6/1/19, W06 ‘Attributional Tendencies'

Brother Ivers explained well the definition of attributional tendencies in cultures and how they affect our view of ourselves and others. https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Attributional+Tendencies+in+Cultures/0_u45682wd

My experience as an American is that typically we do attribute our successes internally; ‘I did well on the test because I studied,’ and that we attribute our failures externally; ‘I didn’t do well on the test because our teacher didn’t explain the terms well enough.’ In our individualistic culture this is also called a self-serving bias. As Americans we also typically explain the personal successes of others externally; ‘He won the award because everyone likes him the best,’ and the personal failures of others internally; ‘She would have won the award if she had practiced more.’ I know that it will be important to be aware of the cultural attributional tendencies in my future classroom, as they strongly influence the way we interact with others. They can also have a powerful effect on our lives. If we live in a culture that attributes failures internally, where we blame ourselves for everything that goes wrong, our self-worth can be negatively impacted. 

It’s true that our LDS culture, embedded within our home culture, is unique and makes attributional tendencies more complex and sometimes irrational. It’s so easy as an LDS mother to let others’ judgment of our children’s poor choices affect our feelings of self-worth. For example, how often have we heard mothers say, ‘I must have done something wrong for my child to not have made good choices.’ When I hear this, I tend to bring up that one of Eve’s children is Cain, two of Sariah’s children were Laman and Lemuel, and what about our spirit brother Satan and a third of the host of heaven? I like what Brother Ivers said, ‘We all have agency, even our children, God doesn’t punish you, in fact He’s on your side.’

As we try to understand our life’s experiences, we can’t always use our cultural attributions to decide our reality. For example, if our culture says that all negative events in our life are attributed internally as in ‘I did something to deserve it,’ or that all negative events are attributed externally; ‘It’s someone else’s fault that I’m going through this,’ we would be discounting the fact that ‘junk happens’ in life, as my former OB/GYN often said. Life is not black and white or always fair. Good people get sick and some bad people live a long mortal life. I’m grateful that we as LDS have the eternal perspective that our mortal lives are a very short time in eternity, and that one day everyone will receive their just and due rewards for their personal work and choices and for where their heart is.