Attribution theoryJamison Grohe, Nicholas Scheld,

Antoine Goodson, Bradley Hill, Andrew

George

Have you ever been put in a group with individuals who you felt did not work as hard as you?

did you GIVE YOURSELF ALL OF THE credit WHEN YOU EARNED A GOOD GRADE?

Importance of ResearchOur group was interested in this subject to find

out the perceptions of other people

what do people blame for a poor “grade” or performance when working in a group?

Do they give credit to themselves for a good grade received or blame their peers for a bad grade received?

RESEARCH QUESTION/HYPOTHESISdoes working with low performing peers

cause a person to blame their peers for their own performance?

if they receive a good grade, do they attribute themselves?

if they receive a bad grade, do they blame the group?

in articles prior to our own study, we learned about:

internal and external emotions impacting the outcome sports games

perceptions of subject’s own and their others behaviors being attributed to either external or internal forces

INDIVIDUAL TEAM MEMBER’S INTENTIONS TO HELP OR PUNISH being RELATED TO POOR PERFORMER TRAITS

WHY IS THIS STUDY IMPORTANT?● we can see the way that “high-performing” students

perceive their “low-performing” peers

shows how group work may negatively affect the outcome of grades if the low-performing students bring down the high-performer student

● can Improve educational methods for teachers

how will we conduct our study?We will talk with the teachers of two middle school English classes about

their students and break them into groups based on grade performance

● 4 groups of 5 students in each class

1 group= 1 high-performer and 4 low-performers

We will grade the group projects

we will survey the students

how will we pick people to be in the study?

2 middle school English classrooms

We will talk to the teachers in each class to determine who the “high performers” are and who the “low performers” are

based on grades and performance in the class prior to the study

survey questions1. Do you believe that you deserve the grade that you received for this assignment?

2. What was your role in the group?

3. What were your other group member’s roles in the group?

4. Was the work split up evenly throughout the group?

5. What do you believe caused you to earn the grade that you did?

6. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being terrible and 10 being helpful and productive), rate the rest of your

group: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

why a survey?TRUTHFUL ANSWERS

Being interviewed, for example, may scare the student into answering things that they don’t really feel

STUDENTS WILL BE outside of the classroom alone to answer the survey

NO fear OF other students looking over their shoulder to see their surveys

how will we protect the identities and information of the people who participate in the study?

first name only

the other students will never be exposed to the other’s

surveys

survey monkey

only the teachers and us will ever have access to the

information

Student names and surveys will not be exposed

After seven years, all papers will be shredded and data

on the computer will be deleted

SURVEY MONKEY

What do we hope to learn?

how students perceive their peers

if students attribute good grades to themselves and bad grades to their peers

outtroWe hypothesized that the students will blame their

group members for a bad grade and credit

themselves for a good grade

important because this study helps us understand

how people perceive those that they work in a

group with