One of my students just emailed me to tell me she would not be in class tomorrow. Her father died last week and his funeral is tomorrow. Should I accept her excuse? Of course! My class should be the last of her concerns at a time like that.
This post is not about her and her excuse, it is about what makes people accept or not accept excuses. Social psychologists have studied the dynamics of excuses and have identified three dimensions involved in excuses.
Is the reason Internal or External?
Is the reason Temporary or Permanent?
Is the reason Controllable or Uncontrollable?
Reasons that are excusable are External, Temporary, and Uncontrollable.
Reasons that are unexcusable are Internal, Permanent, and Controllable.
Analyze the above student's reason for missing class. It is External (something happened in her life), Temporary (it is not repeated), and Uncontrollable (there is nothing she could have done about it).
Internal means the excuse is focused on the excuse-giver ("I overslept").
Permanent is the behavior is repeated ("I always forget to set my alarm").
Controllable means they could have done something about it.
Will I accept the "Sorry, I overslept" excuse?
No. Why? Internal, Permanent, Controllable. (Well, maybe I'll accept it once.)
How about, "Sorry I was late. I have History right before this across campus and the professor didn't let us out on time."
Yes. External, Temporary, Uncontrollable.
POP QUIZ: Did I let the following student take a makeup test? -- "I missed the test because I decided to take a personal day."
Shake your head "NO!"
January 31, 2010
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7 comments:
Well I agree & disagree with you on this one Dr.G, I think you should accept the death in the family. But I dont understand the sorry I overslept that person should have been more responsible. I believe this one is controllable!
Niki Pack
So would the excuse "I missed my 8 o'clock class because I have to have atleast 9 hours of sleep because Dr. G told me in General Psyc that I need it to develop correctly" not be a good excuse?? Just kidding, I get my sleep in that class anyway.
Sarah Raunikar
It's funny that I just read this post today. The HR Director at work asked the Ex. Dir. today what to do about a certain employee. She called into work saying that a family member had died and wanted to take bereavement leave. She then posted the following status on her facebook, " My husband is being so sweet to me today that I think I'm gonna call into work."
Social Psyc Muskogee
Well there is an old saying about excuses that I will not put on here but I think everyone from around here has heard it but it really comes into play for this blog. I really like using that saying to my husband because he tries to get out of everything and thinks that I will fall for all his excuses, lol. He just doesnt understand that I really like Psych class and have been using it very much to understand him a lot thanks to my teacher!!!
I like your class and I hate when i miss it. The reason why I miss your class is becuase of baseball. So, does that go under ETU? Oh, thanks for coming to the game today.
Javier Olazagastis
General Psyc
I like Javy's comment :)
I agree people try to get away with the wildest things. I prefer just to be honest. I feel people and instructors will respect you more. They may not like it, but at least they will appreciate the truth.
Very good excuse for not comming to class. She is going to have a hard time. I know, my dad died almost 2 years ago. Miss him every day.
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