Attributional style of Egyptians with schizophrenia

The attributional style is one domain of social cognition that involves perceiving, interpreting, and generating responses to others' intentions and behaviours in different situations. This study describes the attributional style of Egyptians with schizophrenia. The study took place in a psychiatric hospital in Egypt. Eight psychiatric wards were randomly selected, and all participants (150) with a diagnosis of schizophrenia participated. Data were collected using the Ambiguous Intention Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ), the attributional style interview schedule, and the sociodemographic/clinical data sheet. Participants' scores on the AIHQ varied significantly between different situations (intentional, accidental, and ambiguous). The attributional style of the studied participants regarding their perceived psychosocial problems tended to be related to specific causes. These causes were mostly externally attributed to other people and to circumstances, and were perceived not to persist in the future. It would seem that Egyptians with schizophrenia tend to blame other people for negative events if these events are perceived to cause intentional harm.     

Metatraits and cognitive assessment: Application to attributional style and depressive symptoms

This research examined whether attributional style is more closely related to depressive symptoms for some people than for others. In Study 1, depressed patients voicing more explanations for negative events showed (nonsignificantly) higher correlations between attributional style and depressive symptoms. In Study 2, subjects reporting a tendency to ruminate about the causes of events showed stronger relations between attributional style and depressive symptoms. Conversely, subjectslow in attributional complexity exhibited stronger relations of depressive symptoms with positive-event attributional style. We speculated that by asking for ratings of only the single most important cause of events attributional style measures might provide a less adequate sample of the causal thinking of attributionally complex subjects. Study 3 partially supported this reasoning; attributional complexity was not significantly correlated with seeing events as having multiple causes, but it was associated with rating second-most-important causes as distinct from first causes on attributional dimensions. Thus, current attributional style measures and theories might be best-suited to subjects who (a) tend to ponder causes of events but (b) arrive at uniform conclusions about the nature of these causes.For assistance in conducting this research we are grateful to Christina Claffy, Jennifer Fine, Jennifer Hanlon, Mark Miller, Mark Nelson, Jennifer Poirier, Heather Quinn, Diana Roscow Terrill, and Sandra Thomsen. Parts of this research were supported by NIMH grant 1RO3MH47003-01A1 to the second author.     

Relationships between depression and causal attributions about stressful life events

Cognitive hypotheses about depression derived from the reformulated learned helplessness theory were tested in students' attributional analyses of the causes of their own recent stressful life events. Results supported the hypothesis that depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory is associated with certain causal cognitions, and these cognitions were predictive of the intensity, chronicity, and generality of depression 2 months after the initial testing. Cognitions especially related to depression emphasized perceived low control over causes of events and globality of the causes. Attribution theory-based predictions that internal locus of causality and stability would be related to naturally occurring depression were not supported. In addition, there were no sex differences in attributions. While the results support the possible role of cognitive mediators between life events and depressive reactions, they also suggest that depression-related causal analyses may vary across situations and populations.This article was based on information presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Chicago, November 1978. The authors wish to thank J. Arthur Woodward for his statistical assistance.     

The Use of Negative Events to Prime Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression

This prospective study tested three hypotheses put forth to explain previous inconsistencies in research examining the hopelessness theory of depression. Ninety-three university students completed measures of attributional style for achievement and interpersonal events both before and after experiencing a negative prime. Depressed mood was assessed before the priming task, and at two time points after the students completed their most difficult midterm exam: immediately after receiving their exam grade and 4 days later. Both exam outcome and attributional style, but not their interaction, were significant predictors of change in depressed mood immediately following the receipt of exam grades. Primed depressogenic attributional styles for achievement events interacted with a negative exam outcome to predict depressive mood reactions 4 days later.     

