Causal attributions for school-related problems: Teacher perceptions and teacher feedback

Conducted 2 studies with a total of 54 teachers to examine classroom teachers' attributions for severe school problems. In both studies, teachers who had referred a student for psychological services were asked to assign causality for the referral problem. In Exp II, teacher praise and criticism of referred students were examined as functions of causal attributions. Both studies show that teachers held student factors more responsible for classroom problems than teacher factors and that teachers' attributions varied somewhat for learning vs behavior problems. Exp II indicated that problem students perceived as lacking motivation were criticized more often by their teachers. Relationship of the results to attribution theory and teacher attribution research is discussed, and further research conducted in naturalistic settings is recommended. (22 ref)