The Comparative Effects of Strategy and Effort Attributions

S ummary . The effects of attributing academic failure to effort or strategy were examined with the use of college students and teachers as subjects. Both the attitude and future performance of a college freshman described as receiving a GPA of 1.8 (C ‐) on her first semester's work were judged to be significantly more positive when poor performance was attributed to strategy in contrast to effort. A measure of perceived affect produced an interaction which indicated that college teachers, but not students, perceived affect to be more positive under effort attributions. A secondary purpose of this research was to examine the effects of having subjects judge perceived affect either before or after making judgments on attitude and future performance. Data suggest that the initial processing of affect may lead to more positive judgments of attitude and future performance on the part of teachers but less positive judgments on the part of students. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.