pected and there is a preference for product than to stable causes (e.g., cannot benefit from exchange (Folkes, 1984).

Table 3 Research Relating Attributions to Expectations

Attribution Expectancy Experiment Subjects Task measurement measure

Correlational studies Meyer, W. (1973) German high Digit-symbol Percentage rating Probability of school students substitution future success McMahan(1973) American Anagrams Paired comparison Confidence of grammar, high future success school, & college students Weiner, Nierenberg, American college Block design Within-dimension Anticipated per- & Goldstein students scale rating formance (1976) Inagi(1977) Japanese college Puzzle Percentage rating Probability of students future success Kovenklioglu & American college Test performance Paired comparison Anticipated per- Green haus students formance (1978) Ronis, Hansen, & American college Unspecified Dimension scale Confidence in O'Leary(1983) students achievement rating outcome stories repetition

Research manipulating attributions Rosenbaum(1972) American college Unspecified "project" Causes given in Expected project students (hypothetical) description outcome Neale & Friend American college School exam Causes given in Anticipated grade (1972) students (hypothetical) description Fontaine (1974) Australian college Unspecified "tasks" Fictitious ascriptions Expected score students of others Valle(1974) American college Sales (hypothetical) Causes given in Anticipated per- students description formance Pancer & Eiser British college Anagrams Fictitious Performance (1977) students information from prediction others Heilman & Guzzo American college Job performance Causes given in Predicted per- (1978) students (hypothetical) description sonnel action ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 559

Summary and Conclusions tainly affect other thoughts and actions. But it also is quite evident that goal expectancies are Individuals classify their thoughts into broad not sufficient determinants of action. After all, categories. Hence, phenotypic dissimilarities there are an infinite number of actions not un- might be connotatively, or genotypically, sim- dertaken in which expectancy of the goal is ilar. Failure in athletics because of lack of absolutely certain. height, failure in math because of low aptitude, Both cognitive and mechanistic conceptions failure in politics because of poor charisma, of behavior have identified another class of and social rejection because of unattractive variables with motivational impact. They are features are phenotypically different events called goal incentives, or the properties of the with diverse specific causes. Yet the causes are goal object. Motivation is believed to be de- likely to be similarly categorized as enduring termined by what one can get (incentive) as or stable. Hence, future hopes in these heter- well as by the likelihood of getting it (expec- ogeneous contexts will be minimized. On the tancy). This is the essence of the position of other hand, failure in athletics because of in- Expectancy X Value theorists. sufficient practice, failure at math because of There seems to be no blatant reason to be- temporary illness, failure in politics because lieve that objective value (i.e., the inherent of a current recession, and interpersonal re- properties of a goal object) is influenced by jection because the desired partner is ill are perceived causality—the reason why the goal diverse events that are likely to be categorized was reached. A dollar has the value of one dol- as due to unstable causes. Hopes for the future lar whether it is attained because of good for- therefore are likely to be maintained. tune, hard work, or as a gift from another. On The amount, extensity, and consistency of the other hand, instead of conceiving incentive the empirical findings, in conjunction with the values in terms of the objective properties of logical analysis, documents a fundamental the goal, consider incentive to mean the con- psychological law relating perceived causal sequences of goal attainment for the actor, or stability to expectancy change: the subjective value of the goal. We prefer a Expectancy Principle. Changes in expec- dollar to a nickel because the anticipated con- tancy of success following an outcome are in- sequences will make us happier, give greater fluenced by the perceived stability of the cause satisfaction, and the like. Although causal as- of the event. criptions do not influence the objective prop- This principle has three corollaries: erties of goal objects, they do determine or Corollary 1. If the outcome of an event is guide emotional reactions, or the subjective ascribed to a stable cause, then that outcome consequences of goal attainment. For example, will be anticipated with increased certainty, or a dollar attained because of good luck could with an increased expectancy, in the future. Corollary 2. If the outcome of an event is elicit surprise; a dollar earned by hard work might produce pride; and a dollar received ascribed to an unstable cause, then the cer- from a friend when in need is likely to beget tainty or expectancy of that outcome may be gratitude. In a similar manner, a gift from a unchanged or the future may be anticipated to be different from the past. beloved will have different affective significance than does this same gift from an enemy (Hei- Corollary 3. Outcomes ascribed to stable der, 1958). These diverse affective reactions causes will be anticipated to be repeated in the future with a greater degree of certainty than could generate quite disparate actions. For ex- are outcomes ascribed to unstable causes. ample, gratitude but not pride might give rise to reciprocal helping behavior. It therefore Motivational Dynamics of Perceived seems reasonable to pursue the idea that causal Causality: Affective Reactions ascriptions influence emotions, and that emotional reactions play a role in motivated be- It has been rather definitively documented havior. that causal attributions influence expectancy of success. This is a necessary linkage for the The Attribution-Emotion Process development of an attributional theory of mo- The field of emotion is vast and complex; tivation, inasmuch as goal anticipations cer- the formulation of a complete theory of emo- 560 BERNARD WEINER

.General positive or negative emotions

Outcome • -Outcome evaluation

Causal attribution and dimensions - -Distinct emotions Figure I. The cognition-emotion process. tion is not my goal. Rather, the aims of this nonattainment of a desired goal, and not by section of the article are to offer an attribu- the cause of the outcome. tional view of the emotion process and to pro- Following outcome appraisal and the im- pose and document laws linking attributional mediate affective reaction, a causal ascription thinking and specific feelings (for a discussion will be sought. A different set of emotions is of the assumptions guiding this approach to then generated by the chosen attribution(s). emotion see Weiner, 1982; Weiner & Graham, For example, success perceived as due to good 1984). luck produces surprise, whereas success fol- Most emotion theorists with a cognitive lowing a long-term period of effort expenditure persuasion conceive of emotional experience results in a feeling of calmness or serenity. as a temporal sequence involving cognitions Emotions such as surprise and serenity are la- of increasing complexity. Arnold (1960) and beled attribution dependent, inasmuch as they Lazarus (1966), for example, contend that the are determined by the perceived cause of the perception of a distal stimulus gives rise to a prior outcome. Note that increasing cognitive primary appraisal and to a rather primitive involvement generates more differentiated emotional reaction. Primary appraisal is be- emotional experience (for somewhat related lieved to be followed by a secondary appraisal conceptions see Abelson, 1983; Roseman, that often involves ego-related or more ad- 1984; C. Smith & Ellsworth, 1985). vanced psychological mechanisms such as ego Additionally, causal dimensions play a key defenses. The elicitation of these processes can role in the emotion process. Each dimension intensify or modulate the emotional experi- is uniquely related to a set of feelings. For ex- ence or alter the quality of the emotion. ample, success and failure perceived as due to Schachter and Singer (1962) proposed the internal causes such as personality, ability, or most oft-cited emotion sequence. They hy- effort respectively raises or lowers self-esteem pothesized that the initial step in this sequence or self-worth, whereas external attributions for is the experience and recognition of nondif- positive or negative outcomes do not influence ferentiated internal arousal. Then the source feelings about the self. Hence, self-related of the arousal is determined on the basis of emotions are influenced by the causal property situational cues, and this cognitive labeling of locus, rather than by a specific cause per se. plus the arousal give rise to emotional states The cognition-emotion process suggested in (although the cognition of the arousal and the the above paragraphs is depicted in Figure 1. cognition of the source of the arousal often It is evident from Figure 1 that this approach take place simultaneously). to emotions assumes that feelings arise from The attributional framework advanced here how an event is construed or evaluated. The also assumes a sequence in which cognitions figure also indicates that general and distinct of increasing complexity enter into the emo- emotions are independent, but this remains to tion process to further refine and differentiate be fully resolved (see, e.g., McFarland & Ross, experience. It is contended that, following the 1982). outcome of an event, there is a general positive The cognition-emotion process that has or negative reaction (a "primitive" emotion) been proposed provides the focus and outline based on the perceived success or failure of the for the following pages. I first briefly examine outcome (the "primary appraisal"). These outcome-related affects and then consider in emotions, which include happy for success and detail the associations between causal dimen- frustrated and sad for failure, are labeled as sions and affects, ignoring here the relations outcome dependent-attribution independent, between specific causes and emotional reac- for they are determined by the attainment or tions (see Weiner, Russell, & Lerman, 1978, ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 561

