Attributional Style Research Articles

대학생의 부정적 생활사건과 정신건강과의 관계: 스트레스 민감도의 매개효과와 부정적 귀인스타일의 조절된 매개효과

This study aims to explore the relationship between negative life events and mental health among undergraduate students, with a focus on the mediation effect of stress sensitivity and the moderated mediation effect of negative attributional styles. The findings reveal that stress sensitivity partially mediates the relationship between negative life events and mental health, with a stronger indirect effect observed when negative attributional styles are low. In contrast, when negative attributional styles are high, the mediation effect of stress sensitivity weakens, rendering the indirect effect insignificant. These results underscore the importance of educational and psychological interventions aimed at managing stress and addressing negative attributional styles to promote better mental health outcomes. The study provides practical insights into the early diagnosis and prevention of mental health issues among undergraduate students.

Optimism and Overconfidence of Strategic Decision Makers‐Comparing Entrepreneurs and Managers With Employees

ABSTRACTEmpirical evidence supports the conventional wisdom that entrepreneurs are more optimistic and overconfident than others. However, the same holds true for (top) managers. In a large incentivized survey (), we directly compare entrepreneurs, managers, and employees on a comprehensive set of measures of optimism and overconfidence. We find that on average entrepreneurs and managers are more optimistic than employees in their dispositional optimism and their explanatory style of past events. However, they do not differ from each other in these respects. For two incentivized measures of overconfidence, we also find no differences between entrepreneurs and managers. Both are equally likely to overestimate their own abilities compared to employees. In terms of overestimating general economic prospects differences with employees are much less pronounced. Exploration of within‐group heterogeneities shows that these observations hold true for various subgroups of entrepreneurs and managers. Together these findings tentatively suggest that optimism and overconfidence characterize strategic decision makers more generally, irrespective of whether they bear the full risk of their strategic decisions.

Science literacy in the twenty-first century: informed trust and the competent outsider

ABSTRACT A primary justification of teaching science to all young people is to develop students to become “critical consumers” of science. This worthy goal, however, is hampered by a flawed premise that school science is sufficient to develop intellectual independence. In contrast, we start from the premise that we are all epistemically dependent on the expertise of others. Hence, any science education for all must develop the capabilities to become a “competent outsider” capable of making judgements not of the science itself, but whether the source is credible. Essential to developing such informed epistemic trust are: (1) a basic understanding of the social practices that enable the production of reliable knowledge; and (2) a familiarity with the major explanatory theories and styles of reasoning that guide the work of scientists. These elements provide a framework for the non-expert necessary to interpret and understand the work of scientists and the claims they make. We show how such an education would address three of the four primary aims of science education outlined by Rudolph (2022). To achieve this goal a substantial reduction of existing standards to an essential, but fundamentally different, core is required, while returning significant autonomy to classroom professionals.

When Vulnerable Narcissists Take the Lead: The Role of Internal Attribution of Failure and Shame for Abusive Supervision

AbstractResearch to date provides only limited insights into the processes of abusive supervision, a form of unethical leadership. Leaders’ vulnerable narcissism is important to consider, as, according to the trifurcated model of narcissism, it combines entitlement with antagonism, which likely triggers cognitive and affective processes that link leaders’ vulnerable narcissism and abusive supervision. Building on conceptualizations of aggression as a self-regulatory strategy, we investigated the role of internal attribution of failure and shame in the relationship between leaders’ vulnerable narcissism and abusive supervision. We found across three empirical studies with supervisory samples from Germany and the United Kingdom (UK) that vulnerable narcissism related positively to abusive supervision (intentions), and supplementary analyses illustrated that leaders’ vulnerable (rather than grandiose) narcissism was the main driver. Study 1 (N = 320) provided correlational evidence of the vulnerable narcissism-abusive supervision relationship and for the mediating role of the general proneness to make internal attributions of failure (i.e., attribution style). Two experimental studies (N = 326 and N = 292) with a manipulation-of-mediator design and an event recall task supported the causality and momentary triggers of the internal attribution of failure. Only Study 2 pointed to shame as a serial mediator, and we address possible reasons for the differences between studies. We discuss implications for future studies of leaders’ vulnerable narcissism as well as ethical organizational practices.

