Growth motivation attenuates the self-serving attribution

This study examined whether growth motivation would attenuate the self-serving attribution. Previous studies found that people made more internal attributions for success than for failure and that people with high self-esteem made more external attributions for failure than those with low self-esteem. In this study, participants took a listening comprehension test and rated the extent to which a success or failure score was due to them. The score was randomly assigned. It was found that people with high self-esteem and high growth motivation made more internal attributions for failure than those with high self-esteem but low growth motivation. Implications for research on self-esteem were discussed.