1979). I focus on dimension-linked affects be- Dimension-Related Emotions cause they have had the most extensive empirical support. These associations, just as the As previously indicated, the bulk of the per- one between causal ascription and expectancy tinent attribution-emotion research relates change, form powerful and general laws. causal dimensions, rather than specific causes, to affects. The emotion of pride and feelings Outcome-Generated Emotions of self-esteem are linked with the locus dimension of causality; anger, gratitude, guilt, Two research paradigms, one simulational pity, and shame all are connected with the and reactive, the other retrospective and op- controllability dimension; and feelings of erant, were first used to document the asso- hopelessness (hopefulness) are associated with ciations between outcomes and emotions. causal stability. These relations are described Again these studies were conducted in here, but without detailed documentation (see achievement-related contexts. In the former Weiner, 1982, and Weiner & Graham, 1984, paradigm, participants were asked to imagine for fuller discussions). that a student succeeded or failed an exam for Pride (self-esteem). A relation between a particular reason, such as hard work or bad causal locus and self-esteem has been long rec- luck. The subjects then reported the intensity ognized by many well-known philosophers. of the affective reactions that they thought Hume, for example, believed that what one is would be experienced in this situation (Weiner proud of must belong to the person; Spinoza et al., 1978). Intensity was indicated on rating reasoned that pride consists of knowing one's scales for a number of preselected affects. In merits; and Kant nicely captured the locus- the second paradigm, participants were asked pride union by noting that everyone at a meal to recall a time in life when they succeeded or might enjoy the food, but only the cook of that failed for a specified reason. They also re- meal could experience pride. counted the affects they experienced at that It is therefore reasoned that pride and pos- time (Weiner et al., 1979). itive self-esteem are experienced as a conse- These studies revealed that one determinant quence of attributing a positive outcome to of affect is the outcome of an action: Success the self and that negative self-esteem is expe- at achievement-related activities was associated rienced when a negative outcome is ascribed with the affect of happy regardless of the cause to the self (Stipek, 1983; Weiner et al., 1978, of that outcome, and failure seemed to be re- 1979). The relation between causal locus and lated to frustration and sadness. Thus, for ex- feelings of self-worth also is part of naive psy- ample, given athletic competition, one tends chology and is used by the layperson to influ- to experience happiness following a victory ence the emotions of others. Thus, individuals whether that win was due extra training, the tend to communicate ascriptions external to poor play of the competitor, or good luck. the requester when rejecting that person for a Outcome-dependent affects also have been social engagement so that "feelings of self-es- documented in quality of life research. Inves- teem are not hurt" (e.g., they indicate that they tigators have reported that satisfaction, un- are ill rather than truthfully telling the re- happiness, and frustration are related to ob- quester that he has a poor personality; see jective life outcomes, such as income level, in- Folkes, 1982). Children as young as 5 years of dependent of attributions (see Bryant & Veroff, age have demonstrated an understanding of the 1982; E. Smith & Kluegel, 1982). In addition, relation between causal locus and hurt feelings, outcome-dependent affects have been postu- given a rejection (Weiner & Handel, 1985). A lated in the interpersonal domain. Kelley voluminous attributional literature also doc- (1983) stated, uments existence of a hedonic bias, or a ten- I am pleased or displeased by the more specific and concrete dency for individuals to ascribe success to in- things I experience [in close relationships]. So when my ternal factors and failure to external factors. wife prepares a picnic lunch for the afternoon's outing, As Harvey and Weary (1981) noted, "By tak- my pleasure-displeasure comes partly from the quality of the lunch itself, and also (as a partly separate matter) from ing credit for good acts and denying blame for the quality of love and thoughtfulness I attribute to her bad outcomes, the individual presumably may effort, (p. 15) be able to enhance or protect his or her self- 562 BERNARD WEINER esteem" (p. 33). Pride and personal esteem Guarino, 1984; Weiner, 1980a, 1980b; Weiner, therefore are self-reflective emotions, linked Graham, & Chandler, 1982). Note, therefore, with the locus dimension of causality. that the perceived controllability of a cause for Anger. A large survey study by Averill a negative outcome in part determines whether (1982, 1983) illustrates the attributional an- anger or pity is directed toward another. We tecedents of anger. Averill asked his respon- feel anger toward the lazy and therefore punish dents to describe a situation in which they were lack of effort, but we feel pity toward the un- made angry, and then examined the charac- able and therefore do not punish lack of ability teristics of these situations. He concluded, (Weiner & Kukla, 1970). The relations between controllability-anger The major issue for the person in the street is not the specific and uncontrollability-pity also are part of na- nature of the instigating event; it is the perceived justifi- cation for the instigator's behavior. Anger, for the person ive psychology and are used in everyday life to in the street, is an accusation . . . Over 85% of the episodes control or manipulate the emotions of others. described by angry persons involved either an act that they Thus, when providing an excuse (ex = from; considered voluntary and unjustified (59%) or else a po- cuse = cause) for failing to appear at a social tentially avoidable accident (e.g., due to negligence or lack of foresight, 28%) . . . More than anything else, anger is engagement, uncontrollable causes tend to be an attribution of blame. (Averill, 1983, p. 1150) communicated (e.g., "My car had a flat tire") rather than controllable ones (e.g., "I decided Many others have reached a similar conclu- to watch TV"; see Weiner, Amirkhan, Folkes, sion. For example, among the very first of the & Wachtel, 1985). One hopes that this com- pertinent investigations, Pastore (1952) dem- munication defuses anger and perhaps even onstrated that aggression (and, by implication, alters the reaction to pity. Similar interpersonal anger) is not merely the result of nonattain- strategies are understood and used by children ment of a desired goal, but rather follows when as young as 5 years of age (Weiner & Handel, a barrier imposed by others is arbitrary (e.g., 1985). "Your date phones at the last minute and Guilt and shame. Philosophers and social breaks an appointment without adequate ex- scientists have devoted considerable attention planation") rather than nonarbitrary (e.g., to the experience of guilt, its antecedents, and "Your date phones . . . and breaks an ap- its consequences. Reviewing the guilt litera- pointment because he (she) suddenly became. ture, Wicker, Payne, and Morgan (1983) con- ill)." To summarize, the attributional anteced- cluded, "In general, guilt is said to follow from ent for anger is an ascription of a negative, acts that violate ethical norms, principles of self-related outcome or event to factors con- justice ... or moral values. Guilt is accom- trollable by others (see Weiner, 1980a, 1980b; panied by feelings of personal responsibility" Weiner, Graham, & Chandler, 1982). (p. 26). In a similar manner, Izard (1977) con- Pity. In contrast to the linkage between cluded that "Guilt occurs in situations in controllability and anger, it is hypothesized that which one feels personally responsible" uncontrollable causes are associated with pity. (p. 423), and Hoffman (1976) more precisely It is said that when Helen Keller began her reasoned, "Blaming oneself becomes possible training, her teacher stated to Ms. Keller's once one has acquired the cognitive capacity family: "We do not want your pity," thus con- to recognize the consequences of his action for veying that a target of pity is associated with others and to be aware that he has choice and an uncontrollable deficit. This analysis is sim- control over his own behavior" (p. 139). In ilar to Hoffman's (1982) conception, for he support of these interpretations, my colleagues stated, "It is only when the cues indicate that and I have found that the most prevalent guilt- . . . the victim had no control that the . . . eliciting situations among college students in- partial transformation of empathic into sym- volve lying to parents, cheating on an exam, pathic distress may apply" (p. 296). or being disloyal to a dating partner (Weiner, A number of research studies support this Graham, & Chandler, 1982), although it is ev- contention. Another's loss of a loved one be- ident that guilt may be evoked by either the cause of an accident, or difficulties because of commission or the omission of particular ac- a physical handicap, are prototypical situations tions (see Hoffman, 1970). that elicit pity (see Graham, Doubleday, & Guilt and anger therefore are elicited by ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 563 controllable causes, but guilt is directed in- benefit only the receiver (as opposed to a sit- ward, whereas anger is typically (but not nec- uation in which the gift enhanced the repu- essarily) directed outward. Thus, for example, tation of the giver). In other supporting re- we tend to feel guilty when we have lied to search it has been documented that reciprocity others, but angry when we have discovered that is more likely when a gift is given deliberately someone has lied to us (see Weiner, Graham, rather than accidentally (Greenberg & Frisch, & Chandler, 1982). In a similar manner, lack 1972) and when help is voluntary rather than of effort toward an important goal tends to compulsory (Goranson & Berkowitz, 1966). elicit anger from others (such as teachers) and Hopelessness. It has been convincingly also generates personal guilt. documented that causal stability in part de- Shame frequently is contrasted with guilt, termines expectancies regarding future success although both involve "negative self-evalua- and failure. Thus, any emotion involving an- tions that are painful, tense, agitating. . . de- ticipations of goal attainment or nonattain- pressing" (Wicker et al., 1983). Although there ment will likely be influenced by causal sta- appear to be different kinds of shame, it is be- bility. One such affect has been labeled hope- lieved that one antecedent is an attribution for lessness. It has been found that hopelessness failure that is self-related and uncontrollable, and resignation are elicited given an attribution such as lack of ability. In studies testing un- for a negative outcome to stable causes (Weiner controllability-shame and controllability-guilt et al., 1978, 1979). That is, if the future is an- associations, Brown and Weiner (1984), Cov- ticipated to remain as bad as the past, then ington and Omelich (1984), and Jagacinski and hopelessness is experienced. In addition, affects Nicholls (1984) have reported that shame-re- such as pity are exacerbated when the cause lated affects (disgrace, embarrassment, hu- of the negative state is stable rather than un- miliation, and/or shame) are linked with fail- stable (e.g., we tend to pity the blind more than ure due to low ability, whereas guilt-related we pity those with temporary eye problems). affects (guilt, regret, and/or remorse) are as- Similarly, we tend to be more angry at others sociated with failure due to lack of effort. It when perceived controllable behavior, such as also has been documented that shame-related lack of effort, is stable (a trait) rather than an emotions give rise to withdrawal and motiva- unstable state (Weiner, Graham, & Chandler, tional inhibition, whereas guilt-related emo- 1982). tions promote approach behavior, retribution, Summary and conclusions. Attributions and motivational activation (Hoffman, 1982; play a key role in affective life. Seven emotions Wicker et al., 1983). Hence, there are linkages were briefly examined that relate to causal between low-ability-shame-inhibition and be- structure: pride (self-esteem), anger, pity, guilt, tween lack-of-effort-guilt-augmentation. It shame, gratitude, and hopelessness. These are also is of interest to repeat that anger tends to among the most frequently reported and writ- motivate aggression, so that three patterns of ten-about affective experiences (see Botten- behavior noted by Horney (going toward, going berg, 1975; Davitz, 1969). Sociobiologists have away from, going against) are related to causal specified that four of these emotions—anger, controllability and the respective affects of. pity, guilt, and gratitude—are of special im- guilt, shame, and anger. portance in promoting gene survival (see Triv- Gratitude. There is relatively little research ers, 1971). These four emotions are related to concerned with gratitude, but the evidence the causal dimension of controllability, which suggests that gratitude toward another is elic- is consistent with the sociobiological position ited if and only if the act of the benefactor was that emotions are used to aid in maintaining under volitional control and was intended to the social order. Finally, although the bulk of benefit the recipient. For example, Tesser, the supporting data have been generated in Gatewood, and Driver (1968) presented sub- achievement-related contexts, the relations jects with scenarios that involved a benefactor specified above do not seem to be confined to and asked the subjects how grateful they would a particular motivational domain. As previ- feel under the various circumstances that were ously suggested, aptitude as a cause of achieve- portrayed. They found that reported gratitude ment success, and physical attractiveness as a was maximized when the gift was intended to cause of social success, are conceptually similar 564 BERNARD WEINER

