Attributional Style Research Articles

The role of the cognitive biases along the psychosis continuum: from pathophysiology to treatment options

Schizophrenia and related psychoses is primarily characterized by positive and negative symptoms, as well as cognitive disturbances. Cognitive factors crucial in the pathogenesis of psychosis are specifically studied in terms of cognitive biases that may play a role in the formation and maintenance of psychotic symptoms. Cognitive biases refer to systematic errors in both cognitive processing and content that deviate from logical thinking. Cognitive biases can affect attention, decision-making/reasoning, memory recall, motivation or even attributional style. Psychotic-like experiences and psychotic disorders have been associated with a tendency to jump to conclusions, bias against disconfirmatory evidence and bias against confirmatory evidence as well as liberal acceptance bias. Moreover, patients with schizophrenia tend to present higher belief inflexibility in comparison to healthy individuals and are overconfident in wrong judgments. In the monitoring tasks showing they show a higher tendency to misattribute internally-generated stimuli to external sources (externalizing bias) (1). Finally, patients with schizophrenia tend to have excessive attention toward irrelevant, neutral or familiar stimuli known as the salience aberrant bias. There are several specific psychological interventions designed to ameliorate cognitive biases, such as Metacognitive Training (2,3), Thinking Well (4), Social Cognition and Interaction Training (5). These trainings have been shown to teach patients about cognitive biases and how they contribute to symptoms of psychosis and consequently how they can affect their daily life. There is an increasing number of studies showing results of these interventions in reducing cognitive biases and positive symptoms as well as improving clinical and cognitive insight.

Style attributionnel et burn-out au travail : une analyse en cluster

In the domain of the workplace, burnout appears as an important consequence of stressful events experienced by an individual. But how to define it, and what reality does this concept represent? The benefits of optimism, and particularly of an optimistic explanatory style, have also been demonstrated on a set of other variables such as health, performance and resilience. If an optimistic explanatory style is an important variable, what are the relationships that can be observed with burnout? The purpose of this study is to explore the links that exist between explanatory styles and burnout assuming that there are different types of profiles according to the styles of the individuals, whether they are actually optimistic or pessimistic, or neither one nor the other. Through a cluster analysis, the results of this study revealed: 1) the existence of three different profiles of explanatory styles, ranging from optimistic to pessimistic; and 2) it was indeed possible to associate levels of burnout with the profiles of these styles.

Perceptions and experiences of female burn survivors with facial disfigurement

PurposeThis study aimed at exploring the perceptions and experiences of female burn survivors with facial disfigurement in Pakistan. MethodsTwo different quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted, of which the data were collected from 100 burn patients. A pilot interview protocol was developed. An indepth interview of five female burn survivors with facial disfigurement was taken in Lahore, Pakistan. The transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis and four major themes were identified, respectively physical appearance, posttraumatic growth, relationships and coping strategies. ResultsThematic analysis reflected differences in attributional style, perceptions and individual experiences of female burn survivors with facial disfigurement. The study showed the importance of physical appearance for different burn survivors and how their life had changed after suffering from a burn injury. ConclusionIt could be easy to have a positive outlook towards life and accept visible differences post injury for the burn survivors, who are grateful for life, get a strong family support and have available resources. On the contrary, with low self-esteem, lack of a family support and available resources, patients would be dissatisfied with their life.

I’m not as bright as I used to be – pupils’ meaning-making of reduced academic performance after trauma

ABSTRACT Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with temporary, distinct cognitive impairment. This study explores how cognitive impaired academic performance is recognized and explained by young Norwegians who survived the Utøya massacre of July 22, 2011. Qualitative interviewing of 65 students (aged 16–29 years) was conducted 2.5 years after the traumatic event. A total of 25% (n = 16) respondents reported no or no distinct change; only 6% (n = 4) reported some degree of positive change. By contrast, 69% (n = 45) reported negative changes in academic performance, with impaired concentration and feelings of chaos. Previously effective study techniques became less effective or inadequate. Respondents worried about lasting impairment of academic functioning, but reported little or no discussion with teachers. From the characteristics of the changes reported, attribution style, the use of metaphors and narrative structuring, we identify differences in the meaning-making processes of these young people. Some were left with an understanding that negatively affected their help-seeking activity and reduced the willingness to accept adapted education post trauma.

