23 October 2020
Week 06: Attributional Tendencies
We live in a world they there is always blame for out success and out failures, but within each culture there is different people that are to blame for these situations. Before we dive into who is to blame we need to know how they are categorized.
Internal attributional blame is when we place the outcome of the situation on our own actions.
External attributional blame is when we place the outcome of the situation on someone or something else. Examples can be teacher, parents, family, and God.
In each culture you can see a normal tendency of where people place their blame. Americans seem to place their success internally, while they place their failures very externally. This can be harmful to their relationships with others in the long run.
In Japan they place their successes externally and thank those who were part of there success. While there failures and places heavily on themselves and seem to be buried deep. This not good for their self esteem and is one reason they have a high suicided rate.
There are some cultures like India and Hong Kong they find internal attributes for both there failures and success. This kind of thinking can help keep you progressing without diminishing your self esteem completely.
By understanding these differences in thinking you can sympathize with people and help them find a healthy way to place the blame of their failures and success. This is especially useful when teaching students of different nationalities as they all learn and blame themselves differently. This can also help you as a teacher to understand why some student place the blame on you and why others do not.
Life in the Salt Lake Valley 