in that both are internal, stable, and uncon- game. Instead of appearing for the next controllable. Thus, success or positive outcomes test, the boy stays at home." Other scenarios, due to these factors should enhance pride and such as the boy taking extra batting practice positive self-esteem, just as negative outcomes following failure (rather than missing the game) because of their absence should lower esteem. or taking extra batting practice after playing But nonattainment of a goal for these reasons well (success), could have readily been used to should provoke neither anger from others nor portray how the theory shown in Figure 2 con- personal guilt. Rather, failure given both these ceptualizes an achievement-related motiva- specific ascriptions is likely to elicit pity from tional episode. This is followed by an exami- others and produce feelings of shame and nation of achievement change programs, for hopelessness in the frustrated individual. these therapeutic attempts illustrate both how A word of caution, however, is needed about the theory has been used and document its the preceding discussion. Given a causal as- incomplete utilization. After these analyses, I cription, the linked emotion does not neces- consider the generality of the theory beyond sarily follow. For example, one may not have the achievement domain. put forth effort at something important, yet Figure 2 reveals that a motivational se- still be free from guilt. Or one may attribute quence is initiated by an outcome that indi- success to help from others, yet not feel grate- viduals interpret as positive (goal attainment) ful. Furthermore, an emotion may be experi- or negative (nonattainment of the goal). In- enced in the absence of its linked antecedent. asmuch as affects are directly linked with out- For example, one may not be responsible for comes (the primary appraisal), Figure 2 in- an outcome, but will experience guilt (see cludes a connection between outcome and the Hoffman, 1976). Hence, the position being es- reactions of happy (for success) and frustrated poused is that the dimension-affect relations or sad (if the outcome was interpreted as a are not invariant, but are quite prevalent in failure). These associations are designated with our culture, and perhaps in many others as a 1 in the figure. In the baseball scenario, the well. This position is similar to the argument boy performed poorly at the game and this that there is a linkage between frustration and will elicit general negative reactions. aggression, although frustration elicits reac- A causal search is then undertaken to de- tions other than aggression, and aggression has termine why the outcome occurred (Linkage other antecedents in addition to frustration. 2). Some of the conditions that particularly promote this search, which were not discussed The Complete Theory in the present article (see Weiner, 1985), are indicated in the figure. In our example, failure It is now possible to present an attributional at a subjectively important act should result theory of motivation and emotion based on in the boy overtly or covertly wondering, "Why the prior discussion of the theoretical com- did I perform so poorly?" A large number of ponents. The theory is presented in Figure 2. antecedents influence the causal explanation(s) In contrast to other Expectancy X Value ap- reached. This popular topic also was not dis- proaches, this conception is represented as a cussed in the present article. Some of the historical or temporal sequence; motivation is known attributional antecedents are included not conceived as an "ahistorical problem" in Figure 2, such as specific information (e.g., (Atkinson, 1964, p. 146). In addition, the the- past personal history, performance of others; ory to be proposed departs from prior Expec- see Kelley & Michela, 1980). The blanket et- tancy X Value conceptions by linking value to cetera at the bottom of the antecedents merely the affect elicited following goal-directed ac- conveys that there are many unlisted deter- tivity. Other theories of motivation have been minants of the selected attribution. remiss by virtually ignoring the emotions, save The causal decision is biased toward a rel- for an acceptance of the general pleasure-pain atively small number of causes such as ability principle. The sequence depicted in Figure 2 and effort in the achievement domain (see Ta- will be used to discuss the following contrived ble 1). Again Figure 2 is not complete, as de- (but surely extant) scenario: "A Little League noted by the etcetera at the bottom of the baseball player performs very poorly during a causal lists. In our example, assume that the ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 565