The “Weakest Link” as an Indicator of Cognitive Vulnerability Predicts Stress Generation: A Multi-Wave Longitudinal Study among Adolescents

This multi-wave longitudinal study examined the role of depressive symptoms and the weakest link approach as an indicator of cognitive vulnerability to predict stress generation. The weakest link approach posits that an individual is as cognitively vulnerable as his or her strongest attributional style. Data of 521 Chinese adolescents were investigated in this study. During an initial assessment, participants completed a demographic survey that assessed depressive symptoms, weakest links, and stress. Over the subsequent 6 months, participants completed monthly assessments of depressive symptoms and stress. The results indicated that both depressive symptoms and weakest link approach predict the generation of stress. High scores of depressive symptoms were associated with high levels of both independent stress and dependent stress. High weakest link scores predicted an increase of dependent stress. For the follow-up interval, the interaction of weakest link × depressive symptoms was a significant predictor for dependent stress but not for independent stress. In addition, gender difference was identified as a predictor of the stress generation effect. Compared with adolescent boys, adolescent girls tended to experience higher levels of dependent stress. These results suggest that depressive symptoms and cognitive vulnerability are important for the prediction of stress generation in Chinese adolescents.

Did my heart just leap or sink? The role of personality for the relation between cardiac interoception and well-being

Interoceptive accuracy (IAc), the ability to perceive signals from within the body, has been linked to many beneficial health outcomes but also to psychopathologies such as anxiety disorders. Therefore, its relation to a person's subjective well-being (SWB) is unclear. Here, we predicted that individuals who are prone to interpreting interoceptive signals positively benefit from IAc and exhibit higher SWB. In contrast, individuals with predispositions towards negative interpretations suffer from it, resulting in lower SWB. Participants completed a measure of cardiac IAc, measures of extraversion, neuroticism, optimism and pessimism as personality traits that have been related to positive and negative attributional styles, and various measures of well-being. Psychiatric and physical well-being were predicted by the interaction between optimism/pessimism and IAc. While for optimistic participants, IAc did not predict higher well-being, for pessimistic individuals, it predicted lower well-being. These findings shed light on the role of interoception for SWB and its adaptiveness for individuals with different personalities.

Development of the Attributional Style of Doctor Questionnaire.

BackgroundThe attributional style of clinical workers will affect their emotion and behavior and affect how they deal with the relationship with patients. Current tools lack clinical events and are not suitable for measuring the attributional style of doctor. In this study, the development of the Doctor’s Attributional Style Questionnaire (DASQ) is presented.MethodsIn study 1, based on the previous literature and the open-ended questionnaire, the theoretical structure of DASQ was constructed. In study 2, items analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were conducted in the sample (n=559) to select the best items for the DASQ. In study 3, the internal structure of the DASQ was tested in the sample (n=740) via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and 218 doctors were retested four weeks later.ResultsThere are 24 items in the scale, including positive events questionnaire and negative events questionnaire, all of which are composed of four dimensions: controllability, globality, stability, and internality. The fitting degree of each questionnaire model is good, and all indexes are above 0.9. The internal consistency coefficient and retest coefficient of both the positive events questionnaire and the negative events questionnaire were above 0.75.ConclusionThe DASQ meets the requirements of measurement and can be used to measure the attributional style of doctors.

Self-concordant goals breed goal-optimism and thus well-being

Self-concordant goals are goals which represent a people’s enduring interests and self-defining values (Sheldon, 2002). People pursuing more self-concordant goals evidence higher subjective well-being, as shown in participants from both Western and non-Western cultures (Sheldon et al., 2004). In a different literature, attributional style research has found that tendencies to provide optimistic explanations of life events also predict well-being. We hypothesized that people pursuing self-concordant goals would make more optimistic attributions about goal-specific outcomes, and that this tendency would help explain the link between self-concordance and well-being. Structural equation and multiple group modelling of 253 American and 230 Russian university students found support for these hypotheses. Self-concordance primarily predicted optimism following positive outcomes (that they will recur), not following negative outcomes (that they will end), and also, the mediational pattern was slightly different in the Russian than in the American sample. The results suggest that when people choose life-goals that fit their interests and values, they derive resources including the ability to interpret positive goal-outcomes in an optimistic way. This helps to explain why pursuing such goals makes them happy.

