Nina's Cognitive Attributions: The Gap Between Her Present Reality and Her Desired Life
This week, we will consider Nina Mosely’s cognitive attributions and how those attributions impacted her emotions and motivations. Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1985) proposes that causal interpretations play a key role in motivation and emotion. Weiner explored how causal interpretations of individuals' success and failure impacted their emotions, motivation, and behavior. Individual interpretations of the reasoning behind given outcomes were further defined as causal attribution, including three dimensions: locus, stability, and controllability.
Each dimension was found to influence motivation and emotion in distinct ways. The locus dimension examines where we place the blame. Where does one attribute the place/location of an event? Locus can be an internal cause or an external cause. Stability refers to an event being uncontrollable or able to change (I.e., high stability or low stability). Lastly is controllability, which looks at how much a person can control an event (I.e., uncontrollable or controllable). As you can see, there is a trend of a continuum within these dimensions. Individuals’ cognitive attributions can influence their motivation and emotions in various ways.
Taking it a step further, Graham (2020) expands on Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1985). He emphasizes how, in educational settings, students interpret their successes and failures in contexts of ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. These interpretations shape their emotions, motivations, and academic engagement.
Considering Nina Mosley’s life in the film Love Jones, her past relationships shape her current motivations and expectations in romance. Nina’s explanation of her life outcomes during the film can be seen in congruence with Graham's theory that effort, ability, and external circumstances can influence engagement and resilience. Nina attributes her previous relationship issues with Marvin (ex-finance) to be uncontrollable. She also attributes that factors within their relationship, such as cheating, narcissistic behaviors, and long distance, were external factors that influenced her approach and hesitation to seek new love with Darius. These factors cause Nina to use hesitancy to shape her emotional commitment to love. Nina’s emotional journey shapes her attributions of control, self-worth, and causality. She wonders if she’s worthy of the kind of love she desires. She is reflective in the film, and we see the internal struggle about her agency of relationships impacting her motivation to pursue a future with Darius. Nina experiences blended emotions of hope and insecurity as she navigates her love life and career goals. She even considers moving to New York to rekindle her past relationship with Marvin and find a new job in the city with the intent to gain control and stability in her life.
Citations:
Graham, S. (2020). An attributional theory of motivation: Expanding our understanding of how causal explanations influence motivation and behavior. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101861
Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92(4), 548–573.
Each dimension was found to influence motivation and emotion in distinct ways. The locus dimension examines where we place the blame. Where does one attribute the place/location of an event? Locus can be an internal cause or an external cause. Stability refers to an event being uncontrollable or able to change (I.e., high stability or low stability). Lastly is controllability, which looks at how much a person can control an event (I.e., uncontrollable or controllable). As you can see, there is a trend of a continuum within these dimensions. Individuals’ cognitive attributions can influence their motivation and emotions in various ways.
Taking it a step further, Graham (2020) expands on Weiner’s Attribution Theory (1985). He emphasizes how, in educational settings, students interpret their successes and failures in contexts of ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck. These interpretations shape their emotions, motivations, and academic engagement.
Considering Nina Mosley’s life in the film Love Jones, her past relationships shape her current motivations and expectations in romance. Nina’s explanation of her life outcomes during the film can be seen in congruence with Graham's theory that effort, ability, and external circumstances can influence engagement and resilience. Nina attributes her previous relationship issues with Marvin (ex-finance) to be uncontrollable. She also attributes that factors within their relationship, such as cheating, narcissistic behaviors, and long distance, were external factors that influenced her approach and hesitation to seek new love with Darius. These factors cause Nina to use hesitancy to shape her emotional commitment to love. Nina’s emotional journey shapes her attributions of control, self-worth, and causality. She wonders if she’s worthy of the kind of love she desires. She is reflective in the film, and we see the internal struggle about her agency of relationships impacting her motivation to pursue a future with Darius. Nina experiences blended emotions of hope and insecurity as she navigates her love life and career goals. She even considers moving to New York to rekindle her past relationship with Marvin and find a new job in the city with the intent to gain control and stability in her life.
Citations:
Graham, S. (2020). An attributional theory of motivation: Expanding our understanding of how causal explanations influence motivation and behavior. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101861
Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92(4), 548–573.
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