S 5 (A B 00 0 . 41 B 41 >. e - 8 , \ B i4 >0 r1 ? S 7 oo 8 > a xS ,v. 2S C > -H 41 u « <0 *4 41 1* .-4 S c -^ B 0.-H *J 0 • 1! o 1-4 .e » 1* u *> ** w u ** -H « y « U S S —

u •o a 3 « "- 4> S 41 09 B •isj u U 4* B 41 0 U 41 B U W tO 6 *4 41 V 4) 4t « W -< W « S 'S > I- 41 41 3 4 v4 •H -H 4) | ^4 «M 3 fci i *-» t) T3 "*4 U « «CL J2 T SSx U I *4 *-4 (X a r-t U 4>*M U 4J O Q 4)3 J £ ^ O.JS 8:3 «M a sl 81 !££ y ' W t "t 1ft / H 4> O « \ / o "\ ° 1 u ^ s«s 00 (X « \ / (0 \ / 5 w \ / .0 r«* A\ **• o * X E i X *J -H f4 ^. X S 3 1 i 5*35^ i 3 | •-4 tO <-< jo —0 * 4B1 4 B • W h Q U 1 U "3 > o U Q 1 5 I i n u SxS'., I -t M W <*4 41 *^ H -H -4 00 "rt C C X M O 4 U 4 A 4 O 41 4V* U H i-l U 4 B 4 U § -H W *> U ^ M 0 ^4 B -4 0 4jrf Jl • 4 « 4 4 i-t M4 . -H IM t- *t 0 O ^4 XJB ** 4 O O 3 4 -H V JO W £ •H < bj MH >j vi — *4 ft, 0. X U "C 3 U *W 4 SO U *•* ' "t c

B m s s 1 B u| 2 «„ TJ i-t C > V U A U •S «2 *« u £ D : 0) 4) 25 1 Sfi 0 S U ^J w <3 ^ o i2 £ CN/T* i u Ihs 3 • u «,'S 8. C224 u U

1 U 41 4» t* 3 «J 51

3s S X "SI S's (X CX B 4 32 M J5 M-Hl

iu •Sio ' u 1 J 566 BERNARD WEINER boy has played quite poorly in the past and causes of personal failure promote feelings of that other children on the team are playing guilt, whereas uncontrollable causes generate well. The boy also practiced many hours. On sham,e (Linkage 9). These are represented in the basis of the past outcome history, social the figure as self-directed affects, as are the comparison, and effort expenditure, the boy specific attribution-linked emotions of relax- decides that he is low in baseball-playing abil- ation and surprise. Among the affects directed ity. That is, he thinks, "I failed because I am toward others are anger (given a cause of failure not any good at baseball" (Linkage 3). A controllable by others), pity (given an uncon- unique affective reaction may be elicited by trollable cause of failure), and gratitude (given this causal decision (Linkage 4). a controllable cause; Linkage 10). The failing The cause is then located in dimensional Little Leaguer is likely to be feeling ashamed space. This is depicted as Linkage 5 in the fig- of himself and humiliated (but not guilty), ure. As documented in Table 2, the three main whereas his coach or his mother feels pity or properties of causes are locus, stability, and feels sorry for him (but not angry). controllability, with globality and intention- Finally, expectancy and affect are presumed ality considered possible causal properties (and to determine action (Linkages 11,12, and 13). therefore accompanied by question marks). The actions can be described according to their The Little Leaguer ascribed his performance intensity, latency, and so on. In the baseball to lack of ability, which is likely to be perceived scenario, the boy has a low expectancy of fu- as internal, stable, and uncontrollable (al- ture success and is feeling sad, low self esteem, though that placement must be analyzed from ashamed, and hopeless. These conditions pro- the phenomenology of the perceiver). It also mote withdrawal and behaviors that are not might be unintentional and global ("I am poor instrumental to the attainment of the desired at sports"). goal. He then stays home from the next game. Causal dimensions have psychological con- Although Figure 1 appears to depict an ex- sequences, being related to both expectancy haustive conceptual analysis, even greater and affect (which is presumed in this concep- complexity has been documented. The link- tion to be the value of goal attainment). The ages in the figure all are unidirectional, al- stability of a cause influences the relative ex- though it is known that this is not the case. pectancy of future success (Linkage 6). This For example, expectancy of success influences association is documented in Table 3. In our attributions (see Feather & Simon, 1972). scenario, the boy anticipates repeated failure Thus, if our baseball player succeeded, his low inasmuch as low ability is perceived as a stable expectancy of success would foster an attri- cause. He also might have increased expec- bution to an unstable cause such as good luck. tancy of failure in other sporting activities if In addition, affects such as pity and anger are the cause is perceived as global. That is, sta- important attributional cues (Graham, 1984; bility influences temporal aspects of expec- Weiner, Graham, Stern, & Lawson, 1982). For tancy, whereas globality influences cross-situ- example, directing pity toward the Little Lea- ational expectancies. guer will increase his belief that personal failure Turning to affective consequences, the locus was due to low ability. And feelings of happi- of a cause exerts an influence on self-esteem ness and sadness influence outcome percep- and pride—internal ascriptions elicit greater tions (see Bower, 1981). Hence, the boy in the self-esteem for success and lower self-esteem story might perceive an ambiguous outcome for failure than do external attributions (Link- during the game as a failure because of his age 7). The boy in our story failed because of unhappiness and other negative affective ex- a cause considered internal, and therefore he periences initiated prior to the outcome in should be experiencing low self-esteem. The question. These added intricacies are neglected stability of the cause, by affecting expectancy, here, but deserve full incorporation into the also fosters feelings of hopelessness (or hope- theory. fulness); this is indicated in Linkage 8. The Little Leaguer, with a history of failure and Achievement Change Programs ascription of the current failure to low ability, should be feeling hopeless. Finally, controlla- I now turn from the devised scenario to an bility influences social emotions; controllable ongoing topic of research. There is an increas- ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 567 ingly popular therapeutic treatment that in- reactions of shame and humiliation to guilt. duces participants to alter their attributions This new emotional reaction, rather than (in for success and failure (see Foersterling, in addition to) a change in expectancy, may be press). Often the participants in these pro- responsible for the increments in motivated grams were selected because they ascribe per- behavior. On the other hand, a program that sonal failure to low ability. The main empirical promotes task difficulty ascriptions (Wilson & finding in these studies is that persistence in Linville, 1982, 1985) theoretically is enhancing the face of failure is enhanced when attribu- the self-esteem of the participants, for the at- tions for failure are changed from low ability tribution is being shifted from internal to ex- to lack of effort (Andrews & Debus, 1978; ternal (in contrast to the controllability alter- Chapin & Dyck, 1976; Dweck, 1975; Zoeller, ation that precedes the hypothesized affective Mahoney, & Weiner, 1983), to poor strategy shift from shame to guilt). Perhaps increments (Anderson, 1983b; Anderson & Jennings, in self-esteem rather than (in addition to) ex- 1980), or to temporary external barriers (Wil- pectancy maintenance is responsible for the son & Linville, 1982, 1985). augmented achievement strivings. In sum, the To alter attributions, in the treatment tech- attributional conception in Figure 2 suggests niques the experimenter often directly com- that the change programs may be more com- municates to the participants the attribution plex, and less similar to one another, than has that is desired to be induced (e.g., "You failed been recognized. because you did not try hard enough" or "Success depends entirely on finding the right Theoretical Generality strategy"). Following the logic of Figure 2, the participants use this information to reach a It has been intimated throughout this article causal conclusion. Furthermore, they appar- that the theory shown in Figure 2 is conceived ently accept the communicated ascription, as a general conceptual framework, although rather than attributing induced failure to low it has been acknowledged that the vast amount ability. Attributions thus are altered from sta- of supporting data has been generated in ble to unstable, which should (and does) result achievement-related contexts. Thus, although in the maintenance of goal expectancy (see the focus of the theory concerns achievement Anderson, 1983b; Anderson & Jennings, strivings, it is tentatively believed that the con- 1980). This sequence is depicted in Linkages ception has a wide range of applicability. This 3, 5, and 6 in the figure. The investigators all is similar to the position espoused by Atkinson reported increments in persistence of achieve- (1964), who also assumed that he was devel- ment strivings in the face of failure following oping a general theory of motivation, although the treatment and assumed that the behavior achievement settings provided the site of the change was mediated, in part, by shifts in the experimental research. subjective expectancy of success, as indicated The foundation for generality in the present in Linkage 11 (although Wilson & Linville, approach is provided by two conceptual 1982, questioned the consciousness of this es- mechanisms. First, it is proposed that a mo- timate, and Dweck, 1975, stressed the con- tivational episode is initiated following any trollability rather than the stability of the in- outcome that can be construed as attainment duced causal ascription). or nonattainment of a goal. Achievement suc- It is therefore evident that the researchers cess and failure clearly capture this require- have focused attention on expectancy of suc- ment, but acceptance and rejection in the af- cess. Although consistent with the theory, it filiative domain provide a ready parallel (see also is clear that the conceptualization is not Anderson, 1983a; Sobol & Earn, in press). In fully brought to bear on the phenomena, in- addition, the conception has been used to ex- asmuch as emotions are entirely neglected. As amine a number of social and personal "fail- previously revealed, ascriptions to ability, ef- ures," including, for example, alcoholism fort, strategy, and external barriers have dis- (McHugh, Beckman, & Frieze, 1979); crime, parate affective consequences. For example, a and parole decisions (Carroll, 1978); depres- program that induces effort rather than ability sion (Abramson et al., 1978); deprivation ascriptions for failure theoretically is altering (Mark, 1985); loneliness (Peplau, Russell, & 568 BERNARD WEINER

