Locality And Gender As Predictors Of Attribution Of Success 

ABSTRACT

This study investigated whether locality and gender will significantly predict attribution of success among adolescents. The participants were selected from Community secondary School Agbani and Federal Government College Enugu. The participants were randomly selected making use of simple random sampling technique and were in Senior Secondary I and II of the schools. The participants were within the age range of 12-17 years with a mean age of 15years with a standard deviation of 5years. The participants were administered a 19-item questionnaire designed to measure attribution of success in academics. Based on 2 x 2 factorial design, 2-way ANOVA F-test was applied to test the effect of the independent factors. The findings revealed that locality as an independent factor was found not to yield a significant outcome as predictor of attribution of success. F= (df=1, 124) = 0.41, p > .05. Gender also did not yield a significant outcome as predictor of attribution of success, f = (df = 1, 140) = 1.44, p > .05. The findings were discussed in relation to literature reviewed and recommendations made.

                                        CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

          We have spent a great deal analyzing and discussing why people act the way they do, especially when something unexpected happens. Is her warmth, an expression of romantic interest in me or is it how she relates to everyone? Is his absence, the result of laziness or of an oppressive atmosphere? Heider, (1958) proposed attribution theory as the way to analyze how we answer such questions. Herder concludes that people tends to attribute other’s behaviour either to their dispositions (internal causes, such as their personality) or to their situation (external causes, such as their environment) thus a teacher may wonder whether a child’s hostile behaviour is an inevitable reflection of his aggressive personality (a “dispositional attribution”). In making such inferences, we frequently overestimate the influence of people’s disposition and underestimate the impact of their situations a phenomenon known as attribution error. In addition supposed you over-heard an acquaintance of yours, discussing a poor grade he got in an examination. Suppose he claimed that he didn’t do well because of bad luck, a noisy room, ill health and poor reading room. Thirty seven counselor education graduates were asked to assign validity rating to seven possible explanations of what determine behaviour. The students assigned high validity ratings to an “interaction” explanation of behaviour. Further, they attributed the behaviour of others to internal causes (Donnan & Pipes, 1985). Also in a study to investigate developmental trends in children’s attributions for success and failure in achievement and social situations. Specifically, more internal-stable causes were generated for social situations and for success outcomes, while more internal-unstable reasons were generated for achievement situations and for failure outcomes. No significant sex differences were evident for any variable (Rich and Hyatt, 1981). However, Rogers (1991) explored the causes cited by British Primary School students for instance of relative success and failure in class work in free-response setting. The finding revealed that;

(1) Overall, the children were most likely to explain success and failure in terms of performance ability,

Specific competence ability effort and interest behaviour and speed.

 (2) No child explained success or failure in terms of change:

(3) As children get older they were less likely to answer “don’t know any response“or to attribute success and failure to performance ability;

(4) Gender had no effect on attribution;

 (5) The response category “effort and interest” was used more frequently to account for performance variations in mathematics, while “voluntary time spent” was used to account for variation in reading;

(6) Reposes related to “behaviour” were more likely to explain failure than success. Based on the above observations it becomes pertinent to question whether age and gender as independent factors can serve as predictions of attribution of success among Caritas University undergraduates.

Purpose of the study

This research was aimed at finding out the following.

To determine whether locality will significantly predict attribution of success among undergraduates.

Also to determine whether gender will significantly predict attribution of success among University undergraduates.

Statement of the problem.

Answers to the following problems are sought by the researcher in this study.

 Will locality significantly predict attribution of success?

Will gender significantly predict attribution of?

Operational Definition of terms         

Attribution: The assignment of causes to behaviour or the

                      perception or inference of the behaviour of the causes 

                    of behavior, such causes including personal

                     dispositional factors and external or situation factors.

Locality:     Whether you stay in the town or village.

Gender:       it is grammatical grouping of woods into classes. Kit is

                  also groupings into masculine, feminine and neuter.

Predict:       It is way of saying or telling something in advance.

                   This also means to foretell the future.

Success:      It means having good fortune or prosperity.