WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE CONCEPT BLAME FOR STUDENTS - TESTING PSYCHOLINGUISTIC SPEECH-ACT-THEORETICAL HYPOTHESES CONCERNING THE SEEMINGLYPARADOXICAL EFFECTS OF BLAME

Authors
Citation
G. Blickle, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE CONCEPT BLAME FOR STUDENTS - TESTING PSYCHOLINGUISTIC SPEECH-ACT-THEORETICAL HYPOTHESES CONCERNING THE SEEMINGLYPARADOXICAL EFFECTS OF BLAME, Zeitschrift fur Padagogische Psychologie, 9(3-4), 1995, pp. 129-138
Citations number
19
Categorie Soggetti
Psychology, Educational
ISSN journal
10100652
Volume
9
Issue
3-4
Year of publication
1995
Pages
129 - 138
Database
ISI
SICI code
1010-0652(1995)9:3-4<129:WITMOT>2.0.ZU;2-0
Abstract
According to psycholinguistic speech act theory blame has the followin g meaning in ordinary language: attribution of insufficient effort, at tribution of ability equivalent to task difficulty, and normative disa ppointment, i.e., the blaming person is disappointed and believes to b e entitled to demand better performance. Three categorization experime nts were conducted with 301 high-school students aging between 14 and 20 years. Forced choice and free choice categorization methods were us ed. Results indicate that ordinary language meaning of blame implies o nly attribution of insufficient effort. In contrast to theoretical exp ectations the technical term <<negative feedback>> was used most frequ ently by subjects. Its use varies depending on the attribution of insu fficient effort. Results can be interpreted as supporting the attribut ional explanation of the seemingly paradoxical effects of praise and b lame.