Mike Wheeler's Attributions

 

Attribution theory is a psychological theory that seeks to explain how people interpret events and their causes. Attribution theory has internal attributions and external attributions. Internal attributions attribute the cause to be from the person, while external attributions attribute the cause to some other external event, like another person. This theory also has parts of stability and controllability. In the Netflix series Stranger Things, attribution theory and its components can be observed and analyzed through the character Michael Wheeler. Today, we will be looking at examples of how Mike Wheeler made cognitive attributions that impacted his emotions and motivation. We will also be seeing how the pattern of his attributions impact his short and long term emotions and motivation.

Looking at the second season, we can find an example of how Mike Wheeler made a cognitive attribution that impacted his emotions and motivation. In season two, at the start of the season in episode one, Mike is depressed because Eleven has vanished. He also has guilt because he feels like her disappearance is also partly his fault, which he tells in a scene to Lucas his friend. Mike in this scenario makes an internal attribution, which is that he is to blame and is not good enough for not saving Eleven or finding her. In terms of stability, it was stable as Mike in this episode really thought of himself as not good enough from here on out and he will not be the same without her. In terms of controllability, Mike's depression stems from a feeling of no control in Eleven's disappearance. 

Another example can come from season two of the show episode nine, specifically with how Mike views Eleven and her powers. At the finale of the second season, Eleven finally returns after everyone thought she would never come back. She returns to finally close the gate that leads to the Upside Down and defeat waves of monsters from it. Eleven in this episode towards the end of the episode is finally able to close the gate which causes all the monsters that came from it to instantly perish. Mike hugs her and expresses his praise. In this situation, the locus or attribution is external as Mike is recognizing that it was Eleven's powers that were able to close the gate. He also views Eleven and her powers as stable, because he does not believe now or never will Eleven lose her powers to protect the group. In terms of controllability, Mike obviously feels like he cannot influence or control Eleven's powers specifically, like the strength of it. All he can do is instead tell Eleven if there is a threat or not.

Mike's patterns of his attributions impacted his short and long term emotions and motivation in several ways. In the first example with Eleven vanishing, Mike having the pattern of his negative attributions made him depressed long term and not as motivated in everyday life. This can be seen throughout multiple episodes in early season two. In the second example with Eleven's powers, Mike has the pattern of attributions where before in similar situations, he typically feels with his short term motivations less scared since Eleven is using her powers.