An Attributional Investigation of Performance Outcomes for Learning-Disabled and Normal-Achieving Pupils

Learning-disabled (LD) and normal-achieving (NA) pupils' attributions, expectancies, affect, and persistence were assessed. Ability attributions for failure differed for LD and NA pupils. In addition, effort was judged as more important in determining success than failure for both LD and NA pupils. Furthermore, it was found that LD pupils were less persistent and were perceived by teachers to be more learned helpless than NA pupils. Findings are discussed in light of attributional and learned-helplessness literature.