Attributional Tendencies Cultures
Professor: All right, now we're going to talk about something that is kind of deep. Kind of real deep, it kind of plays with your psyche. Okay? It's called "attributional tendencies." Each culture has different attributional tendencies to one degree or another. Sometimes they're very similar, but they're always a little different. But in the background scale, sometimes they're similar, it just depends on what culture it is. Attributional tendencies refer to what do we attribute success, to what do we attribute our personal failures, to what do we attribute the successes of others, to what do we attribute the failures of others. In our culture, in all cultures, we're always attributing things to other things, like other causes. I'll give you some examples here in a minute.
When I wasbishop, I would have a lot of moms come into my office, crying, saying that they were a failure because their son didn't go on a mission, or their daughter didn't get married in the temple, and they were taking it out all on themselves. I think that we Mormons somehow—you know how I said Americans look at possessions as extensions of themselves? I think we, Mormons, look at our children as extensions of ourselves to a larger degree, I think, than the general population does.
And they were attributing these "failures" to because they must have done something wrong. It was something they did. And whenever bad things would happen to them, even impersonally, they would attribute it to God's vengeance on them. That God was punishing them, or God was testing them. And, you know, I kept on trying to convince them that God is a nice guy, okay? He's on your side, and also, any decision that your children make is their decision. There's this thing out there called agency, where people have the freedom to choose. And you shouldn't attribute everything your children do, you know, to you. And of course they would attribute the positive things that their kids did to them, too, you know, as if children have no agency. As if my mother's still at fault for all the bad things I might do, like I have no agency. You have no agency, your parents are always at fault. See, it's irrational. And all cultures have irrational attributional schemes.
For example, there are internal attributions, and there are external attributions. If you attribute something internally, you believe it's your fault or it’s—you'reresponsible for that good thing. If you attribute externally, it's someone else's fault, or someone else can be given the credit for something good that happens to you. Now, in America, generally speaking, now, Mormonism is a little bit complex, because we're a religion that believes that God is highly interventionist. He intervenes in our lives quite often. I'm wondering if some of the people that I was meeting with as bishop, I wonder if they believed that Godis, maybe, a little bit more interventionist than what He really is. But we do believe God is an interventionist, and that complicates issues.
Now, the typical American will attribute his or her personal successes internally. Your typical American will attribute his or her personal successes internally. If he or she ever does something and achieves something very impressive, he or she will think, "I did it. I'm good, I did it. I worked real hard, I deserve this. I'm smart, I'm talented." However, when something negative happens to the typical American—not the typical Mormon—the typical American will attribute it externally and will give blame to parents, to teachers, to other people in their lives who were mean to them, and that sort of thing. They'll attribute it externally: "People are bad to me, they took this away. I would've been able to do it if it weren’t for other people."
However, when it comes to the personal successes and failures of others, it's the exact opposite. Americans will attribute the personal successes of others externally. If someone else has successes in their lives, the typical American will think, "They were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They were helped by other people. Their circumstances allowed them to accomplish that. They had connections, they had good friends." But with the personal failures of others, the typical American will attribute those personal failures internally: "They failed because they were just pretty dumb. They failed because they weren't very talented. They failed because they're lazy."
Another thing, too. So therefore, with these external attributions and internal attributions, they are so powerful that they will have effect on our public policies. If we believe that the other people's failures are to be attributed inwardly, that affects our public policy. That affects our laws. It's not just something bouncing around in our heads. It creates our whole worldview, it creates our whole legal system in a lot of ways. And it can be vastly different.
For example, in Hong Kong, they will attribute personal successes—in Hong Kong and India—they’ll use internal attributions to explain both personal successes and personal failures. So, in Hong Kong and India, they will use internal attributions to explain both their personal successes and personal failures. And in Japan, they're the exact opposite of what we are in the United States, for personal failures and personal successes. In Japan, the typical Japanese person will attribute personal successes externally. "The reason I am successful is because of my parents, my great teachers," this and that. But he or she will attribute personal failures internally. Every time they fail, it's their fault, it's always their fault. And Japan has a high suicide rate. I wonder why?
You know, you have to realize that you can't just attribute—each circumstance is different. If something bad happens to you, sometimes it is your fault, sometimes it's not your fault! Every circumstance is different. You can't just use these culturally created attributions in a sweeping way to decide what your reality is, what your self-worth is, all that sort of thing. And then, in people that are kind of more fundamentally religious—and we Mormons would be in that group too—it gets a little more complex, because if something bad happens to you, you can attribute it both internally and externally. You can attribute it internally, saying, "I'm not worthy, I must have sinned," and you can attribute it externally to God, with Him cursing you for sinning.
Again, that can be dangerous. You know, God, in my opinion, is on your side! He's a loving, old grandpa. Wants to help you out. I don't think He's there wanting to curse you, you know? I'm sure there are people that God has cursed, and I'm sure they're pretty bad—like real bad. Maybe like Hitler, maybe he got cursed.
[Professor points to a student off-screen, says something inaudible.]
Female Student: Well, I don't know if this is normal or if I'm just crazy, but I know if something bad happens to me, sometimes I attribute it to karma. Like, "Oh, I did something—” [She laughs nervously] “Like, I was mean to some person a while ago, so now this person is being mean to me." Is that normal? Or is that—
Professor: Oh no, I think that exists in almost every religious tradition in the world.
Female Student: Oh, okay.
Professor: Yeah, so I think it's something in our human psyche. And I think that we do have the faith—with which most people believe, and I do too—that God rewards good people and punishes bad people, at least eventually. Sometimes that won't happen in this life. And, you know, I think all of us deep down inside understand that. But sometimes we attribute it irrationally to ourselves. I think we— and especially people I was interviewing as bishop, they were seeing themselves as being punished all the time—and I think we have this tendency to be irrational there. But what you are is a sign of a conscientious person, you know, who wants to do what's right, so it's important to feel that way, in a sense.
Anyway, so I've got some interesting questions for you. In your groups, I want you to talk about this: Are your personal attributional models consistent with those dominant in your culture? In your groups, talk about that. And so always, kind of, question your attributions and think, "Are these cultural attributions reasonable, rational? Reasonable? Logical? Or should I judge things by circumstances?" Sometimes life will just mess you up, sometimes other people will mess you up. Sometimes it's not your fault, sometimes it is your fault. But each circumstance is different. Life is not black and white, it's very, very complex.