A survey study of success attribution factors in reading comprehension performance-evidence from Chinese college students of Japanese language majors

Attribution beliefs are important psychological factors that affect students’ reading performance. This paper reports a survey study on Japanese Major students’ success attribution factors in reading comprehension performance through a questionnaire and follow-up interviews. The participants are 160 third-year Japanese language learners from four universities in Jiangsu Province, China. Findings revealed that 1) the Japanese third-year language learners show a tendency of positive attribution style on the whole, with the mean value of Internal Factors (Mean=3.68) higher than that of External Factors (Mean=3.23), which means that most of Japanese Major learners attribute their success to Internal Factors in terms of Japanese reading comprehension performance. 2)There are differences existing between high achievers and low achievers with regard to success attribution factors in Japanese reading comprehension performance, with high achievers’ mean scores higher than low achievers in both Internal Factors and External Factors. The research findings have greatly enhanced our understanding of Japanese language learners’ success attribution beliefs in reading comprehension performance, which will provide educational guidance and recommendation for both teachers and students during the process of teaching and learning Japanese language.

Challenge-hindrance stressors and service innovation among hotel staff: roles of psychological empowerment and attributional style

Challenge-hindrance stressors and service innovation among hotel staff: roles of psychological empowerment and attributional style

Depressive symptoms and the processing of unexpected social feedback: Differences in surprise levels, feedback acceptance, and "immunizing" cognition.

Negative social expectations are a key symptom of depression. It has been suggested that individuals with depressive symptoms tend to maintain these expectations by devaluing new experiences that do not fit prior expectations. However, our understanding of the role of such "immunizing" cognition in response to unexpected social feedback in depression, as well as the cognitive mechanisms involved, remains limited. This study investigated the association between depressive symptoms and the cognitive processing of unexpected positive or negative social feedback using a novel, video-based approach featuring naturalistic social stimuli in a subclinical online sample (N = 155). We also examined how surprise levels, feedback acceptance and immunizing cognition relate to other cognitive processes, such as attributional style and rumination, using cross-sectional network analyses. Robust multiple linear regression analyses revealed that depressive symptoms were associated with higher surprise levels (R2adj. = .27), lower feedback acceptance (R2adj. = .19), and higher levels of immunizing cognition (R2adj. = .09) in response to unexpected positive social feedback, but only partially to unexpected negative social feedback. The network analysis suggested that self-efficacy expectations for coping with negative feelings and acceptance of positive social feedback had the strongest expected influence on the different cognitive processes. Our study highlights the challenges that individuals with depressive symptoms face in utilizing positive social feedback to modify negative expectations. For clinicians, our findings suggest the importance of promoting acceptance of positive social feedback, while simultaneously inhibiting immunizing cognition and avoiding the use of overly positive feedback.

Attributional style in Borderline personality disorder is associated with self-esteem and loneliness

BackgroundAttributions are the processes by which individuals explain the causes of positive and negative events. A maladaptive attributional style has been associated with reduced self-esteem, psychosocial functioning, and mental health. Although many psychosocial interventions target an individual’s attributional style in mental disorders, studies of its alterations in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are sparse. This study aimed to investigate the attributional style in patients with BPD in comparison to healthy control individuals (HC) and its association with self-esteem and psychosocial functioning.MethodsThe participants (32 patients with a diagnosis of BPD, 32 HC, groups were balanced for sex, age and education) assessed their attributional style in regard to locus of control, stability and globality for positive and negative scenarios. Attributional style was compared between groups and linked to self-reports of self-esteem, loneliness and psychosocial functioning in different social domains while controlling for BPD and depressive symptom severity.ResultsIndividuals diagnosed with BPD reported a maladaptive attributional style for both positive and negative events. This was found to be strongly related with lower self-esteem and higher levels of loneliness, but not with psychosocial dysfunctions assessed in different social domains. The severity of BPD and depressive symptoms did not fully explain the association of attributional style with self-esteem and loneliness. In contrast, correcting for acute psychopathology actually strengthened the relationship between self-esteem and maladaptive inferring causality for positive events.ConclusionThe differential association of attributional style for positive and negative events with self-esteem and psychosocial functioning highlights the importance of considering the different facets of inferring causality during psychosocial interventions. Our findings suggest that the significance of cognitive alterations may change with remission of acute BPD and depressive psychopathology, depending on the valence of an event.

