Temporal Perspective and Attributions: The Role of Causal Stability and Certainty

Examinations of the effect of temporal perspective on attributions have resulted in a set of apparently contradictory findings. Our results suggest that rather than a dispositional shift versus a situational shift, these findings can be reconciled in terms of a “stability shift” in attributions over time. In Study 1, participants were given scenarios and were asked to imagine themselves, or another person, succeeding or failing in the past, present, or future. In Study 2, participants provided attributions for their own real-life exam performances, with a design that instituted a time delay. The dependent measures were eight achievement attributions corresponding to the cells of Weiner’s model. Discussion centers around the stability and certainty of causes, and directions for further research.