-----Original Message-----
From: owner-epl259au05rick@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:owner-epl259au05rick@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu]On Behalf Of Rick
Mosholder
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 9:19 AM
To: epl259au05rick@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: EPL 259 D - Week 5a


Hi everyone,

Module 5

Module 5 is normally is one of the more difficult sections for students. In
it we discuss CAUSAL explanations, i.e. causation. Please don't confuse
causal with CASUAL. Obviously, they are much different concepts.

Module 5 is about taking responsibility: In Module 5, we're using
responsibility its original sense, i.e. the ability to respond. We also use
the word to designate guilty parties in our society (i.e. who's responsible
for this???), but that's only part of what we're talking about here. We're
talking about control and who has the ability to act. If you are honest with
yourself, you realize how much control you have over your reactions,
actions, thoughts, and feelings. So one way of looking at the material in
Module 5 is to ask yourself, did this person (or did I) have the ability to
CONTROL what they did, i.e. did they have a range of choices in how they
responded? A major factor in expanding or limiting our options is our
understanding of our own causal explanations about why things happened.

What are causal explanations? They are reasons we give ourselves for
outcomes. Why are they important? They affect how we perceive a past
situation and how we anticipate (and thus behave) in a future situation.
This is called the Self-System and it is part of Attribution Theory in
psychology.

As far as academic tasks go, researchers have constructed six different
kinds of causal explanations. We perceive three of these explanations to be
"inside us" or internal. Since they are internal, we have the ability to
control them, i.e. we have the responsibilty for them. These causal
explanations are Ability, Effort, and Strategy. Alternately, we perceive
three of these academically related causal explanations to be in the
environment or external, i.e. outside of our control and therefore not our
responsibility. These causal explanations are Task Difficulty, Luck and
Help.

Thus, one 'property' of causal explanations is whether they are internal or
external to us. We perceive we can control internal, but not external causal
explanations. When we blame external causes for our problems WE BECOME
VICTIMS. This is called learned helplessness.

A second causal property is stability or instability. This property
addresses how quickly can or does a cause change. For example, effort is
very unstable, i.e. we can change it whenever we choose. Ability is stable;
it can change, but that takes a while. Strategies, like the academic
self-regulatory strategies you're learning in this course, are somewhere in
between. Implementing a strategy requires us to change behaviors. Changing
behaviors requires repetition. If practiced properly, we achieve mastery.

A third causal explanation property is generality or specificity, i.e. does
this apply to many areas of functioning or just one? If I perceive myself to
have low ability in math, does that mean that I'm dumb in everything? The
probable answer is no. Research shows that people develop abilities based on
their interests. If you're smart in an area, it's probably because
you're interested. If you're "dumb", it's probably because you're not.
Knowledge is domain specific.

About two-thirds of the people in our culture are pessimists. Pessimists
expect bad outcomes to continue because they view the causes as being
external, therefore uncontrollable; so stable as to be permanent; and very
general, i.e. applying to many areas of functioning. Optimists see the
causes of bad outcomes as internal, therefore controllable; temporary; and
specific to a narrow range of functioning. Whether or not you believe it,
the choice is up to you.

Rick