Bernard Weiner (born 1935) is an American
social psychologist known for developing a form of
attribution theory
Attribution is a term used in psychology which deals with how individuals perceive the causes of everyday experience, as being either external or internal. Models to explain this process are called Attribution theory. Psychological research into ...
which seeks to explain the emotional and motivational entailments of academic success and failure. His contributions include linking attribution theory, the psychology of motivation, and emotion.
Life and career
Weiner received his undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
in 1955 and an MBA, majoring in Industrial Relations, from the same university in 1957. Following two years of service in the
U.S. Army, Weiner enrolled in a PhD program in personality at the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
, where he was mentored by
John Atkinson, one of the leading personality and motivational psychologists of that era. Weiner completed his PhD in 1963, and spent two years as an assistant professor at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
before joining the psychology faculty at the
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1965, where he remained active into the early 2000s.
Weiner has published 15 books and many articles on the psychology of
motivation
Motivation is an mental state, internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particul ...
and
emotion
Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...
, and has been a professor at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
since 1965.
He is the father of
Mark Weiner, a professor of law at
Rutgers School of Law–Newark.
Research
Professor Weiner's primary research interests are Social Cognition, Helping, Prosocial Behaviour, Judgment and Decision Making, Motivation, Goal Setting, Causal Attribution, Law and Public Policy, Interpersonal Processes and Emotion, Mood, Affect. Weiner got interested in the field of attribution after studying achievement motivation. He used
TAT to identify differences in people's achievement needs and then turned to the study of individual issues people face when they think of their own successes and failures. He further conducted research into the cognitive processes that have motivational influence.
Attribution theory
Attribution theory
Attribution is a term used in psychology which deals with how individuals perceive the causes of everyday experience, as being either external or internal. Models to explain this process are called Attribution theory. Psychological research into ...
seeks to explain the causes of an event or behavior. A three stages process, they are observations, determination of behavior, and attributing to causes. There are two types of attributions, namely external and internal. External attribution relates causality to outside agents, whereas, internal attribution assigns the person himself for any behavior. In a 1996 interview, Weiner elaborated how attribution contributes to "high ability, high achievement, and giftedness", stating that "other-perception and self-perception form a unity, together, which influence task persistence and, therefore, actual ability."
According to Weiner, everyone has similar psychodynamics in the classroom and students tend to seek explanation for personal failure.
Weiner raised the question on what is considered sin and what is sickness. The example he gave surrounded obesity: obesity due to overeating is a sin; obesity because of a thyroid problem is a sickness. Bernard hoped that these types of scenarios would help him come up with a general theory of social conduct.
Publications and partial bibliography
*
* Weiner, B. (1986). ''An attributional theory of motivation and emotion''. New York: Springer-Verlag.
* Weiner, B. (1992). ''Human Motivation: Metaphors, Theories, and Research''. Sage Publications.
*
*Weiner, B. (1981). ''Theories of Motivation: From Mechanism to Cognition''. Markham Publishing Company.
*Weiner, B. (2005). ''Social Motivation, Justice, And The Moral Emotions: An Attributional Approach''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
*Weiner, B. (1995). ''Judgments of Responsibility: A Foundation for a Theory of Social Conduct''. The Guilford Press.
*Weiner, B. (2003). ''The Classroom as a Courtroom''
[Weiner, B. (2003). Social Psychology of Education (January 2003), 6 (1), pp. 3-15.]
References
External links
Professional profile of Bernard Weiner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiner, Bernard
1935 births
Living people
University of Chicago alumni
University of Michigan alumni
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
Attribution theory
American educational psychologists
Jewish American scientists
Jewish psychologists