Definition
Attributional style refers to how people tend to explain the causes of events that occur in their lives (Peterson 1991). The Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Peterson et al. 1982) is a 60-item survey that measures individual differences in attributional styles by asking respondents to identify and rate causes for 12 hypothetical situations. Although it is traditionally administered in paper format, it has been administered in electronic form as well (e.g., Proudfoot et al. 2003). A longer version of the ASQ with 24 hypothetical situations is also available (Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire; Peterson and Villanova 1988).
Introduction
The ASQ was developed with strong theoretical ties to the concept of learned helplessness and subsequent attribution theories. Modern attribution theories evolved from studies of learned helplessness in which dogs exposed to uncontrollable electric shocks later failed to escape even when escape was possible. The learned...
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Reiland, S.A. (2020). Attributional Styles Questionnaire. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_2
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