Linguistic and psychometric adaptation of the Academic Attributional Style Questionnaire (EAT-A)

Background: Students’ attributions of their grades mayaffect their academic performance. However, lack ofevidence supporting the validity and reliability of theinstruments measuring attribution is a major concern.Objective: To analyze the factor structure, convergentvalidity and reliability of the Academic Attributional StyleQuestionnaire adapted to Mexican high school students(EAT-A). Method: The sample consisted of 557 MexicoCity students of both sexes aged between 15 and 19. Usinga confirmatory factor analysis for both success and failureattributions, a 7-factor structure and a 4-factor structureof the EAT-A were tested. The instrument’s convergentvalidity, internal consistency and reliability were examined.Results: Only the 7-factor structure showed adequate fitindices: RMSEA = .046; SRMR = .053; CFI = .961; TLI =.952 and χ²/gl = 2.72. In addition, the EAT-A evidencedconvergent validity concerning success and reliabilitymotivation. Conclusion: The EAT-A is a quick- and easy-to-administer instrument for measuring students’attributions of their grades in a reliable and valid manner.

The effect of optimistic attributional style training on self-efficacy of normal and dyslexic boys

The effect of optimistic attributional style training on self-efficacy of normal and dyslexic boys

Measurement of Attributional Style for Positive and Negative Events Using the Children’s Attributional Style Interview-II

The current study provides psychometric support for the use of the Children’s Attributional Style Interview-II (CASI-II) to assess attributional style for positive and negative events with young adolescents. The paper-and-pencil version of the CASI-II was administered to a sample of 546 seventh- and eighth-grade students attending a Midwest suburban middle school (50% women, 54% white, 22% Hispanic, 10% Asian American, and 14% other). A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a factor structure consistent with attributional style theory and evidence for internal consistency reliability and temporal stability. Construct and convergent validity were strong. Dimensional subscale scores as well as composite scores for both positive and negative events showed adequate reliability and strong validity evidence. These results offer confidence for testing theory-driven predictions related to attributional style for both positive and negative events, as well as specific attributional dimensional patterns, using the CASI-II.

Attributional Styles and Social Functioning in Schizophrenia. Is the Learned Helplessness Model Suitable?

We tried to verify whether the reformulated Learned Helplessness Model and its more fully articulated form, the Hopelessness Theory of Depression, were adequate to predict symptoms and social functioning (SF) in persons with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders by comparing a clinical group (n = 25) with a non-clinical one (n = 30). Bivariate correlations and multiple linear regressions were conducted to assess relationships between the Attribution Styles Questionnaire (ASQ), clinical variables, and SF within the clinical group. Differences between groups were found for most of attributional dimensions. A “pessimistic style” predicted depression within the clinical group. An unstable attribution bias predicted positive symptoms. General psychopathology and a global attribution style predicted 50% of the variance in general SF. The Learned Helplessness Model was suitable to predict depression regardless of psychotic symptoms and may be useful to predict clinical symptoms and SF in persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Clinical and theoretical implications were discussed.

Lived Experience of Parents of Infants with Down Syndrome from Early Diagnosis and Reactions to Child Disability

Introduction: The birth of a child with special needs can cause a big challenge for the family and create a lot of pressure on the family. The strategies used to report this issue to parents can play an important role in accepting the problem. The purpose of this study was to examine the experience of parenting life since parents become aware of the issue and the strategies they adopted to deal with it. Methods: The research instrument was a semi-structured interview. The average time of interviews was 60 minutes and the data were collected from a sample of 17 mothers and 9 fathers aged 39 to 58 years in Yazd. The qualitative data were coded in three stages (open, axial, and selective coding) and analyzed using software MAXQDA. Results: The open codes consisted of 19 concepts. The axial codes included four categories of how parents become aware of the disease, parental reaction to Down syndrome, attribution style, and coping resources. In general, the type of parental reactions ranged from full rejection to full acceptance of a child with specific requirements for Down syndrome. Conclusion: Given the parental experiences since diagnosis of Down syndrome, all parents reported experiencing feelings of sadness and despair. This is a common human experience reported similarly in various studies in different cultures and geographic regions.

