10/23/2021; WEEK 6: RESPONSE TO ATTRIBUTIONAL TENDENCIES

I was an honor student since I was in kindergarten until junior high school. I was a great competitor in math and science competitions back then. I also joined pageants and could win the titles. Because of these, I was praised for having great and intelligent parents. I was honored because I have a comfortable home. I was praised that there are many resources that I could use, including my family who are knowledgeable in school, friends who are also intelligent, and resources like the internet, laptop, and printer. This was always okay to me because, in our culture, our achievements are always connected externally. This is also maybe because we are generous about everything and give credit to whoever helped us achieve something. However, when I studied as a senior high school student, my world shifted.

I moved to a university to study senior high. Our environment changed since we were the youngest there, and lots of college students surrounded us. In the first week, I was doing fine. I remembered that I was praised for getting into my school since it is hard and my family’s hard work is finally taking off. However, when the results of my first week’s quizzes came, my heart was shattered, for I received low scores. I cried and cried that day. I was telling myself that I was so stupid. Maybe I was really not good enough. In that semester, I received a grade on average level and not typical to be seen in my card. I remember how nervous I was to tell my parents about it, and when they heard about it, they told me that maybe I was not studying enough or that perhaps I was not focusing on our classes. The good thing is that because of the things I have learned in studying BYU-PathwayConnect, I was able to unlearn this kind of mindset. It helped me assess situations before giving a verdict of what I lack and what I should do to avoid reencountering this situation.

With my experience, I am trying to show the dangers of attributional tendencies in Cultures. Note that attributional tendencies refer to what we attribute success, to what we attribute our failures, and to what we attribute the achievements of others and the shortcomings of others. I am sure that you also experience your culture has different attributional tendencies to one degree or another. It might be internal or external attributions. And this might or might not affect you in a good way.

That is why we should always be careful about what we are thinking and saying about the success and failures of one another. We must recognize that we cannot simply attribute since each circumstance is unique. If something horrible occurs to you, it is sometimes your fault, and sometimes it isn’t. Every situation is unique. We can’t just take these culturally created attributions to establish our reality, our self-worth, and all that other things.