ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ BİLİŞSEL ÇARPITMA, GENEL ÖZYETERLİK İNANÇLARI VE BAŞARI/BAŞARISIZLIK YÜKLEMELERİNİN İNCELENMESİ

STUDY OF COGNITIVE DISTORTION, GENERAL SELFEFFICACY BELIEFS AND SUCCESS/FAILURE ATTRIBUTIONS OF TEACHER CANDIDATES

Özet

Bu araştırma, öğretmen adaylarının bilişsel çarpıtma düzeyleri, özyeterlik inançları ve başarı ve başarısızlıklarına ilişkin yüklemeleri arasındaki ilişkileri tespit etmek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak Bilişsel Çarpıtma Ölçeği (Briere, 2000), Genel Özyeterlik Ölçeği (Magaletta ve Oliver, 1999) ve Başarı/Başarısızlık Yüklemeleri Ölçeği (Sucuoğlu, 2003) kullanılmıştır. Çalışma, farklı anabilim dallarında öğrenim gören 384 öğretmen adayı üzerinde yürütülmüştür. Elde edilen veriler bağımsız gruplar t-testi ve pearson korelasyon yöntemleriyle analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma bulgularına göre; öğretmen adaylarının bilişsel çarpıtma düzeyleri cinsiyete göre anlamlı bir farklılık göstermezken, genel özyeterlik ölçeğinin "sürdürme çabası - ısrar" alt boyutunda bayan öğretmen adaylarının lehine anlamlı bir fark olduğu görülmüş ancak ölçek toplam puanlarında anlamlı bir fark bulunmamıştır. Söz konusu alt ölçekten elde edilen sonuç, bayan öğretmen adaylarının giriştikleri bir faaliyetin üstesinden gelmek için daha kararlı davrandıklarını göstermektedir. Öğretmen adaylarının başarı ve başarısızlıklarına ilişkin yüklemeler içsellik-dışsallık boyutunda değerlendirildiğinde, başarılar konusunda cinsiyetler arasında önemli bir farklılık görülmezken, başarısızlıklar konusunda bayan öğretmen adaylarının içsel yüklemeleri daha fazla yaptıkları görülmüştür. İçsel nedenlere yükleme yapanların kontrol odağı bakımından da iç kontrol merkezine sahip oldukları ifade edilir. Bu bulgu, bayan öğretmen adaylarının kendi davranış ve faaliyetlerinin yaşamlarındaki birçok olay üzerinde yorumlanmıştır. Bunun yanı sıra elde edilen bir diğer önemli sonuç da başarısızlıkların dışsal sebeplere (aileye) yüklenmesiyle genel özyeterlik inancı arasındaki negatif ilişki olmuştur. Bu da genel özyeterlik inançları düşük olan öğretmen adaylarının, başarısızlıklarına ilişkin değerlendirmelerinde daha çok kendileri dışında sebep gösterdikleri şeklinde yorumlanmıştır

Abstract

This study was conducted in order to detect correlations between cognitive distortion levels, self-efficacy beliefs, success and failure attributions of candidate teachers. The study employed Cognitive Distortion Scale (Briere, 2000), General Self-efficacy Scale (Magaletta and Oliver, 1999) and Success/Failure Attributions Scale (Sucuoğlu, 2003) for data collection. The study was conducted on 384 teacher candidates from various departments. Data was analyzed through independent group t-test and Pearson correlation methods. According to the study findings, cognitive distortion levels of candidate teachers did not differ significantly in terms of gender while a significant difference was detected under the “perseverance -insistence” sub-dimension of general self-efficacy scale in favor of female candidates though no significant difference was found in total scale scores. Result of this subscale demonstrates that female teacher candidates are decisive in overcoming an activity they embark on. When success and failure attributions of candidate teachers were assessed in terms of internality-externality, no significant difference was found between genders in terms of success while female candidate teachers were found to employ more internal attributions in case of failure. Those who attribute to internal causes are said to have an inner control focus. This finding was interpreted as female teacher candidates believing more strongly that their behavior and actions would be influential on many aspects of their lives. Another important conclusion was the negative correlation between attributing failure on external causes (family) and general self-efficacy beliefs. This was interpreted as candidate teachers with poor self-efficacy beliefs resorting more to external causes while evaluating their failure. Introduction and Study Goal: The goal of this study is to examine cognitive distortion levels, self-efficacy beliefs, success and failure attributions of candidate teachers through a relational model. Selfefficacy belief of an individual is closely related to cognitive distortions. Features such as positive or negative self-perception, self-accusation and despair play important roles in establishment of the individual’s self-efficacy belief. On the other hand, success or failure attributions will be influenced by both cognitive distortions and self-efficacy belief. Finding out what people attribute their success and failure to and detecting any mistakes in those attributions might be important in guiding people to favorable behaviors. Ideally, high cognitive distortions and poor self-efficacy belief are expected to determine attribution of success and failure to internal or external causes. One of the goals of this study is to test this hypothesis. Through these goals, writer sought answers to the main problem and sub-problems below: Problem phrase: Are cognitive distortions and general self-efficacy beliefs and success/failure attributions related? Based on this problem, writers sought answers to the problems below: 1. Do cognitive distortion levels of candidate teachers differ significantly in terms of gender? 2. Do general self-efficacy beliefs of candidate teachers differ significantly in terms of gender? 3. Do success/failure attributions of candidate teachers differ significantly in terms of gender? 4. Is there a significant relationship between cognitive distortion levels and general self-efficacy beliefs of candidate teachers? 5. Is there a significant relationship between cognitive distortion levels and success/failure attributions of candidate teachers? 6. Is there a significant relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and success/failure attributions of candidate teachers? Theoretical Framework: Cognitive distortion levels, self-efficacy beliefs, success/failure attributions of candidate teachers were examined in this study. Basic theory of cognitive therapy is that one must focus on cognitive content of a response to an upsetting event or idea in order to understand the causes of an emotional event or Ndisturbance. Beck rejected the idea that depression stemmed from introverted anger, suggesting that real causes of depression were cognitive distortions of people in evaluating events and schemes that they developed in early stages of life. Schemes are inactive in the absence of stress and are activated only when triggered by a specific stressor or a particular environment. Activation of the schemes causes negative evaluation of self-knowledge and formation of cognitive mistakes. According to Beck (1979), depression is closely related to negative distortions in information processing stages of people and there is a strong negative association between depression and reality; cognitive distortions increase the probability of forming a depressionlike “negative cognitive trio” (negative evaluation of one’s self, world (environment) and future). Therefore, cognitive therapy aims to reveal that those distorted ideas and interpretations are not realistic and change those cognitive processes that cause dysfunction. Another variable dealt with in this study are success and failure attributions. Attribution theories were led by theorists such as Kelley and Heider who believed that people were beings who resembled scientists in the way that they tried to understand causes of actions and events and control their environment and the most popular attribution theory today is the one developed by Weiner. According to attribution theorists, individuals systematically evaluate the causes of behaviors in order to make generalizations on how various outcomes are achieved. According to Weiner (1984), desire to understand and elicit meanings from experiences is a power that motivates people. Scientists interested in this topic reviewed explanations of people on the causes of good and bad results in cases of success and failure. In general terms, attribution is the inference that an observer makes about the i