Attributional analysis of chronic illness outcomes

The Weiner et al. attribution model has generated a great deal of research on attributions for success and failure in academic achievement situations. Studies of success and failure attributions in real-life situations of high personal concern are limited. If the attribution model is to lead to a general theory of motivation, such tests in real-life situations are critical. In this study, causal attributions for success and failure outcomes of chronically ill patients were examined. Results indicated at least partial support for the model. Patients tended to attribute success internally and failure externally, but stability and expectations were not linked in this sample. Moreover, a tendency to respond with no cause to an open-ended measure and to hold little commitment to any causes on a closed-ended measure was characteristic of failure subjects.     

Hostile attributional bias in adults

This study tested the validity of hostile attributional bias as a cognitive correlate of anger/aggression in adults. Findings generalized hostile attributional bias into adult populations in ambiguous situations, and extended the construct into benign and hostile situations. Support was seen for the notion that hostile attributional bias is a separate functional entity from simple attribution of intentionality in negative social interactions, with some indication of a tiered cognitive process — attributing first intentionality then hostility of intent. Forced cognitive mediation was seen to have greater effect on angry response in ambiguous situations for aggressive than nonaggressive subjects. The findings are discussed in light of relevant cognitive-behavioral and social information processing theories.     

Psychiatric rehospitalization of the severely mentally ill: patient and staff perspectives.

Research findings about psychiatric rehospitalization of severely mentally ill persons have provided few insights into its meaning for patients and staff. An attributional analysis of the causes schizophrenic patients and their staff gave for rehospitalization was used to test the limits of attributions theory in predicting how the event would be viewed. Results indicated that patients tended to give internal attributions for their readmission and believed that the cause was not under their control. Staff also attributed the problem to something internal to the patient, however, they were likely to see the cause as patient effort, which is under patient control.     

Self-blame, other blame, and desire for revenge: Factors in recovery from bereavement

Relationships among cause of death, attributional processes, and self-reported recovery from bereavement were examined in a sample of 200 mourners People who were grieving death from natural causes (illnesses) realized better recoveries than did those who were grieving deaths from unnatural causes (murders, suicides., or accidents). Self-blame, other blame, and dual blame (simultaneous self-blame and other blame) were more frequent when the death was from unnatural cause, with dual blame, and attributional complexity, being the most prevalent form of blame in they circumstances Self-blame was correlated with poorer recoveries, irrespective of the cause of death, while the connection between other blame and recovery was mediated by both the cause of death and the desire for revenge. In unnatural deaths, mourners who blamed others and thought about or sought revenge reported less adequate adjustment than did those who blamed others but did not consider revenge. Finding are reviewed in terms of learned helplessness and grief theory     

Attributional Styles and Academic Achievement in University Students: A Longitudinal Investigation

Although a number of previous studies have examined the relation between attributional styles and academic achievement, they have yielded contradictory results. This study sought to further examine the relation between attributional styles assessed during the freshman year and academic achievement over the entire college career. Results suggest that, among students who tend to make internal or stable attributions for negative life events, those with low levels of academic ability (i.e., low SAT scores) receive lower cumulative GPAs while in college than do those with high levels of academic ability (i.e., high SAT scores). In contrast, the GPAs of students who tend to make external or unstable attributions for negative life events appeared to be relatively unaffected by their level of academic ability.     

Depression,attributional style,and failure generalization

This study provides evidence in support of recent extensions of the learned helplessness model of depression. Following hypothetical failure at an oral examination, depressed female university students reported more attributions than nondepressed students and attributed their failures more often to global, stable, and internal factors. In addition, depressed students decreased their expectancies of future success across a wider range of situations than did their nondepressed peers. Finally, presenting subjects with a variety of attributional alternatives for their failures was found to remedy the detrimental effect of failure on subsequent expectancies of success. This “therapeutic effect” was strongest among the depressed subjects, thus counteracting the usual failure generalization. Implications for the cognitive treatment of depression are discussed.     

