Abstract
Male and female college students, divided according to levels of achievement motivation, were asked to do an anagram task at which their success or failure was determined by experimental manipulation of the problems they were given. Their ratings of ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck as possible causes for success or failure indicated that those with high achievement motivation of both sexes made relatively higher ratings for ability and lower ratings for task difficulty. Females tended to employ higher ratings for luck, and females with high achievement motivation made maximal use of effort as a causal factor. Theoretical implications and potential applications of these data are discussed.
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The research reported herein was supported by the Learning Research and Development Center, supported in part as a research and development center by funds from the National Institute of Education (NIE), United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of NIE and no official endorsement should be inferred. The authors would like to thank Allan LaVoie for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript and Chuck Block and Tom Werner for their enthusiastic help in carrying out the details of this study. The authors wish also to extend their appreciation to Yaffa Bar-Tal for her assistance in all phases of the study. The senior author is now at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
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Bar-Tal, D., Frieze, I.H. Achievement motivation for males and females as a determinant of attributions for success and failure. Sex Roles 3, 301–313 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287617
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00287617