On Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:28:11 -0700, Philippe Gervaix wrote: >I was quite interested in the discussion about Seligman, as I am >starting on the chapter on Motivation these days. >I am teaching at a "Lycée" in Switzerland, (which would roughly be >equivalent to last year high school and first year college). >I introduce them to Seligman's experiments and it really speaks to them. >But concerning "expanatory style", I prefer to introduce the related >concepts along with the cognitive dimensions of motivation. >And I thought the concepts of internality, stability and globality >were introduced by Wiener:
I would suggest that you take a look at Kelley & Michela's (1980) review of attribution theory and research (ref below) which more or less puts all of the relevant constructs and more into historical and theoretical framework at that point in time, starting with Heider, Kelley, Weiner, Abramson, etc. Kelley, H. H., & Michela, J. L. (1980). Attribution theory and research. Annual Review of Psychology, 31, 457-501. doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.31.020180.002325 And to clarify a point or two: calling these attributional styles "Seligman's explanatory style" seems to me to be wrong and confuses the history of the development of these ideas. A number of people at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania influenced each other during the 1970-1980s, starting with Aaron Beck's work on cognitive factors in depression, Lyn Abramson cognitive re-formulation of the "learned helplessness" theory of depression which would go on to become the "hoplessness theory" of depression, and Seligman's taking the cognitive reformulation of depression in the direction of positive psychology. I believe it was Abramson who promoted the use of social cognitive constructs in theorizing about the nature of depression, as represented by her early work with Seligman and later work with her students and colleagues. I would recommend her edited volume on this, especially chapters 1 and 2 (chap 2 provides some additional history and well as the research basis for the reformulated theory): Abramson, L. Y. (1988). Social cognition and clinical psychology: A synthesis. New York: Guilford Press. Apparently it is out of print but one should be able to locate a copy through Worldcat, e.g., http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14003274&referer=brief_results (copies do not appear to be available in Switzerland but are available in Germany, the Netherlands, and other European countries; for libraries in any location, put a zip code, state, or country name in the "Enter your location" slot). A reivew of the text is provided in PsycCritiques, which available through the APA's electronic resources. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
