Psychological Motivation

Attribution theory places relatively more importance on the way people account for their successful behavior change. It predicts and research has confirmed that people are more likely to maintain a change in behavior if they attribute it to their own efforts rather than to an external factor or agent. The theory suggests, further, that relapse after hospitalization is less likely among people with chronic mental illnesses if they believe their improvement stems from their own efforts rather than from their medications or hospitalization.

Recent alcoholism treatment studies indicate that how people account for their behavioral change has important consequences for maintaining abstinence. The chances of sustaining a long-term change in drinking behavior are substantially improved when medications (aimed at initiating a change in drinking) are used in combination with relapse-prevention counseling (aimed at teaching people to credit their own efforts and maintain their changed behavior).

Attribution processes are also being tested in new studies of how patients maintain the long-term benefits of treatments for mental disorders. Treatment programs naturally differ in whether they appear to vest control in the patient (internal control) or in the care system and its technologies (external control), just as patients differ in their attributional styles. For example, many people view a medication program as entailing external control, while a self-administered behavioral procedure appears to involve more internal control. However, researchers are finding that the way these procedures are described (framed) to patients can alter these perceptions. A medication program, for example, can be framed to emphasize that patients should comply with the medical regimen (external control) or framed to suggest that they are competent and can effectively self-monitor their use of medication (internal control). In theory, if treatments are framed to match patients' own attributional styles, more patients would be motivated to continue with desirable treatments and benefit from their effects. Preliminary research suggests that these framing effects do in fact increase people's adherence to their treatment regime.