Achievement motivation in low-income, urban students: An application of Weiner's theory of attribution and emotion (Bernard Weiner)

This dissertation focuses on the variable of academic motivation as a primary mediating factor in the educational achievement of low-income, urban students. This project supports the hypothesis that negative influences inherent in low-income, urban environments are responsible for a unique set of emotional and cognitive characteristics that disrupt the development of academic motivation in low-income, urban students. Bernard Weiner's Attributional Theory of Achievement Motivation and Emotion is reviewed to support the variability of academic motivation in low-income, urban students. This project expands upon Weiner's emphasis on emotion in the attributional process and presents a new perspective on how low-income, urban students bring a unique emotional predisposition to this attributional framework. A detailed application of those characteristics is related to the cognitive framework of Weiner's theory and general conclusions are established. Further, this application provides the basis for recommendations within a proposed extended-day, after school program that contains interventions that are based on the theoretical framework of Weiner's theory and that incorporate both clinical and educational components.