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An Intervention to Retrain Attributions Using CBT: A Pilot Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2017

Amira Bosnjak ,
Christopher Boyle Open the ORCID record for Christopher Boyle [Opens in a new window]  and
Alicia R. Chodkiewicz
Amira Bosnjak
Affiliation:
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Christopher Boyle*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, UK
Alicia R. Chodkiewicz
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, UK
*
Address for correspondence: Christopher Boyle, PhD, Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, UK. Email: C.boyle2@exeter.ac.uk
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Abstract

The role of affective and cognitive factors in learning have long been recognised as imperative determinants of the learning process. Maladaptive styles with which we perceive and explain accomplishments and failures in achievement outcomes have an important motivational impact upon approach and avoidance behaviours towards academic tasks. Interventions to change these maladaptive styles are well established, although they stand to gain via addition of cognitive behavioural therapy components. A pilot study attribution retraining intervention was implemented with eight secondary school students, and their results on academic performance, self-concept, and attributional styles were compared to a control group. With significant gains in some specific academic domains, the attributional retraining program is being substantiated for effective use within secondary schools. Implications suggest that this could be an effective tool to retrain students’ attributions, with some gains, as the reattribution technique is revisited and reinvigorated.

Keywords

educational psychologyschool psychologyinclusive educationspecial educationpositive psychologyattribution retrainingattributionscognitive behaviour therapyschool improvement
Type
Articles
Information
The Educational and Developmental Psychologist , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , July 2017 , pp. 19 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Australian Psychological Society Ltd 2017 

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