Abstract
In educational contexts, interpersonal attributional theory (Weiner, 2019) posits that teachers’ beliefs about the causes underlying their students’ academic performance vary along the causal dimensions of locus of causality, stability, personal controllability, and others’ controllability. Based on this framework, this study aimed at identifying teachers’ attribution profiles based on their perceptions about the causes of their students’ achievements. Two hundred eighty-nine experienced and novice French primary school teachers reported their causal beliefs about a student’s success or failure at a reading test, as well as their emotional and behavioral reactions to their student’s outcome. The data were analyzed using latent profile analyses, which identified five teachers’ attribution profiles that varied on the four causal dimensions. The results showed that profile memberships were greatly determined by the student’s outcome valence: three teachers’ attribution profiles were especially related to failure and two additional profiles to success. Profile memberships were associated with various cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions in line with the interpersonal attributional theory of motivation. The powerless profile — high external and uncontrollable attributions — indicated the lowest level of helping behavior. The conscientious profile — high internal and controllable attributions — indicated the highest levels of pride and student’s responsibility. Overall, these results partially support Weiner’s interpersonal attributional theory of motivation using a person-centered approach.
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Notes
Reliability information of the four subscales of the CDSII is reported in the “Results” section.
See supplementary materials for LPA conducted on failure and success conditions separately. The results are similar.
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Laurent Brun. Université Grenoble Alpes, LaRAC, Grenoble, France. Post-box: Université Grenoble Alpes, 1251 Avenue Centrale, 38400, Saint-Martin-d’Hères, bâtiment Michel Dubois, Aile C. Email: laurent.brun@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
Current Themes of Research:
Laurent Brun is PhD in Educational Sciences at Grenoble Alpes University (France). His research focuses on causal attribution and their cognitive and behavioral consequences in educational settings.
Most Relevant Publications in the field of Psychology of Education:
Brun, L., Dompnier, B., & Pansu, P. (2019). Une échelle de mesure des attributions causales pour enfants : EMAC-E. L’Année psychologique, 119(4), 449-471. 10.3917/anpsy1.194.0449
Benoît Dompnier. Quartier UNIL-Mouline, Bâtiment Géopolis, Bureau: 5528, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland. Email: Benoit.Dompnier@unil.ch
Current Themes of Research:
Benoît Dompnier is a Senior lecturer at University of Lausanne. His academic work concerns social psychology and educational psychology. His recent work focused on social judgment, self-presentation strategies and motivation in educational contexts.
Most Relevant Publications in the field of Psychology of Education:
Świątkowski, W., & Dompnier, B. (2020). A regulatory focus perspective on performance goals’ effects on achievement: A small-scale meta-analytical approach. Learning and Individual Differences, 78.
Carrier, A., Dompnier, B., & Yzerbyt, V. (2019). Of nice and mean: The personal relevance of others’ competence drives warmth perceptions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45, 1549-1562.
Darnon, C., Wierderkehr, V., Dompnier, B., & Martinot, D. (2018). “Where there is a will, there is a way”: Belief in school meritocracy and the social-class achievement gap. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57, 250-262.
Jury, M., Darnon, C., Dompnier, B., & Butera, F. (2017). The social utility of performance-approach goals in a selective educational environment. Social Psychology of Education, 20, 215-235.
Verniers, C., Martinot, D., & Dompnier, B. (2016). The feminization of school hypothesis called into question among junior and high school students. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 369-381.
Dompnier, B., Darnon, C., Meier, E., Brandner, C., Smeding, A., & Butera, F. (2015). Improving low achievers’ academic performance at university by changing the social value of mastery goals. American Educational Research Journal, 52, 720-749.
Dompnier, B., Darnon, C., & Butera, F. (2013). When performance-approach goals predict academic success and when they do not: A social value approach. British Journal of Social Psychology, 52, 587-596.
Dompnier, B., Darnon, C., & Butera, F. (2009). Faking the desire to learn: A clarification of the link between mastery goals and academic achievement. Psychological Science, 20, 939-943.
Pascal Pansu. Université Grenoble Alpes, LaRAC, Grenoble, France. Post-box: Université Grenoble Alpes, 1251 Avenue Centrale, 38400 Saint-Martin-d’Hères, bâtiment Michel Dubois, Aile C. Email: pascal.pansu@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
Current Themes of Research:
Pascal Pansu, PhD in social psychology, is full Professor at Grenoble Alpes University (France). His research mainly focuses on social beliefs and social judgment and their effect on self-evaluation and cognitive performances. He investigates the dynamics and processes involved in learning and achievement in educational settings, as for example, how teacher judgment and evaluative indices present in the classroom regulate students’ self-perceptions, learning, and performance.
Most Relevant Publications in the field of Psychology of Education:
Sanrey, C., Bressoux, P., Lima, L. & Pansu, P. (accepted). The halo effect in teachers’ judgments: Does certainty raise the bias? British Journal of Educational Psychology.
Boissicat, N., Pansu, P., & Bouffard, T. (2020). Does classroom social comparison bias students’ evaluation of their own competence? Social Psychology of Education, 1-24. DOI: 10.1007/s11218-020-09582
Hascoët, M., Pansu, P., Bouffard, T., & Leroy, N. (2018). The harmful aspect of teacher conditional support on students’ self-perception of school competence. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 33(4), 615-628. DOI: 10.1007/s10212-017-0350-0
Pansu, P, Régner, I, Max, S., Cole, P., Nezlek, J. B, & Huguet, P. (2016). A burden for the boys: Evidence of stereotype threat in boys’ reading performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 65, 26–30. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2016.02.008
Bressoux, P., & Pansu, P. (2016). Pupils’ self-perceptions: The role of teachers’ judgment controlling for big-fish-little-pond effect. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 31(3), 341-357. DOI: 10.1007/s10212-015-0264
Bédard, K., Bouffard, T., & Pansu, P. (2014). The risks for adolescents of negatively biased self-evaluations of social competence: The mediating role of social support. Journal of adolescence, 37(6), 787-798. DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.05.004
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Brun, L., Dompnier, B. & Pansu, P. A latent profile analysis of teachers’ causal attribution for academic success or failure. Eur J Psychol Educ 37, 185–206 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-021-00551-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-021-00551-3