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Soi ill ognition Vol No (, 1986, pp 270 292
CRAIG \ ANDERSON AND MORGAN P. SLUSHER R/i e 'niversit)
The long-standing debate ovei motivational biases explanations for asym
metrical (i.e., self-serving) attribution patterns for success and failure examined in the present paj)er. Following the suggestion of Tetlock and Levi (1982), our
analysis fo< uses on development of a pre( ise model ol attribution pro< esses
lather than jutting motivational and cognitive models against each other. We propose a two-stage attribution model, in which motivational manipulations in fluence the selection ol the knowledge structures to be used in the subsequent selection ol attribution. Three experiments demonstrate that a popular ego-
involvement manipulation does, in fact, change the perceived relevance of several
self-beliefs, and that this know ledge-strut ture effe< t does produce the t\ pi( al asv. m-
metrical pattern of attributions tor success ^nd failure, even in uninvolved (i.e.
not ego-motivated) observer subjects. It suggested that the location or motiva
tional impa< t at the problem-formulation stage of attributional task, but not
at the attribution-selection stage. Implications for future research are discussed
The cognition-motivation debate concerning attributions for success
and failure has continued for more than 15 years. The basic phenom
enon is that people usually accept more responsibility for their suc
cesses than for their failures. Do such results reflect basic motivational needs, or more mundane informational and cognitive processing ef
fects?
Periodic reviews reveal the difficulties oi the underlying issues,
the progress in understanding attribution processes, and the short comings oi the theorizing on both sides of the debate. Miller and Ross
Requests reprints should be sent to raig A \nderson Department ol Psychology P O Box
1892 Rice University Houston ["X 77251
270
RELOCATING MOTIVATIONAL EFFECTS: A SYNTHESIS OF
COGNITIVE AND MOTIVATIONAL EFFECTS ON ATTRIBUTIONSFOR SUCCESS AND FAILURE
RELOCATING MOTIVATIONAL EFFECTS 271
( 1L>73) concluded in their review that most past motivational studies
in this area could be explained easily by various judgmental or cog
nitive processes, without reference to motivational constructs. For ex
ample, people usually expect to succeed, not to fail, and expected
outcomes are more likely to be attributed to oneself than unexpected
ones.
Subsequently,
a number ot researchers attempted to provide stronger evidence for the motivational position...