Psychological Profile of English Pedagogy Students: Attributional Styles, Academic Self-Concept and Self-Esteem

Psychological Profile of English Pedagogy Students: Attributional Styles, Academic Self-Concept and Self-Esteem

Parenting Attitudes and Attributional Style in the First Secondary School Students of kazeron City

Objectives: One of the most important factors affecting the psychological and educational performance of students is the documentation style. Parenting has a significant effect on the attributional style of students. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relationship between fathers’ parenting attitudes (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive) and attributional style (internality (locus), stability, globality) in high school students. Results: The results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between authoritative attitude and the dimension of totality and internality (locus), and there is also a negative and significant relationship between the parenting attitude of authoritarian and the dimension of stability in a negative situation (p<0.001). There is no significant relationship between authoritarian parenting attitude and general dimensions and internality (locus), and a positive and significant relationship has been observed between authoritarian attitude and the style of sustainability documents in a negative situation (p<0.001). There is a significant relationship between the permissive attitude and general attribution styles, internality (locus) and stability control (positive situation) (p<0.001). Similarly, there is no significant difference between boys and girls in terms of parenting attitudes (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive). Conclusion: It seems that there is a significant relationship between the two parenting attitudes of authoritative and permissive of fathers with the attribution styles (internality (locus), stability, globality) of students.

Satisfaction Model in Romantic Relationships: Basic Psychological Needs, Mindfulness, Relationship Quality, Attribution Styles

Relationships are an important component of human mental health. In this study, the relationships between romantic relationship satisfaction and basic psychological needs, mindfulness, relationship quality, and attribution styles in university students were examined within the framework of the proposed model of Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships. The study sample consisted of 1057 university students from Turkey. According to the results of the study, basic psychological needs predict Romantic Relationship Satisfaction. The relationship between basic psychological needs and romantic relationship satisfaction is mediated by causality-responsibility attribution styles, mindfulness, and relationship quality. Relationship quality and mindfulness mediate the relationship between causality-responsibility attribution styles and romantic relationships satisfaction. Mindfulness predicts romantic relationships satisfaction. In the relationship between mindfulness and romantic relationship satisfaction, the relationship quality mediates for the I.Structural Model, and the mediating effect is not significant for the II.Structural Model.

The relationship between trauma, stress, and premenstrual symptoms: the role of attributional style and trait anger

ABSTRACT Aims The aim of this study was to examine potential mediators of the relationship between traumatic experiences, perceived stress, and the subjective, retrospectively measured, intensity of symptoms of premenstrual disorders. It was hypothesised that pessimistic attributional style and trait anger mediate the said relationship. Methods The study sample comprised 150 non-clinical subjects (aged 18–31; M = 21.82; SD = 2.19). Study variables were assessed with self-report questionnaires: the Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST); the Traumatic Experiences Checklist (TEC); the Perceived Stress Scale-4 Short Form (PSS-4); the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ); and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2 – trait anger subscale). Correlation and mediation analyses were performed. Results The symptoms of premenstrual disorders were significantly and positively associated with both trait anger and pessimistic attributional style, as well as with trauma and stress. The correlations were moderate to strong, ranging from rho = 0.57 (pessimistic attributional style and trauma) to rho = 0.85 (stress and premenstrual symptoms). Both anger and pessimistic attributional style partially mediated the relationship between trauma and premenstrual symptoms and between stress and premenstrual symptoms. Conclusion Although the design of the study does not allow to infer causality, it demonstrates strong, positive relationship between the symptoms of premenstrual disorders, trauma, stress, attributional style, and anger. The results of mediation analyses may point to some practical implications (e.g. for psychotherapeutic interventions) but further studies employing prospective methods are needed.

A serial mediation model reveals the association between parental over-protection and academic entitlement among nursing students

The study aims to explore the influence of parental over-protection on academic entitlement of nursing students, and examine the mediating roles of external locus of control and psychological entitlement. The study sampled two medical universities in Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, China. Participants were nursing students in grades one to four (N = 1003; mean age = 19.51 years; 81.95% female). Using a structural equation model, we examined the mediating effect of external locus of control and psychological entitlement on parental over-protection and academic entitlement. The results show that there was a significant correlation between all variables, and external locus of control and psychological entitlement played a serial mediating role between parental over-protection and academic entitlement. Our findings suggest that academic entitlement of nursing students can be reduced by adjusting parental rearing behaviors, reducing students’ psychological entitlement, and teaching them how to form a healthier attribution style.

Longitudinal Relationships Between Depressive Attributional Style and Internalizing Symptoms in an Autism-Enriched Sample of Incoming College Students

Longitudinal Relationships Between Depressive Attributional Style and Internalizing Symptoms in an Autism-Enriched Sample of Incoming College Students

Lateral asymmetry of emotional arousal as a biomarker of attributional style during darts competitions.

