Features of Students’ Attributional Style

Abstract

Attributional style or explanatory style is a cognitive personal feature reflecting a standard specific way of explaining the reasons of events in which people are involved. This concept is key in M. Seligman’s theory of learned helplessness and depression. M. Seligman and his followers experimentally proved that the person becomes helpless in case he is convinced that nothing depends on his active actions, that evil events happen accidentally, and it is impossible to change them. The paper describes features of attributional style of junior students and provides recommendations on overcoming its negative consequences.