Hall et al., 2006: Attributing academic failure as unstable and controllable improved psychology grades among poorly performing students, especially among students who failed to psychologically adapt to adversity
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Summary:
Undergraduate introductory psychology students either watched an 8-minute video in which two graduate students and a professor in psychology discussed how adopting controllable patterns of causal attributions (e.g. academic failure due to lack of effort or a poor study strategy instead of lack of ability) can improve motivation and performance or read a 1-page handout summarizing the same themes. They then summarized the main points, described how they could apply these ideas to their own studies, and wrote about a recent academic setback and were asked to reinterpret the event in a positive manner. Among poorly performing students, both treatments improved final grades in psychology among those students low in secondary academic control (e.g., who disagree with “No matter who well I do on a test or in a course, I try to ‘see beyond’ my grades to how my experience at university helps me to learn about myself”), relative to a randomized control condition.