According to the Multiple Arousal Theory, electrodermal activity (EDA) is not uniform across the body. However, the psychological meaning of a left or right-sided EDA dominance is still not clear. We explored EDA lateral asymmetry as a psychophysiological marker of optimistic and pessimistic attributional style regarding success and failure in a darts competition. Bilateral EDA pattern of 230 throws of a competing pair was measured by Obimon EDA including accelerometer measurements of movements. First, we confirmed that lateral asymmetry can be measured reliably based on EDA data from both wrists. Second, we assessed attributional styles related to lateral asymmetry based on 80 individual throws. We recorded participants' expectations regarding their upcoming performance, and their attribution of success and failure based on Seligman's definition as optimist (internal cause attributed to success, or external cause ascribed to failure) or pessimist. The ratio of optimist and pessimist attributions was significantly different for throws with right or left-sided EDA dominance (p = 0.001). Optimistic attribution characterized 84% of right dominant, while pessimist 63% of left-dominant EDA during throws. We replicated these findings on 50 throws from 10 more individuals (p = 0.034). All individuals were right-handed. We conclude that wrist EDA can be reliably measured during physical movements, such as in a darts game. Lateral EDA asymmetry is a consistent psychophysiological marker of the attitude toward success and failure in a competitive setting, suggesting that lateral asymmetry of emotional arousal may serve as a novel psychophysiological biomarker for attribution style. Results underlie the psychophysiological relevance of bilateral arousal assessment and provide evidence-based verification for the Multiple Arousal Theory.

Attributional styles are associated with care burden in geriatric depression: older adults and their caregivers in Taiwan

BackgroundGiven the rising prevalence of depression among older adults and the associated increase in caregiving responsibilities, understanding factors influencing caregiver burden is crucial. Previous research has not extensively explored the impact of caregivers’ attributional styles, that is, how individuals interpret the causes of life events, on their care burden.AimThis study examined the relationship between caregivers’ attributional styles and their care burden for older patients with depression.MethodsThis cross-sectional study enrolled older adults aged ≥ 65 years diagnosed with depression and their caregivers. Depression was diagnosed according to the DSM-V criteria for Major Depressive Disorder or Persistent Depressive Disorder. Caregivers completed the Chinese Depression Caregiver Burden Scale (CDCBS) to assess care burden, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) to evaluate patient symptom severity, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) for measuring caregivers’ depression, and the Chinese Depression Patient Caregiver Attribution Style Scale (CDPCAS) to assess attributional styles. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to identify the factors independently associated with the caregiver’s subjectively assessed care burden.ResultsThe sample included 146 caregivers of geriatric patients with depression. Most depression patients were women (74.7%) with a mean age of 74.3 years, whereas the mean age of caregivers was 57.7 years. Hierarchical regression analysis identified that caregivers’ gender (β = − 0.14, p = .044), educational level (β = 0.19, p = .008), caregivers’ own depression assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (β = 0.41, p < .001), and attributional styles, particularly manipulation (β = 0.29, p < .001) and illness/stress attributional style (β = 0.23, p = .002) as independent factors associated with care burden. Patient symptom severity assessed using the Hamilton Depression Scale was not significantly correlated with care burden after controlling for attributional styles.ConclusionsCertain attributional styles, particularly the manipulation and illness/stress attributional styles, significantly increased self-reported care burden. These findings highlight the need for educational resources to change the attribution style, along with support systems and accessible mental health services for caregivers to potentially ease the care burden.

На пути к успеху: мотивация и ресурсы саморегуляции как предикторы академической успешности студентов

&lt;p&gt;Currently, the higher education system is constantly changing: the education of increasing number of students is becoming associated with the use of distance technologies, which is why it is so important to identify motivational factors that have a potential impact on the academic success of students of different forms of education. The sample of the study consisted of 114 students of different forms of education (74 extramural students with the use of E-Learning and Distance Educational Technologies and 40 full-time students). Two indicators were used to measure academic achievements: the average score for all previous examination sessions and the self-appraisal of learning scale of the questionnaire by T.V. Kornilova et al. The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) was used to study the motivational-semantic component, the Brief Self-Control Scale and the Style of self-regulation of behavior &amp;ndash; SSRB 2020 questionnaire were used to study the motivational-regulatory component. The Explanatory Style of Successes and Failures (ESSF) technique and the General Self-Efficacy Scale by R. Schwarzer and M. Yerusalem, adapted by V.G. Romek, were used to study the cognitive-motivational component, the persistence and perseverance scale (Grit) was used to study the integrative component. The results showed that if strong internal motivation prevails, it sufficiently determines academic success, but if motivation is lacking or is external, other components, namely self-regulation resources and the style of explaining successes and failures in achievement activities, help to increase academic success. At the same time, the influence of the form of education was not revealed.&lt;/p&gt;

An important contributing factor in dry eye disease: somatization.

