New Zealand and Singaporean Attributions and Achievement Perceptions

Abstract

Several aspects of cross-cultural differences in attributions remain relatively unexplored, including the issue of different criteria for success and failure, different forms of achievement motivation, the likelihood of making attributions, and different perceptions of causes on the dimensions of controllability, stability, and locus. The present study solicited New Zealand (Pakeha/European descent) and Singaporean (Chinese) students' attributions for their own success and failure in examinations. Also assessed were the criteria of success and failure, the likelihood of obtaining success and failure, the importance of achieving success and failure, the relative likelihood of giving an attribution for success or failure, and ratings of ten causes on the dimensions of controllability, locus, and stability. Differences between the cultures were obtained for several of these factors. These differences are related to different values in the two cultures, and have implications for theories of attribution and achievement motivation.