Effects of Achievement Motive on Divergent Self-Other Attributions for Success and Failure

Abstract

Subjects varying in their level of achievement motivation (high vs low) evaluated achievement outcomes (success vs failure) allegedly occurring to themselves or another person (self vs other). Over-all, subjects (n = 118 male students) assigned more personal cause to self-failure than to other's failure. Contrary to previous results, achievement motivation per se did not influence attributions of personal cause or effort. High achievers did attribute more personal cause to self than to others, especially for failure, and low achievers attributed somewhat less personal cause to self than to others, especially for success. A discussion of the different information about achievement behavior available to perceivers with different perspectives and with different levels of achievement motivation was offered to explain these results.