Helm, 1979); need for help (Betancourt, 1983; is one without a previous history who impul- Reisenzein, in press; Weiner, 1980a, 1980b); sively committed the same crime. This is in maladaptive reactions to rape (Janoff-Bulman, part because criminal history is a cue used to 1979); smoking (Eiser, Van der Pligt, Raw, & determine the stability of the cause of the Sutton, in press); and wife battering (Freize, crime; an extensive history results in the per- 1979). It is especially worth noting that the ception of the cause of the current crime as popular attributional analysis of depression stable and recidivism is therefore anticipated. advanced by Abramson et al. (1978) and the Parole board members do consider nonattri- oft-cited distinction between characterological butional factors in their decisions and, as op- versus behavioral self-blame (Janoff-Bulman, posed to college students simulating parole of- 1979) both have the present attributional ap- ficials, base their decisions entirely on risk fac- proach as their source. tors. However, the decisions made by judges In these analyses, the authors first determine and by college students also take into account the perceived cause of the outcome, such as beliefs regarding "deserved" punishment. the cause of a crime or the cause of depression. Crimes committed because of intentional and/ Although these causes vary widely, both within or controllable factors are believed to be more and between the domains under consideration, deserving of punishment than are crimes they can be described according to their struc- due to unintentional and/or noncontrollable tural properties of locus, stability, and con- causes. trollability. The dimensional analysis furnishes In this research, as in the work on achieve- the second key mechanism for theoretical gen- ment change programs, the full theory has not erality, for once the structure of the cause is been applied because of the neglect of emo- ascertained, then its impact on expectancy, af- tions. This is not the fault of the researchers, fect, and action can be tested. Consider, for for the introduction of emotion into this theory illustrative purposes, the application of the came well after their studies. Hence, a reason- theory to the disparate areas of criminal be- able direction for these investigations is to in- havior (parole decisions), smoking cessation, corporate feelings, particularly anger and pity, and help giving. The latter two research topics into the determinants of sentence and parole have been subject to examination by means of decisions. path-analytic techniques, thus providing a full Cessation of smoking. A great deal of at- or partial test of the proposed temporal se- tention has been devoted by psychologists to quence outlined in Figure 2, an examination of why people do not give up Parole decisions. According to Carroll smoking, given the known negative conse- (1978) and Carroll & Payne (1976, 1977), pa- quences of this behavior. Eiser and Sutton role decision makers search for a cause of a (1977) argued that the decision facing a would- crime when reaching their decision, utilizing be quitter is not whether to smoke or to quit, and integrating a variety of available infor- but whether to smoke or to try to quit. This mation such as the past criminal record, cir- shifts the theoretical focus from the determi- cumstances at the time of the crime, and so nants of quitting to the subjective expectancy on. According to Figure 2, the perceived sta- that an attempt at quitting will be successful. bility of the cause determines the risk of the In a large survey study, Eiser et al. (in press) criminal to society, that is, the expectancy that examined the attributions that smokers give another crime might be committed. The con- for the failure of others to give up smoking, as trollability and/or intentionality of the crime well as the reasons for their own personal fail- influence(s) the anger at the criminal. Risk and ure at cessation attempts. Path analyses re- anger (expectancy and affect), in turn, are hy- vealed that the perceived stability of the cause pothesized to affect the parole judgment. of prior failure attempts of both others and Carroll (1978) and Carroll and Payne (1976, oneself was related to personal confidence 1977) furnished evidence that this analysis does about giving up smoking in the future. Con- capture the parole decision process. It was fidence, in turn, was related to the behavioral found, for example, that an individual with a intention to try and quit, and intention was record of conviction who committed a long- associated with actual abstinence attempts. planned crime is less likely to be paroled than Hence, the temporal sequence of cause, causal ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 569 stability, expectancy of success, and behavior Thus, students may be more likely to lend their was confirmed in this health-related context. notes to a blind person rather than to a person Again, the role of emotions was neglected, and with a temporary eye problem. In addition, the possibility arises that affects such as shame stable uncontrollable causes of need elicit or guilt might also be predictive of attempts greater pity than do unstable uncontrollable at quitting (also see Goldstein, Gordon, & causes. Marlatt, 1984). Helping behavior. According to the present Concluding Comments attributional analysis, when a person is in need During the decades between 1930-1950 the of aid, the potential helper attempts to deter- field of motivation was central in psychology. mine why help is needed. If the cause is un- At present, this field is not particularly active. controllable, then pity is experienced and help I suggest that one reason for the relative demise should be offered. On the other hand, if the in the perceived importance of motivational cause is perceived as controllable, then the thinking has been the unreliability of the "ref- person is held responsible, anger is experi- erence experiments," that is, the basic inves- enced, and help should be withheld. Extensive tigations that provide the empirical founda- research has revealed positive associations be- tions for the theories. For example, regarding tween perceived controllability-anger-neglect the unequal recall of incompleted versus com- and between perceived uncontrollability-pity- pleted tasks, or what is known as the Zeigamik help (see J. Meyer & Mulherin, 1980). For ex- effect, Lewin (1935) stated, "All later experi- ample, it has been documented that individ- mental investigations were built upon this" uals on a subway are more likely to help a fall- (p. 240). But the differential task recall ob- ing person who is ill (uncontrollable) rather served by Lewin and Zeigamik is not a reliable than drunk (controllable; Piliavin, Rodin, & finding. In a similar manner, Atkinson (1964) Piliavin, 1969; Reisenzein, in press; Weiner, contended that individuals classified as high 1980a); that students are more likely to lend versus low in achievement needs exhibit op- another student their class notes if the other posing risk preferences, given tasks differing student has an eye problem (uncontrollable) in perceived difficulty. This central prediction rather than if the student needs notes because from Atkinson's conception is not reliably he or she went to the beach (controllable; Be- found (see W. Meyer, Folkes, & Weiner, 1976); tancourt, 1983; Reisenzein, in press; Weiner, one suspects this is partially responsible for 1980b); and that teachers are more likely to the lessening influence of this conception. And help a shy (uncontrollable) rather than a hy- differences in expectancy shifts between people peractive (controllable) student (Brophy & labeled as internal and external in perceptions Rohrkemper, 1981). Note that the attribu- of control has not been reliably demonstrated, tional approach points out the similarity, and although this is a fundamental prediction of like consequences, between drunkenness and Rotter's (1966) conception. going to the beach, or between illness and shy- The empirical foundation for the theory ness, by indicating their comparable subjective presented here—the existence of causal search, placements on the causal dimension of con- the dominant causal perceptions, the structure trollability. of perceived causality, the relation between This research, in direct opposition to the causal stability and expectancy change, and the study of achievement change programs, parole associations between causal structure and the decisions, and attempts to quit smoking, has emotions of pride, anger, pity, guilt, gratitude, typically ignored the role of causal stability and shame, and hopelessness, is robust. I believe expectancy in the motivational sequence and that these facts and relations will survive, in- has focused on affect. Thus, the entire theory dependent of the fate of the entire theory. In depicted in Figure 2 again has not been en- addition, the present conception has other vir- gaged. Aid may be more likely to be extended tues perhaps less evident in prior motivational if the cause of the need is perceived as stable conceptions: A full range of cognitions and as well as uncontrollable, so that there is rel- emotions are incorporated and there is an ex- ative certainty that the needy person will be plicit concern with the self. Furthermore, an unable to help him- or herself in the future. attempt has been made to relate the structure 570 BERNARD WEINER