Effect of attribution training on early postoperative depression of kidney transplant recipients

To investigate the early attributional style and postoperative depression of renal transplant recipients and to explore the effects of attribution training on depression of them. A total of 62 patients who underwent renal transplantation in the urological kidney transplantation ward from a comprehensive 3A hospital of Fujian Province, from December 2016 to February 2018, were randomly divided into two groups: intervention and control group. There were 31 patients in the intervention group who underwent routine renal transplantation combined with attribution training, while 31 patients in the control group received routine renal transplantation. Five instruments were applied to evaluate these two groups of patients which are the Basic Data Questionnaire, Depression Scale (SDS), Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Revised Piper Fatigue Scale (RPFS), Attribution Questionnaire (ASQ), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Attribution training can effectively improve patient’s attributional style, reduce depression, improve sleep quality and release fatigue. The early postoperative depression of renal transplant recipients is serious while Attribution Training can effectively improve depression, the sleep quality and fatigue, which solves the critical problems of clinical practice of kidney transplantation. Thus a strong basis for emotional problems improvement can be provided for renal transplant recipients.

The Relationship Between Contextual and Dispositional Variables, Well-Being and Hopelessness in School Context.

The literature’s interest has been focused on the study of well-being or depression. However, there has been little research that investigates the relationship between well-being and hopelessness (HPL) and the underlying contextual and dispositional variables. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between some contextual (need-supportive interpersonal behavior and need-thwarting interpersonal behavior) and dispositional variables (dispositional optimism, positive/negative affectivity, explanatory style), academic achievement, general well-being, and school HPL in adolescent students. The results showed that general well-being was positively predicted by need-supportive interpersonal behavior, dispositional optimism, positive affectivity, and adaptive explanatory style (attribution to commitment in the school context), while it was negatively predicted by negative affectivity. Meanwhile, school HPL was positively predicted by need-thwarting interpersonal behavior, negative affectivity, dysfunctional explanatory style (attribution to luck in the school context), while it was negatively predicted by attribution to commitment in the school context and academic achievement. These results provide useful data for the implementation of well-being promotion and school HPL prevention. The implications are discussed as follows.

Fear of Uncertainty Makes You More Anxious? Effect of Intolerance of Uncertainty on College Students' Social Anxiety: A Moderated Mediation Model.

PurposeThis study investigated the relationships among intolerance of uncertainty (IU), social anxiety (SA), rumination, and pessimistic explanatory style (PES) in a sample of college students.MethodsQuestionnaires were completed by 533 college students.ResultsRumination partially mediated the relationship between IU and SA, and PES plays an important role in moderating the direct path (IU→SA) and the first part of the mediation process. When the PES is low, IU predicts SA less strongly but is related to rumination. Conversely, IU in individuals with a high PES predicts SA more directly.ConclusionRumination plays a mediating role between IU and SA, and the PES moderates the direct path and the first stage of the mediation model.

On Socio-Cultural Situatedness in Style Attribution: A Study of Style in Hungarian

Building upon the theoretical foundations of social cognitive linguistics, this paper makes the case for considering the speaker’s socio-cultural situatedness in the intersubjective context of joint attention as a key factor in the process of style attribution. Specifically, socio-cultural situatedness is regarded as a crucial component of the speaker’s perspective, playing a decisive role in the construal of style. In order to support this central assumption, the paper presents a two-phase empirical study of style in Hungarian. In the first phase, the authors conducted a questionnaire study to find out which everyday, intuitive labels of style give evidence of the speaker’s socio-cultural situatedness. The questionnaire made use of 12 excerpts of Hungarian university seminars to elicit reflections on style attributions. In the second phase, relying on the results of the first survey, a subsequent questionnaire was conducted. The aim of the second questionnaire was to operationalize folk categories of style attested in the first phase to describe style and measure stylistic markedness. Reconsidering earlier descriptive models, we found that the folk categories of style foreground different aspects of the speaker’s socio-cultural situatedness which – on a more abstract level – can be successfully described by the heuristic scientific categories of socio-cultural factors, which imply the speaker’s socio-cultural attitude to different aspects of style in the recipient’s interpretation. The speaker’s socio-cultural attitude comprises her attitude to the formation of discourse, to the discourse partner, to the value of the topic, to the temporality of constructions and to the norms of the register of the discourse.

