Causal attribution of academic success-failure: A cross-cultural study involving Argentina and Brazil

The research project of Causal Attribution of Academic Success-Failure in Latin America is oriented towards the study of interpersonal explanation about academic performance and the collective opinion regarding school performance in endo and exogroups. The theoretical background is based upon Weiner and Mc Clelland’s formulations. Groups of Argentinean and Brazilian secondary students classified as “successful” and “not successful” by their mathematics and social science grades teachers, were analysed. Multidimensional analyses of numerical and symbolic data revealed several different relationships between active (nationality, sex, schools, etc.) and illustrative (dimensional meaning of attributional causes and motivational orientation) variables. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed in terms of socio-educational values in the Argentinean and Brazilian cultures.