of thought (in this case, causal thinking) to the impact of attributing failure to ineffective strategies. dynamics of feeling and action. This is one of Journal of Personality, 48, 393-407. Andrews, G. R.( & Debus, R. L. (1978). Persistence and the basic tasks that motivational theorists must causal perceptions of failure: Modifying cognitive attri- solve. butions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 154- In conclusion, I believe that some attention 166. also must be paid to the "nothing but common Arnold, M. B. (1960). Emotion and personality. New York: Columbia University Press. sense" criticism leveled at times against attri- Atkinson, J. W. (1964). An introduction to motivation. butional approaches. When critics charge that Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand. an attributional approach is "mere" common Averill, J. A. (1982). Anger and aggression. New York: sense, they are exclaiming that the relations Springer Verlag. pointed out or predicted by the theory repre- Averill, J. A. (1983). Studies on anger and aggression. American Psychologist, 38. 1145-1160. sent shared knowledge (see Fletcher, 1984). I Bar-tal, D., Goldberg, M., & Knaani, A. (1984). Causes of agree that the linkages in Figure 2 between, success and failure and their dimensions as a function for example, stable causes and repeated effects, of SES and gender: A phenomenological analysis. British internal locus and self-esteem, and causal con- Journal of Educational Psychology, 54, 51-61. Betancourt, H. (1983). Causal attributions, empathy, and trollability and anger, gratitute, and guilt, gen- emotions as determinants of helping behavior: An inte- erally are known or at least will be positively grative approach. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, acknowledged when presented to the lay pub- University of California, Los Angeles. lic. What is not shared knowledge, however, is Bottenberg, E. H. (1975). Phenomenological and opera- the conceptual analysis—the linking of various tional characteristics of factor-analytically derived dimensions of emotion. Psychological Reports, 37, 1253- "understood" empirical relations and the use 1254. of similar principles to explain a vast array of Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psy- phenotypic observations. The layperson does chologist, 36, 129-148. not appreciate that expecting to be rejected Brophy, J. E., & Rohrkemper, M. M. (1981). The influence of problem ownership on teachers' perceptions of and for a social engagement because of prior attri- strategies for coping with problem students. Journal of bution to lack of attractiveness and feeling Educational Psychology, 73, 295-311. grateful and returning a favor because of a vo- Brown, J., & Weiner, B. (1984). Affective consequences of litionally given gift are part of the same con- ability versus effort ascriptions: Controversies, resolu- ceptual network. It is this systemization, that tions, and quandaries. Journal of Educational Psychol- ogy, 76. 146-158. is, the higher order relations between associ- Bryant, F. B., & Veroff, J. (1982). The structure of psy- ations realized in everyday life, that represents chological well-being: A sociohistorical analysis. Journal much of this attributional contribution. That of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 653-673. the individual parts or components are naively Burger, J. M., Cooper, H. M., & Good, T. L. (1982). Teacher attributions of student performance: Effects of outcome. shared underscores their veridicality, thus fur- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 4, 685-690. ther supporting the certainty of the empirical Carroll, J. S. (1978). Causal attributions in expert parole relations and thereby providing a strong foun- decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, dation for theory building. 36, 1501-1511. Carroll, J. S., & Payne, J. W. (1976). The psychology of the parole decision process: A joint application of at- References tribution theory and information processing psychology. In J. S. Carroll & J. W. Payne (Eds.), Cognition and Abelson, R. P. (1983). Whatever became of consistency social behavior (pp. 13-32). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. theory? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9, Carroll, J. S., & Payne, J. W. (1977). Judgements about 37-54. crime and the criminal: A model and a method for in- Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. (1978). vestigating parole decision. In B. D. Sales (Ed.), Pro- Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and refor- spectives in law and psychology: Vol. 1. The criminal mulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49-74. justice system (pp. 191-240). New York: Plenum Press. Anderson, C. A. (1983a). The causal structure of situations: Chapin, M., & Dyck, D. G. (1976). Persistence in children's The generation of plausible causal attributions as a reading behavior as a function of N length and attribution function of type of event situation. Journal of Experi- retraining. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 511- mental Social Psychology, 19, 185-203. 515. Anderson, C. A. (1983b). Motivational and performance Cohen, J., & Hansel, C. E. M. (1956). Risk and gambling. deficits in interpersonal settings: The effects of attribu- London: Longmans Green. tional style. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Collins, B. E., Martin, J. C., Ashmore, R. D., & Ross, L. 45, 1136-1147. (1974). Some dimensions of the internal-external met- Anderson, C. A., & Jennings, D. L. (1980). When expe- aphor in theories of personality. Journal of Personality riences of failure promote expectations of success: The and Social Psychology, 29, 381-391. ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 571

