Abstract

The purpose of this article to examine Koreans' conception of achievement and attributional style and their behavioral correlates using the indigenous psychologies approach. This article reviews the following three areas: (1) indigenous Korean psychology, (2) Korean conception of success, failure, and future aspirations, and (3) developmental trend in attributional style. In the first section, theoretical rationale and research methodology of the indigenous Korean psychology will be outlined. Secondly, the results of empirical studies of achievement indicate that both students and adults attribute their success to self-regulation (e.g., effort, persistence, and diligence). For students, parental support, especially emotional support, were reported as being important factor contributing to their success. The results indicate that parents play to an important contributing role in their children success. Maintaining a harmonious family relationship and interpersonal relations were important future aspiration mentioned by students and especially by adulcs. For attributional style, both students and adults scored high on effort attribution. In Korea, effort was correlated to internal self-regulation factor, while ability was correlated to external uncontrollable factor (such as fare and luck). Individuals who had high achievement levels were more likely to score higher effort and were more likely to be influenced by their parent and teachers. Existing Western theories have difficulties explaining the pattern of results obtained in Korea and the indigenous Korean psychology can more accurately describe and explain the psychological and behavioral aspects of achievement and attributional style.