Taiwanese Students' Self-Attributions for Two Types of Achievement Goals

Abstract

Previous studies of achievement motivations have focused on the patterns of self-attribution with little consideration of the effects of achievement goals. In the present study, the authors investigated Taiwanese students' self-attribution for achievement goals mainly on the basis of autonomous interest (i.e., personal goals) and on social expectation (i.e., vertical goals). The authors administered self-developed scenario simulation questionnaires to undergraduate and graduate participants in 2 studies. The results showed that (a) in pursuit of personal goals, participants tended to attribute success to internal factors and failure to external factors and (b) in pursuit of vertical goals, participants tended to attribute their failure to lack of effort. The authors further discuss the theoretical implications of these findings under a cultural context.