Cooper, H. M., & Burger, J> M. (1980). How teachers ex- Forsyth, D. T. (1980). The function of attributions. Social plain students' academic performance: A categorization Psychology Quarterly, 43, 184-189. of free response academic attributions. American Ed- Frieze, I. H. (1976). Causal attributions and information ucational Research Journal, 17, 95-109. seeking to explain success and failure. Journal of Re- Covington, M. V., & Omelich, C. L. (1984). An empirical search in Personality. 10, 293-305. examination of Werner's critique of attribution research. Frieze, I. H. (1979). Perceptions of battered wives. In Frieze, Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 1199-1213. I. H., Bar-Tal, D., & Carroll, J. S. (Eds.), New approaches Crittended, K. S., & Wiley, M. G. (1980). Causal attri- to social problems (pp. 79-108). San Francisco: Jossey- butions and behavioral response to failure. Social Psy- Bass. chology Quarterly, 43, 353-358. Frieze, I. H., & Snyder, H. N. (1980). Children's beliefs Dalai, A., Weiner, B., & Brown, J. (1985). Issues in the about the causes of success and failure in school settings. measurement of causal stability. Unpublished manu- Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 186-196. script, University of California, Los Angeles. Furnham, A. (1982a). Explanations for unemployment in Davitz, J. R. (1969). The language of emotion. New York: Britain. European Journal of Social Psychology, 12, 335- Academic Press. 352. Day, V. H. (1982). Validity of an attributional model for Furnham, A. (1982b). Why are the poor always with us? a specific life event. Psychological Reports, 50, 434. Explanations for poverty in Britain. British Journal of Diggory, J. C., Riley, E. J., & Blumenfeld, R. (1960). Es- Social Psychology, 21, 311-322. timated probability of success for a fixed goal. American Goldstein, S., Gordon, J. R., & Marlatt, C. A. (1984, Au- Journal of Psychology, 73, 41-55. gust). Attributional processes and relapse following Dweck, C. S. (1975). The role of expectations and attri- smoking cessation. Paper presented at the 92nd Annual butions in the alleviation of learned helplessness. Journal Convention of the American Psychological Association, of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 674-685. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Eiser, J. R., & Sutton, S. R. (1977). Smoking as a subjec- Graham, S. (1984). Communicating sympathy and anger tively rational choice. Addictive Behaviors, 2, 129-134. to black and white children: The cognitive (attributional) Eiser, J. R., Van der Pligt, J., Raw, M., & Sutton, S. R. (in consequences of affective cues. Journal of Personality press). Trying to stop smoking: Effects of perceived ad- and Social Psychology, 47, 40-54. diction, attributions for failure and expectancy of suc- Graham, S., Doubleday, C., & Guarino, P. A. (1984). The cess. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. development of relations between perceived controlla- Elig, T. W, & Frieze, I. H. (1979). Measuring causal at- bility and the emotions of pity, anger and guilt. Child tributions for success and failure. Journal of Personality Development, 55, 561-565. and Social Psychology, 37, 621-634. Goranson, R. E., & Berkowitz, L. (1966). Reciprocity and Falbo, T, & Beck, R. C. (1979). Naive psychology and the responsibility reactions to prior help. Journal of Per- attributional model of achievement. Journal of Person- sonality and Social Psychology, 3, 227-232. ality, 47, 185-195. Greenberg, M. S., & Frisch, D. M. (1972). Effect of inten- Feather, N. T, & Davenport, P. (1981). Unemployment tionality on willingness to reciprocate a favor. Journal and depressive affect: A motivational and attributional of Experimental Social Psychology, 8, 99-111. analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Harvey, J. H., & Weary, G. (1981). Perspectives on attri- 41, 422-436. butional processes. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown. Feather, N. T, & Simon, J. G. (1972). Causal attributions Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. for success and failure in relation to initial confidence New York: Wiley. and success and failure of self and other. Journal of Per- Heilman, M. E., & Guzzo, R. A. (1978). The perceived sonality and Social Psychology, 18, 173-188. causes of work success as a mediator of sex discrimi- Fincham, F. D., & Jaspers, J. M. (1980). Attribution of nation in organizations. Organizational Behavior and responsibility: From man the scientist to man as lawyer. Human Performance, 21, 346-357. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social Hoffman, M. L. (1970). Conscience, personality, and so- psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 82-139). New York: Academic cialization techniques. Human Development, 13,90-126. Press. Hoffman, M. L. (1976). Empathy, role-taking, guilt, and Fletcher, G. O. (1984). Psychology and common sense. development of altruistic motives. In T. Likona (Ed.), American Psychologist, 39, 203-213. Morality: Theory, research and social issues (pp. 124- Foersterling, F. (1980). A multivariate analysis of perceived 143). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. causes for success and failure. Archives of Psychology, 133, 45-52. Hoffman, M. L. (1982). Development of prosocial moti- Foersterling, F. (in press). Attributional retraining: A review. vation: Empathy and guilt. In N. Eisenberg-Borg (Ed.), Psychological Bulletin. Development of prosocial behavior (pp. 281-313). New Folkes, V. S. (1982). Communicating the reasons for social York: Academic Press. rejection. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Inagi, T. (1977). Causal ascription and expectancy of suc- 18, 235-252. cess. Japanese Psychological Research, 19, 23-30. Folkes, V. S. (1984). Consumer reactions to product failure: Izard, C. E. (1977). Human emotions. New York: Plenum. An attributional approach. Journal of Consumer Re- Jagacinski, C. M., & Nicholls, J. G. (1984). Conception of search, 11, 398-409. ability and related affects in task involvement and ego Fontaine, C. (1974). Social comparison and some deter- involvement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, minants of expected personal control and expected per- 909-919. formance in a novel task situation. Journal of Personality Janoff-Bulman, R. (1979). Characterological versus be- and Social Psychology, 29, 487-496. havioral self-blame: Inquiries into depression and rape. 572 BERNARD WEINER

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1798- ceived dimensions of attributions for loneliness. Journal 1809. of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 929-936. Kelley, H. H. (1971). Attributions in social interactions. Montanelli, D. S., & Hill, K. T. (1969). Children's achieve- Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press. ment expectations and performance as a function of Kelley, H. H. (1983). The situational origins of human two consecutive reinforcement experiences, sex of sub- tendencies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, ject, and sex of experimenter. Journal of Personality and 9, 8-30. Social Psychology, 13, 115-128. Kelley, H. H., & Michela, J. L. (1980). Attribution theory Musashi, M. (1974). A book of five rings. Woodstock, NY: and research. In M. R. Rosenzweig & L. W. Porter (Eds.), Overlook. (Original work written in 1645) Annual review of psychology (Vol. 31, pp. 457-501). Palo Neale, J. M., & Friend, R. M. (1972). Attributional de- Alto, CA: Annual Reviews. terminants of reactions to performance in academic sit- Kovenklioglu, G., & Greenhaus, J. H. (1978). Causal at- uations. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 34, 35-40. tributions, expectations and task performance. Journal Pancer, S. M. (1978). Causal attributions and anticipated of Applied Psychology, 63, 698-705. future performance. Personality and Social Psychology Lazarus, R. S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping Bulletin, 4, 600-603. process. New York: McGraw-Hill. Pancer, S. M., & Eiser, J. R. (1977). Expectation, aspirations Lee, Y. K. (1976, April). Construct validation of a new and evaluations as influenced by another's attribution locus of control scale by multidimensional unfolding. for success and failure. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Paper presented at the meeting of the Western Psycho- Science, 9, 252-264. logical Association, Los Angeles. Passer, M. W. (1977). Perceiving the causes of success and Lewin, K. (1935). A dynamic theory of personality. New failure revisited: A multidimensional scaling approach. York: McGraw-Hill. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Cali- Lewin, K., Dembo, T, Festinger, L., & Sears, P. S. (1944). fornia, Los Angeles. Level of aspiration. In J. McV. Hunt (Ed.), Personality Passer, M. W, Kelley, H. H., & Michela, J. L. (1978). Mul- and the behavioral disorders (Vol. 1, pp. 333-378). New tidimensional scaling of the causes for negative inter- York: Ronald Press. personal behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Mark, M. M. (1985). Expectation, procedural justice, and Psychology, 36, 951-962. alternative reactions to being deprived of a desired out- Pastore, N. (1952). The role of arbitrariness in the frus- come. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 21, tration-aggression hypothesis. Journal of Abnormal and 114-137. Social Psychology, 47, 728-732. Martinez, A. (1982, November 1). Out-of-work lumbermen Peplau, L. A., Russell, D., & Heim, M. (1979). The ex- not out of the woods yet. Los Angeles Times, Pt. 5, perience of loneliness. In I. H. Frieze, D. Bar-Tal, & p. 1. J. S. Carroll (Eds.) New approaches to social problems McFarland, C, & Ross, M. (1982). Impact of causal at- (pp. 53-78). San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass. tributions on affective reactions to success and failure. Piliavin, I. M., Rodin, J., & Piliavin, J. A. (1969). Good Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 937- samaritanism: An underground phenomenon? Journal 946. of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 289-299. McHugh, M., Beckman, L., & Frieze, I. H. (1979). Ana- Reisenzein, R. (in press). A structural equation analysis of lyzing alcoholism. In I. H. Frieze, D. Bar-Tal, & J. S. Weiner's attribution-affect model of helping behavior. Carroll (Eds.), New approaches to social problems Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (pp. 168-208). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Robert, R. (1982, November 24). Malavasi questions char- McMahan, I. D. (1973). Relationships between causal at- acter of some, says coaching is tough. Los Angeles Times, tributions and expectancy of success. Journal of Per- Pt. 3, p. 3. sonality and Social Psychology, 28, 108-115. Ronis, D. L., Hansen, R. D., & O'Leary, V. B. (1983). Meyer, J. P. (1980). Causal attributions for success and Understanding the meaning of achievement attributions: failure: A multivariate investigation of dimensionality, A test of derived locus and stability scores. Journal of formation, and consequences. Journal of Personality arid Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 702-711. Social Psychology, 38, 704-715. Rosenbaum, R. M. (1972). A dimensional analysis of the perceived causes of success and failure. Unpublished Meyer, J. P., & Koelbl, S. L. M. (1982). Dimensionality of doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los An- students' causal attributions for test performance. Per- geles. sonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 8, 31-36. Roseman, I. J. (1984). Cognitive determinants of emotion. Meyer, J. P., & Mulherin, A. (1980). From attribution to Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 11-36. helping: An analysis of the mediating effects of affect Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal and expectancy. Journal of Personality and Social Psy- versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological chology, 39, 201-210. Monograph, 80, 1-28. Meyer, W. U. (1973). Leistungsmotiv und-Ursachenerk- Saulnier, K., & Pearlman, D. (1981). The actor-observer larung von Erfolg und Misserfolg [Achievement moti- bias is alive and well in prison: A sequel to Wells. Per- vation and causal attributions for success and failure]. sonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 559-564. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett. Schachter, S., & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, social and Meyer, W. U., Folkes, V. S., & Weiner, B. (1976). The per- physiological determinants of emotional state. Psycho- ceived informational value and affective consequences logical Review, 69, 379-399. of choice behavior and intermediate difficulty task se- Schiitz, A. (1967). Collected papers I: The problem of social lection. Journal of Research in Personality, 10, 410-423. reality. The Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff. Michela, J. L., Peplau, L. A., & Weeks, D. G. (1982). Per- Smith, C. A., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1985). Patterns of cognitive ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 573

