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Attributional Theory

 " I deserve what happens to me now" - Edward Scissorhands

Blog Post #6



Attributional Theory

The theory we covered this past week in class relates to outcomes. More specifically, why certain outcomes happen to us and to what we attribute them. Attributional theory is built upon three blocks locusts of control, controllability, and stability. I will dive into them in the later sections, but it is important to restate the goal of our main character. Edwards's central goal, which we discuss every week, is to attempt to become integrated into the suburban society he has been thrust into. Watching the movie again, it is a bit difficult to state with total certainty how Edward is contextualizing the events around him concerning attributional theory because he is not a very vocal lead character, yet, using his overall demeanor, I will do my best.

Locusts of Control

This part of attributional theory can be described through the lens of internal and external. If a locus of control is internal, it comes from within a person, but if it's external, it is a situation coming from an outer source. In the film, Edward views his artistic abilities as internal but task difficulty as external. This results in a shift in effort later in the film when the relationship between him and the townspeople starts going south.

Controllability

This section is self-explanatory in that controllability is defined as whether one feels an outcome is controllable or uncontrollable. At the start of the film, Edward feels that the townspeople's emotions are controllable when his actions directly relate to positive outcomes. However, when his actions don't change, but his luck turns for the worse, and he understands he cannot control his luck from the beginning, he shifts his perception into thinking that their emotions are actually uncontrollable. Furthermore, as previously stated, this causes a drop in a controllable factor, effort. This is seen when he runs away.


Stability

The last section is defined by whether something is changing or unchanging. A person's luck is changing and thus not stable. In the film, I believe that what caused Edward to give up was that he realized his ability and effort were stable and unlikely to get any better but the power of the changing variables were stronger. This then caused helplessness within him and altered his goals and motivation right up until the end of the film.




Comments

  1. Jeannine TurnerOctober 16, 2022 at 10:28 AM

    You did a nice job of explaining the components of Attribution theory. Just make sure you use "locus of control" and not "locusts of control"

    ReplyDelete

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