Weiner’s attribution theory Weiner’s (e.g., 1985, 1986, 2000, 2006) attribution

Weiner’s attribution theory
Weiner’s (e.g., 1985, 1986, 2000, 2006) attribution approach is a classic approach to motivation in social psychology. Weiner proposes that three essential attributions (i.e., locus of causality, stability, and controllability) will indirectly result in prosocial or antisocial behavioral responses through emotional reactions. More specifically, Weiner distinguishes two related but distinct systems, the interpersonal (other-related) and the intrapersonal (self-related) approaches. Interpersonal theory of motivation describes how people interpret and react to causal attributions in interpersonal contexts where thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are toward others, while the intrapersonal approach looks at the self and describes thoughts, emotions, and behaviors toward to the self.
Although the inter- and intra- personal approaches share common attribution properties (I.e., locus, stability, and controllability), consequences of perceived controllability vary more significantly based on the inter- or intra- contexts than stability and locus. For instance, other-related perceptions of controllability when failure (e.g., a classmate failing an exam) happens could result in pity and anger, which subsequently increase or decrease willingness to lend them class notes; however, when failure is related to the self, emotions will likely be shame or guilt, which increases or decreases effort in studying. Therefore, the current review will focus on the controllability aspect only.
The interpersonal approach is widely used in help giving and prosocial behaviors (e.g., Rudolph et al., 2004), and the intrapersonal approach is predominantly used in achievement domain (e.g., Graham, 2020). These approaches are also used in organizational settings, stigmatization context, and so forth. The current review looks at these two motivation systems (processes) separately and discusses their current development and application in various fields. Each section will briefly discuss Weiner’s original theorizing (i.e., the controllability – emotions – behaviors path; about 1 page each), and follow the development of each approach and review the empirical support from various fields (ideally 5 pages each).