Attribution control as a motivation regulation strategy from Wolters (2003), is when you attribute or assign reasons for your success or challenges during or after completing a task. We can attribute successes or failures to internal or external, controllable, or uncontrollable sources.
For example, I applied for a lot of grants, scholarships, and other sources of funding in grad school. When I didn’t get a certain scholarship, my initial response would be to often attribute this “failure” to external and uncontrollable sources, such as the scholarship committee was biased or I was never going to get it anyways, etc.
When I was able to attribute not getting scholarships to internal, controllable sources, I was able to reflect on what I was missing from my application a
nd able to see this “failure” in a new light – mostly as an opportunity to prepare for future scholarships more effectively.
I found that when I tried to “blame” others for my struggles, this just increased my stress or anxiety. When I was able to focus on what I could have done differently, it increased my motivation to keep trying.
One caveat here is that attributions for the many systemic issues grad students face should and cannot be attributed to the individual. There are serious equity, diversity, and inclusion barriers for many scholars, for example BIPOC scholars, scholars with disabilities, and many others.
If you want to try using attribution control as a motivation regulation strategy in grad school, try to use it on your day to day work and tasks to focus on what you can control. And when you find that the systemic barriers are posing a challenge, make sure you reach out to a trusted friend, peer, or community for support.
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