Browsing by Subject "defensiivinen pessimismi"

The aim of this study was to examine the relations between the cognitive strategies of Helsinki university students and their attributions and whether the relations are different between students who use strategic optimism and the ones who use defensive pessimism. Attributions mean the factors that explain the reasons for our actions. Strategic optimism is a strategy where a person sets high goals and feels in control of their actions. Defensive pessimism is a strategy where a person sets goals unrealistically low considering their past study success and feels anxious about their studies. The theoretical background consist of attribution theory and of Norem & Cantors (1986b) theory about cognitive strategies. The attributions the students made were examined through three dimensions: locus, stability and globality. The data was gathered in February and March 2017 with an electronic questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two different scales; one that measured cognitive strategies and one that measured attributions. Both of the scales had been used in previous research and they were translated into Finnish for this study. The study had altogether 75 participants, most of whom were women currently working on their bachelor thesis. The data of this quantitative study was analyzed using the SPSS 22 -statistical analysis software. The relations between the cognitive strategies and attributions were examined with correlations and the differences between the strategic optimism and defensive pessimism groups were examined with the Mann-Whitney U-test. The cognitive strategies correlated positively with the locus and globality dimensions in situations with a positive ending. The students who used the strategic optimism strategy made internal and global attributions in positive situations. The cognitive strategies correlate negatively with locus, stability and globality dimensions in situations with a negative ending. The students who used the strategic optimism strategy made external, unstable and specific attributions in negative situations. The differences between the strategic optimism and defensive pessimism groups were statistically significant in situations with a negative ending. The results help to understand why some students constantly expect failure, have low self-esteem and feel helplessness in their studies. Acknowledging the linkages between cognitive strategies and attributions can help students and teachers to steer the attributions to the desirable direction.