An attributional and value analysis of deservingness in success and failure situations

Abstract

Hypotheses about deservingness and affect were tested in the context of an achievement situation in two studies that involved either a success outcome or a failure outcome. The degree to which a person deserved the outcome and affective reactions relating to the outcome were assumed to be related to attributions of responsibility for the outcome and also to whether positively (or negatively) valued behaviours led to positively (or negatively) valued outcomes. The two studies involved a total of 689 high school students, each of whom responded to a hypothetical scenario that contained information about the causes of a stimulus person's initial achievement status, whether the stimulus person was usually a high or average performer, and whether the stimulus person maintained performance or obtained a very low grade in a final important examination. The results were consistent with hypotheses and they provided new information supporting an attributional and value interpretation of deservingness and affect.