ATTRIBUTIONAL PROCESSINTERNALITY AND OPTIMISM

THIS CHAPTER COVERS

• Significance of internality for personal effectiveness

• Various ways of developing internality

• Optimism and pessimism

• How rumination affects individuals and how flow can be achieved

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

• Does the individual shape the environment or is it the other way around?

• Locus of control – Rotter

• Internals and Externals

• Casual Attribution – Weiner

• Locus of control + Stability-variability

• In its early stage, research has just begun

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

• Weiber’s Remarks :• Success is attributed to internal variable factor : Effort

• Failure is attributed to variable factors : Effort and Luck

Internality-Externality

Internal External

Stability -Variability

Stable Ability Task difficulty

Variable Effort Luck

INTERNALITY-EXTERNALITY

• Internality - General orientation based on the belief that a person causes most phenomena experienced himself

• Can range from Paranoid, delusions or manias to self-determination

• Four dimensions of internality• Personal | Stability• Personal | Variable• Group | Stable• Group | Variable

INTERNALITY-EXTERNALITY

• Externality : success or failure, because of some external force

Locus and Attribution

• Personal Stable• Personal Variable• Group Stable• Group Variable• Human Stable• Human Variable• Non-Human Stable• Non-human Variable

Determinant

Internality with Stability AbilityEffortRace/castGroup EffortExternality with StabilitySocial EffortOthersFateLuck/Chance

Resultant Mode

Superman shipSelf-determinationSuper-racismSocial determinationRole playingComplianceFatalismProbablism

INTERNALITY AND TIME PERSPECTIVE

| PAST AND FUTURE |

What do people attribute their past experiences ?

What do people expect from their future ?

FOUR ATTRIBUTIONAL MODES OF THE DIMENSIONS OFINTERNALTY AND EXTERNALITY

| AUTHORITARIANISM |

| FATALISM |

| RELIGIOSITY |

| ACTIVISM |

COST OF EXTERNALITY

Internality is a major human weapon to live a meaningful and appropriate life.

The cost of externality is very high for the individual as well as society.

Fortunately human beings are ingenious in creating the ways of internality even within the worst circumstances.

COST OF INTERNALITY

• Internals who perceive personal stable factors (lack of ability) or even personal variable factors (lack of effort) are responsible for their failure may become self punitive.

• It may be difficult for achievers to accept things can go wrong under their management.

CONSEQUENCES OF INTERNALITY

• Clear conclusion is yet to be derived, Lefcourt summarized a few: • Learning• Perseverance• Predictability of outcome• High achievement motivation• Developing ethical norms• Internality and mental health• Organizational behaviour

LEARNING

• Internal Learning involves:• Consistency in context• Curiosity• Eagerness to new information• Processing information faster

PERSEVERANCE

• Positive relation between perseverance and internality• More time spent at work• looking for involvements in difficult and complex tasks• Willingness to defer immediate gratifications

PREDICTABILITY OF OUTCOME

• Internals can predict better about the future outcomes• Rely on predictions and put efforts for distant goal

HIGH ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION

• nAch people are moderate risk takers• Internality helps preferring moderate risk.

DEVELOPING ETHICAL NORMS

• Awareness of one’s values• Willingness to declare those values in public• Adhere to values in spite of external pressure

INTERNALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH

• Neurotic and psychotic symptoms are negatively related to internal people • Internals don’t suffer from

schizophrenia

depression

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

• Internals have higher job satisfactions• Satisfied with participatory management style• Working hard leads to good performance• Good performance leads to rewards