Somatization is an important mental process that may causes medically unexplained and treatment-resistant somatic symptoms. The aim of the study is assess the presence of somatization in patients with dry eye disease (DED). Eighty-eight patients with no objective DED finding and ongoing DED treatment were included in this prospective and observational study. Patients with subjective symptoms formed the symptom group and patients without subjective symptoms formed the control group. All patients were scored with the Turkish version of the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90R) somatization subscale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire (SIQ). Mean OSDI score was significantly higher in the symptom group than in the control group. The mean HAM-D and HAM-A outcomes did not differ between the groups. The mean SCL-90R somatization subscale, TAS, and PCS scores were significantly higher in the symptom group than in the control group. In the SIQ, somatic attributional style score was significantly higher in the symptom group than in the control group. The SCL-90R somatization subscale, PCS, and somatic attributional style scores had positive and mild-moderate correlation with OSDI scores in the symptom group. The TAS score had positive and moderate correlation with OSDI scores in all sample analyses. Somatization should be considered in patients with DED with chronic ocular surface symptoms. Presence of subjective symptoms resistant to treatment may be an indicator of somatization.

Leading under pressure: a contextualised development approach

PurposeThe study’s aim was to design and test a leadership development approach using blended learning, to equip leaders for strengthening their own resilience and that of their teams.Design/methodology/approachA contextualised leadership development intervention was produced and evaluated following the principles of design-based research. Participants were from three organisations that work internationally to address the impact of economic disadvantage. Initial research used the behavioural event interview technique. Online assessment incorporated measures of situational judgement, emotion recognition and attributional style. Validity measures were multi-rater feedback (criterion), and NEO-PI 3 (construct). Individual feedback and a simulation-based peer workshop were followed by a four-to-six month period of experience-driven development and a final peer workshop for consolidating and evaluating learning outcomes.FindingsThe online assessment was a valid measure of leaders’ personal resilience resources and their resilience-building capability. Overall, the intervention improved participants’ understanding of, and engagement with, the processes of strengthening individual and collective (team) resilience.Research limitations/implicationsThe target sample size for the study was relatively small, to ensure it would be practical to replicate the approach when designing similar interventions for a senior leadership population in other contexts. Significant results provided robust evidence for the validity of the assessment approach. Findings for the workshops and experience-driven development phase were more tentative, but the value of the design iterations was clearly demonstrated.Practical implicationsThe leadership development approach is suitable for application in other organisations, if similar principles are followed to produce and evaluate materials relevant to each broad sector context. Roll-out is cost-effective, with relatively few hours of blended or virtual delivery supporting experience-driven learning.Social implicationsThe impact leaders have on the wellbeing of those who report to them is well established, but less has been done to develop and formally evaluate practical, cost-effective interventions to improve this impact. The approach validated in this study can be applied more widely to benefit employee wellbeing as well as performance.Originality/valueThe study developed and evaluated a new approach to preparing leaders for the challenge of building team resilience, an aspect of leadership capability that has been given relatively little attention to date.

Antecedents of Feedback-Seeking Behavior and Its Conditional Impacts: Applying the Framework of Workplace Entitlement

This study proposes and empirically tests a more elaborate model for feedback-seeking behavior (FSB) by including new potential predictors (perceived overqualification, hostile attributional style, and overwork climate) involved with a range of entitlement forms. As well, it aims to identify the extent to which FSB varies within its boundary conditions (i.e., regulatory foci, mutual recognition respect, and motivational climate). A series of hierarchical, moderated regression analyses were used to explore the hypotheses. Data were collected from a stratified sample of 444 employees working largely in manufacturing and IT service industries in eastern China. A hostile attributional style and an overwork climate negatively impact FSB. Although perceived overqualification does not have a direct effect, its interaction with a prevention focus (rather than a promotion focus) easily induces FSB. From the use of the influential predictors and moderators, a thorough understanding of their effects on FSB not only neutralizes the concern over reducing employees’ FSB, but also assists in providing possibilities to create a feedback-rich culture. We provide some insights on how an inflated sense of entitlement can be extended to understand the evolving nature of FSB through another feedback-seeking motive behind the instrumental one. As a different attempt, it adds further value in ongoing feedback research by showing the conditional impacts on such behaviors.