Law School Performance Predicted by Explanatory Style

Abstract

The explanatory styles of 387 law students were assessed prior to law school using the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Longitudinal performance measures were collected throughout law school and related to each student's initial explanatory style. In contrast to studies with undergraduates, students who made stable, global, and internal attributions for negative events combined with the converse attributions for success (typically called pessimists) outperformed more optimistic students on measures of grade point averages and law journal success. We discuss the limitations of current attributional re‐search methodologies and suggest the prudent and cautious perspective necessary for law or skill‐based professions may account for our findings. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Control and Efficacy as Interdisciplinary Bridges

“…But they are useful for predicting successful adaptation in broad domains of activity, where it is generally found that people with an optimistic explanatory style or an internal locus of control do better than others (Scheier & Carver, 1985;Seligman, 1991). There are, however, a number of exceptions to this rule, and there appear to be situations in which externality and pessimism are adaptive, such as, perhaps, law school (Satterfield, Monahan, & Seligman, 1997). Generalized control beliefs are particularly useful in new situations and contexts, where domain-specific self-knowledge may not be available.…”

Optimism and College Grades: Predicting GPA From Explanatory Style

“…Houston (1994) found that students who perform well make stable and, to some extent, global attributions. Satterfield et al (1997) demonstrated that law students with pessimistic explanatory style (consisting of stable, internal, and global attributions for negative events) had a higher GPA than law students with optimistic explanatory style. Further, Bridges (2001) indicated that SAT, but not attributional style, was significantly related to later performance on course-related objective exams in college.…”

“…These students tend to be passive when they encounter obstacles and eventually give up (Peterson & Barrett, 1987). Yet, it must be noted that the relationship between attributional style and GPA seems to be moderated by different variables such as students' ability level (Gibb, Zhu, Alloy, & Abramson, 2002;Houston, 1994), major (Satterfield, Monahan, & Seligman, 1997), and time of the semester (Yee, Pierce, Ptacek, & Modzelesky, 2003). IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL.…”

An exploration of defensive pessimism, explanatory style, and expectations in relation to the academic performance of college and university students.

“…In some studies a pessimistic explanatory has been associated with better academic performance than an optimistic explanatory style (e.g., Houston, 1994;LaForge & Cantrell, 2003;Satterfield et al, 1997).…”

“…The purpose was to understand when and why pessimistic explanatory style is associated with higher academic achievement. Satterfield, Monahan, and Seligman (1997) suggested some possible explanations for this when they found results in the anomalous direction. The possible use of the strategy of defensive pessimism by their population was one of these suggested explanations.…”