appraisal in emotion. Journal of Personality and Social proach to emotional development. In C. Izard, J. Kagan, Psychology, 48, 813-838. & R. Zajonc (Eds.), Emotion, cognition and behavior Smith, E. R., & Kleugel, J. R. (1982). Cognitive and social (pp. 167-191). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University bases of emotional experience: Outcome, attribution, Press. and affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Weiner, B., Graham, S., & Chandler, C. (1982). Causal 43, 1129-1141. antecedents of pity, anger and guilt. Personality and So- Sobol, M. P., & Earn, B. M. (in press). Assessment of chil- cial Psychology Bulletin, 8, 226-232. dren's attributions for social experiences: Implications Weiner, B., Graham, S., Stern, P., & Lawson, M. E. (1982). for social skills training. In B. H. Schneider, J. E. Led- Using affective cues to infer causal thoughts. Develop- ingham, & K. H. Rubin (Eds.), Research strategies in mental Psychology, 18, 278-286. children's social skills training. New York: Springer-Ver- Weiner, B., & Handel, S. (1985). Anticipated emotional lag. consequences of causal communications and reported Staff. (1926, April). Fifty and 100 years ago. Scientific communication strategy. Developmental Psychology, 21, American, p. 228. 102-107. Stern, P. (1983). A mullimethod analysis of student per- Weiner, B., & Kukla, A. (1970). An attributional analysis ceptions of causal dimensions. Unpublished doctoral of achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. Social Psychology, IS, 1-20. Stipek, D. J. (1983). A developmental analysis of pride and Weiner, B., Nierenberg, R., & Goldstein, M. (1976). Social shame. Human Development, 26, 42-54. learning (locus of control) versus attributional (causal Tesser, A., Gatewood, R., & Driver, M. (1968). Some de- stability) interpretations of expectancy of success. Jour- terminants of gratitude. Journal of Personality and Social nal of Personality, 44, 52-68. Psychology, 3, 233-236. Weiner, B., Russell, D., & Lerman, D. (1978). Affective Tolman, E. C. (1925). Purpose and cognition: The deter- consequences of causal ascriptions. In J. H. Harvey, minants of animal learning. Psychological Review, 32, W. J. Ickes, & R. F. Kidd, (Eds.), New directions in at- 285-297. tribution research (Vol. 2, pp. 59-88). Hillsdale, NJ: Triandis, H. C. (1972). The analysis of subjective culture. Erlbaum. New York; Wiley. Weiner, B., Russell, D., & Lerman, D. (1979). The cog- Trivers, R. L. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. nition-emotion process in achievement-related contexts. Quarterly Review of Biology, 46. 35-57. Journal of Personality and Social Pscyhology, 37, 1211- Valle, V. A. (1974). Attributions of stability as a mediator 1220. in the changing of expectations. Unpublished doctoral White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. of competence. Psychological Review, 66, 297-333. Weiner, B. (1979). A theory of motivation for some class- Wicker, F, W., Payne, G. C., & Morgan, R. D. (1983). room experiences. Journal of Educational Psychology, Participant descriptions of guilt and shame. Motivation 71, 3-25. and Emotion, 7, 25-39. Weiner, B. (I980a). A cognitive (attribution )-emotion-ac- Willson, V. L., & Palmer, D. J. (1983). Latent partition tion model of motivated behavior: An analysis of judge- analysis of attributions for actual achievement. American ments of help-giving. Journal of Personality and Social Educational Research Journal, 20, 581-589. Psychology, 39, 186-200. Wilson, T. D., & Linville, P. W. (1982). Improving the Weiner, B. (1980b). May I borrow your class notes? An academic performance of college freshmen: Attribution attributional analysis of judgements of help-giving in an theory revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psy- achievement related context. Journal of Educational chology, 42, 367-376. Psychology, 72.676-681. Wilson, T. D., & Linville, P. W. (1985). Improving the Weiner, B. (1982). The emotional consequences of causal performance of college freshmen with attributional ascriptions. In M. S. Clark & S. T. Fiske (Eds.), Affect techniques. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and cognition: The 17th Annual Carnegie Symposium 49, 287-293. on Cognition (pp. 185-200). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Wimer, S., & Kelley, H. H. (1982). An investigation of the Weiner, B. (1983). Some methodological pitfalls in attri- dimensions of causal attribution. Journal of Personality butional research. Journal of Educational Psychology, and Social Psychology, 43, 1142-1162. 75, 530-543. Zajonc, R. B., & Brickman, P. (1969). Expectancy and Weiner, B. (1985). "Spontaneous" causal search. Psycho- feedback as independent factors in task performance. logical Bulletin, 97, 74-84. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 11, 148- Weiner, B, Amirkhan, J., Folkes, V. S., & Wachtel, S. 156. (1985). An attributional analysis of excuses: Studies of Zoeller, C, Mahoney, G., & Weiner, B. (1983). Effects of a naive psychology of emotion. Unpublished paper, Uni- attribution training on the assembly task performance versity of California, Los Angeles. of mentally retarded adults. American Journal of Mental Weiner, B., Frieze, I. H., Kukla, A., Reed, L., Rest, S., & Deficiency, 88, 109-112. Rosenbaum, R. M. (1971). Perceiving the causes of success and failure. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press. Received January 9, 1985 Weiner, B., & Graham, S. (1984). An attributional ap- Revision received April 11, 1985