David Watkins, Estela Astilla
Measures of self‐esteem and attribution for future success or failure at a forthcoming examination were obtained for 241 Filipino university students. Analysis of variance indicated that the high self‐esteem subjects were significantly more likely than the low self‐esteem subjects to perceive their possible success as due to internal causes and to attribute possible success more to internal causes than they did possible failure. Low self‐esteem subjects did not differ significantly in their attribution for success and failure. Rather than supporting either self‐enhancement or self‐consistency theory for the low self‐esteem group the data suggest that these subjects may fail to internalize success to the same degree as the high self‐esteem subjects. A cross‐cultural explanation of this apparent trend is suggested. 1980 Australian Psychological Society
University of New England, Australia; University of San Carlos, Philippines