The role of attribution in adolescent prosocial behavior

La prosocialidad comprende aquellas conductas intencionales que se realizan para el beneficio de otras personas. Entre las variables que tienen una incidencia en la decisión de ayudar, se incluyen los patrones atribucionales: interpretaciones que se realizan sobre las causas de un determinado acontecimiento. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el rol que tiene la atribución que un individuo realiza sobre una situación de potencial ayuda en la elicitación de la conducta prosocial. A partir de un muestreo intencional, no probabilístico, participaron 359 adolescentes de clase media, de una institución privada de la provincia de Córdoba, Argentina. Se aplicó la Escala de Conducta Prosocial Adolescente y, para la evaluación del estilo atribucional ligado a las conductas de ayuda, se redactaron cuatro situaciones con el objetivo de identificar la atribución causal predominante. Se realizó un ANOVA unifactorial para conocer si la conducta prosocial presenta una variabilidad en función del estilo atribucional. Se encontró que la puntuación promedio de conducta prosocial obtenida por los sujetos con un patrón atribucional externo incontrolable fue significativamente superior al de quienes presentaron un estilo atribucional neutro e interno controlable. Estos hallazgos aportan evidencias a favor de que la conducta es influida por patrones de atribuciones causales. Estos resultados se encuentran en concordancia con estudios previos, los cuales encontraron que las representaciones dinámicas y los modelos mentales sustentados en las propias creencias sobre el mundo, más que los hechos en sí, ejercen un control sobre las acciones que se llevan a cabo.

Factors impacting depression severity among Turkish college students

Turkish college students experience increased rates of depression (Bayram and Bilgel, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43(8), 667–672, 2008). The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between demographic variables, perceived stress, dysfunctional attitudes, attribution style, and depression among Turkish college students. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine the sequential effect of perceived stress, dysfunctional attitudes, attribution style on depression severity of Turkish college students. Overall, the model explained 42% of depression severity, which is considered a large effect size explaining factors contributing to depression among Turkish college students. The results indicated dysfunctional attitudes directly contributed depression severity among Turkish college students; however, attribution style may influence depression through perceived stress as well. Participants with negative and internal attribution styles might perceive a high level of stress as they might attribute problems to themselves leading a higher level of depression. Mental health professionals who are working with students may check dysfunctional attitudes, and the attribution style of students and provide insight regarding the cognitive aspect of depression.

Children's self-blame appraisals about their mothers' depressive symptoms and risk for internalizing symptoms.

Maternal depressive symptoms are a robust predictor of children's risk for internalizing symptoms, yet not all children are negatively affected by exposure to their mothers' symptoms. The present study tested children's self-blame appraisals as a moderator of the association between maternal depressive symptoms and children's internalizing symptoms, controlling for children's negative attributional style. We hypothesized that the relation between maternal depressive symptoms and children's internalizing symptoms would be stronger for children who blamed themselves more for their mothers' symptoms. Participants were 129 mother-child dyads (M child age = 13.63, SD = 2.2; 52.7% female; 38.8% White, 31% African American, 22.5% Latinx/Hispanic) recruited from the community. Results indicated that maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher levels of children's internalizing symptoms for children who reported higher, but not lower, levels of self-blame appraisals. Results were consistent using mothers' or children's reports of their own and each other's symptoms. The findings highlight the importance of assessing children's appraisals about their mothers' depressive symptoms, and suggest that preventive interventions should target children who endorse higher levels of self-blame appraisals. Furthermore, children's self-blame appraisals about mothers' depressive symptoms should be considered as a target of treatment for child internalizing disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).