The Effect of Need for Achievement on Attributional Style

Abstract

The effects of need for achievement and outcome on attributional style were examined, using a 2 × 2 (Need for Achievement: high vs. low x Outcome: positive vs. negative) factorial design. The participants were 120 adolescents studying at the Vocational and Industrial Training Institute in Sirsa, India. The participants, who were selected on the basis of extreme scores on a need for achievement scale (Achievement Values and Anxiety Inventory; Mehta, 1969), completed Feather's (1982) Attributional Style Questionnaire. The participants who had a low need for achievement attributed negative outcomes to factors that were more internal, stable, and global than those cited by the participants with a high need for achievement. Positive outcomes were attributed to more internal factors of a stable and global nature than negative outcomes were.