Attributional style and symptoms of shyness in a heterosocial interaction

Cognitive models of shyness suggest that a maladaptive attributional style may contribute to social interaction problems. Subjects' attributional style for heterosocial interactions was assessed and used to predict symptoms of shyness in a heterosocial conversation. Analyses focused on which causal dimensions (e.g., locus) accounted for unique increments in prediction of shyness. Results showed that the dimension of controllability made a greater number of contributions to the prediction of shyness variables, while locus made some contribution and stability only one. Subjects' tendency to attribute both successful and failed heterosocial interactions tocontrollable causes was associated with less report of dispositional shyness and subjective anxiety during the conversation. Also, the belief that causes of failed interactions arecontrollable was associated with a more adaptive balance of positive and negative thoughts during the conversation. Subject's tendency to attribute both successful and failed interactions to internal (locus) causes made a unique contribution only to prediction of subjective anxiety. Implications of the findings for further research and selection of therapeutic tactics are discussed.     

Anxiety disorders,depression, and attributional style: A further test of the specificity of depressive attributions

This study examined the specificity to depression of the attributional style hypothesized by the reformulated model of learned helplessness. Scores on a modified version of the Attributional Style Questionnaire of patients with dysthymic disorder were compared with those of anxiety disorder patients (social phobic, agoraphobic, and panic disorder) and normal subjects. While dysthymic patients demonstrated more internal, global, and stable attributions for negative events than normals, they did not systematically differ from social phobic or agoraphobic subjects. All groups differed from all the other groups on the Beck Depression Inventory. Analysis of covariance that controlled for depression scores suggested that depression contributed substantially to attributional style, but anxiety disorder diagnosis also exerted a significant effect on some attributional measures. These findings are discussed in terms of their meaning for the reformulated model of learned helplessness and the role of attributional processes in anxiety disorders.Conduct of this study was supported in part by NIMH grants No. 38368 awarded to Richard G. Heimberg, No. 40639 awarded to Robert E. Becker, and No. 39096 awarded to David H. Barlow. We wish to express our appreciation to Debra A. Hope and Debbie Mekos, who assisted in the data analysis. Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Boston, November 1987.     

Attributional Style,depression, and anxiety: An evaluation of the specificity of depressive attributions

The reformulated model of learned helplessness and depression postulates that depressed patients will attribute the causes of negative outcomes to internal, global, and stable factors. They may also make maladaptive attributions about the causes of positive outcomes. In the present study, the specificity of these attributional patterns to depressed patients was examined by comparing Attributional Style Questionnaire scores of samples of depressed patients (diagnosed as dysthymic disorder), anxiety disorder patients, and normals. Support for the reformulated model was evident for attributions of negative outcomes. Dysthymic patients demonstrated the hypothesized attributional pattern for negative outcomes, but anxiety patients did so only if they were also depressed. The attributions of dysthymic patients for positive outcomes did not differ from those of normal subjects, but several differences arose between the attributions for positive outcomes of highly depressed dysthymic patients and those of nondepressed anxious patients. Findings are compared to previous research, and implications of these results for the study of cognitive factors in anxiety disorders are discussed.Conduct of this study was supported by NIMH grants No. 38368 awarded to Richard G. Heimberg, No. 35999 awarded to Robert E. Becker, and No. 39096 awarded to David H. Barlow. Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Houston, November 1985. We wish to express our appreciation to Scott Schnee and David Gansler, who assisted in the data analysis.     

Opera Without the Music Edited by David E. Balk

Abstract

Relationships among cause of death, attributional processes, and self-reported recovery from bereavement were examined in a sample of 200 mourners People who were grieving death from natural causes (illnesses) realized better recoveries than did those who were grieving deaths from unnatural causes (murders, suicides., or accidents). Self-blame, other blame, and dual blame (simultaneous self-blame and other blame) were more frequent when the death was from unnatural cause, with dual blame, and attributional complexity, being the most prevalent form of blame in they circumstances Self-blame was correlated with poorer recoveries, irrespective of the cause of death, while the connection between other blame and recovery was mediated by both the cause of death and the desire for revenge. In unnatural deaths, mourners who blamed others and thought about or sought revenge reported less adequate adjustment than did those who blamed others but did not consider revenge. Finding are reviewed in terms of learned helplessness and grief theory     

