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Attributions of Success and Failure

Comparison of Cultural Differences between Asian and Caucasian Children

University of Calgary

R. Ghosh

McGill University

Using children from Canadian Caucasian and Asian Indian populations, the hypothesis was assessed that Asian children would attribute both success and failure in achievement tasks, to stable factors of ability and effort. By contrast, the prediction was that Caucasian children would asume personal responsibility only for success but would attribute failure to unstable factors of luck, task difficulty, and inaccuracy of the evaluator. The rationale employed was that socialization training in certain cultures provides impetus for assuming personal responsibility for both negative and positive outcomes. Ss were given two performance tasks with success and failure outcomes, under conditions of high and low ego involvement. As hypothesized, Caucasian Ss took greater personal credit for success and attributed failure to luck, but Asian Ss assumed more personal responsibility for failure and attributed success to luck. The implications of the attributional patterns were discussed in terms of the socialization of Asian children competing for success and self-enhancement with their Caucasian counterparts.

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 11, No. 3, 343-363 (1980)
DOI: 10.1177/0022022180113007


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