Saturday, 27 October 2018

11:13 - No comments

TESOL 103: 10/27/18; Attributional Tendencies

As a parent, have you ever blamed yourself for a child's poor choice, misfortune, illness, or even heartache? I know I have. When my children express any kind of sadness, I wonder "is there something I didn't do?" Why do parents do that? Why do we blame ourselves for every bad thing that happens to our children?

We all have attributional tendencies. Some are internal (what did "I" do?), while some are external (that was done to me). How we sometimes attribute our success and failures can be skewed based on our attributional tendencies. The typical American attributes success internally ("I did it"), while failures are attributed externally ("it's someone else's fault") (Ivers from BYU-I). While some countries like Japan attribute personal success externally, and personal failures internally. As a result of the personal failures being attributed internally, the suicide rate is very high in Japan (Ivers from BYU-I).

Look at the meme that I posted. In the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the main antagonist chooses to follow the dark side of the force like his grandfather. If Han Solo and Princess Leia attributed Kylo Ren's behavior externally, they could blame "genetics." Instead of Ren using his agency to choose darkness.

It is importance to check our biases in our attributions, instead of over generalizing our success or failure to once general cause. Every circumstance is different (Ivers). Sometimes the bad things that happen to us are our fault, and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes the good things that happen to us are a result of our hard work, and sometimes it isn't. So parents, stop blaming yourself for your child's every mistake. Instead look at the circumstance, and decided based on the that specific situation.

Works Cited

“05 Attributional Tendencies in Cultures.” BYU-Idaho, video.byui.edu/media/05 Attributional Tendencies in Cultures/0_u45682wd.

“Attribution Processes.” Attribution Processes, wattersattribution.wordpress.com/.

SparkNotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/socialpsychology/section3/.

“The Side Of The Family by Brian Kesinger | Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.” Know Your Meme, 22 May 2018, knowyourmeme.com/photos/1063335-star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens.

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