The Mediating Effects of Attributional Style and Event-Specific Attributions on Postdisaster Adjustment

Attributional style and event-specific internal attributions were examined as cognitive mediators for the negative effect of disaster exposure on emotional adjustment following the Northridge earthquake. The positive relation between disaster exposure and emotional sequelae was found to be mediated by ascribing to a depressogenic attributional style in which negative outcomes were attributed to internal, stable, and global causes. Ascribing to a depressogenic attributional style did not mediate the relation between PTSD symptoms and disaster exposure, thus providing some support for an attributional-style-symptom-specific relation in the context of postdisaster adjustment.     

Attributional Style and Self-Esteem in Vulnerability to Adolescent Depressive Symptoms Following Life Stress: A 14-Week Prospective Study

This study tested G. I. Metalsky, T. E. Joiner, T. Hardin, and L. Abramson's (1993) integrated model of attributional style, self-esteem, and life stress in vulnerability to depressive symptoms among adolescents (N = 115) using a 14-week prospective design. This model posits that individuals with both a negative attributional style and low self-esteem are particularly sensitive to developing depressive symptoms subsequent to life stress. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses were consistent with this hypothesis for initially asymptomatic participants, but not for those who were already experiencing mild levels of symptoms at the start of the study. Specifically, among initially asymptomatic participants, the three-way interaction between attributional style, self-esteem, and life stress predicted changes in depressive symptoms; initially asymptomatic participants who had a negative attributional style, low self-esteem, and high life stress showed the greatest increase in depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that self-esteem and attributional style play a role in vulnerability to the onset of depressive symptoms, though different pathways seem to be involved in determining the course of already existing symptoms.     

Gender Differences in the Achievement Goal Orientations of ADHD Children

The purpose of this investigation was to extendthe research on achievement goal orientations in normalpopulations to children withattention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD (N= 37) and control (N = 36) boys and girls ranging in age from 7to 12 participated in an experimentaltask that allowedfor the assessment of goal orientations in the contextofa failure situation. Analyses revealed that ADHD children differed from control children onself-report measures of attributional style andwell-being. In addition, the achievement goalorientations adopted by ADHD children were notconsistent with those of normal boys. Persistence following failurealso differed between ADHD and control children. Theimplications of these results for individuals workingwith ADHD children are discussed.     

The attributional Style Questionnaire

Of current interest are the causal attributions offered by depressives for the good and bad events in their lives. One important attributional account of depression is the reformulated learned helplessness model, which proposes that depressive symptoms are associated with an attributional style in which uncontrollable bad events are attributed to internal (versus external), stable (versus unstable), and global (versus specific) causes. We describe the Attributional Style Questionnaire, which measures individual differences in the use of these attributional dimensions. We report means, reliabilities, intercorrelations, and test-retest stabilities for a sample of 130 undergraduates. Evidence for the questionnaire's validity is discussed. The Attributional Style Questionnaire promises to be a reliable and valid instrument.This work was supported by PHS grant MH-19604 to M. Seligman, NSF grant BNS76-22943 to the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant 463-80-0003 to C. von Baeyer. C. Peterson is now at Virgina Polytechnic Institute and State University. A Semmel is at the University of Texas, and L. Abramson and G. Metalsky are at the University of Wisconsin.     

Attributional style in the reformulated learned helplessness model of depression: Cognitive processes and measurement implications

Since the addition of attributional style to the learned helplessness model of depression (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) there has been little refinement of the construct of attributional style. The authors suggest that the effects of memory and automatic vs. effortful cognitive processing need to be included in the definition of attributional style. This refinement of the concept of attributional style has implications for its measurement in the following areas: (a) the timing of measurement of attributions in relation to outcome events, (b) the use of hypothetical, real-life, and experimental outcome events, (c) the way attributions are solicited, and (d) how attributions are scored.