Effects of self-esteem, perceived performance, and choice on causal attributions.

Abstract

Heider (1958) described a model of the cognitive process people use in structuring their environment through causal attribution. In Heider's model, a person engaged in an activity attributes the outcome to one or more internal or external causal sources. Current research suggests a number of personality and situational variables which may affect a person's causal attributions, including self-esteem, perceived performance, and choice. The high-self-esteem person has been conceptualized as liking or valuing himself, as well as seeing himself as competent in dealing with the world he perceives (Cohen, 1959; Combs & Snygg, 1959). The low-self-esteem person is seen as disliking, devaluing himself, and in general perceiving himself as not competent to deal effectively with his environment. Two partially contradictory hypotheses may be derived from self theory. The first is that persons are motivated to perceive events in a way which enhances chronic self-esteem. The second is that persons are motivated to perceive events in a way which is consistent with chronic self-esteem. These two contradictory hypotheses regarding self-esteem and interpretation of event outcomes may be inte1 This study is based primarily on a dissertation submitted to Purdue University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree. 2 Requests for reprints should be sent to the author, School of Business, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66044.