Which of the following is an example of an internal attribution for failure ?

Attribution theory (Weiner) explains how people interpret the causes of their own success or failure along the dimension of locus of causality: an INTERNAL attribution locates the cause within the person themselves (for example, their own effort or ability), while an EXTERNAL attribution locates the cause outside the person (for example, task difficulty, luck, or the actions of other people).

Applying this to the four statements: the statement “I failed the test because I didn’t study enough” cites the student’s own level of preparation — a factor within the student’s own control. This is therefore the INTERNAL attribution among the four options.

The remaining three statements all locate the cause outside the student:

• “I received a low grade because the teacher is a tough grader” — cites the teacher's grading standard, a cause outside the student, so this is an EXTERNAL attribution.

• “I didn’t get good marks because the teacher was biased” — cites the teacher's bias, again a cause outside the student, so this is an EXTERNAL attribution.

• “I failed the test because my friends were distracting me” — cites other people's behaviour (friends distracting), a situational cause outside the student's own effort, so this is also an EXTERNAL attribution.

Hence, only “I failed the test because I didn’t study enough” represents an internal attribution for failure; the other three attribute the outcome to the teacher or to peers.