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There are other more specific feelings and emotions that may follow outcomes when these outcomes are unexpected, negative, or important. Weiner (1986) argues that the specific emotions that are experienced will depend upon particular kinds of causal attributions.

Weiner (1986) assumes that the causal attributions that the person makes have consequences depending upon how the causes are located within a dimensional space that involves the dimensions of locus (internal, external), stability (stable, unstable), and controllability (controllable, uncontrollable). He argues that this location will influence both expectation change and affective reactions.

For example, his approach would imply that attribution of the job loss to stable causes (e.g., lack of ability or a chronic economic recession) may determine reduced expectancies of finding a job in the future whereas attribution to unstable causes (e.g., bad luck or a change in the economy that is deemed to be temporary) may have only minor effects on a person's expectancies; an attributed cause of unemployment that is seen to be under the control of others (e.g., the economic mismanagement of government) may elicit anger; a causal attribution for unemployment that is seen by the person as self-related and uncontrollable (e.g., job loss because of lack of ability or some physical defect) may elicit shame and embarrassment; a cause that is seen by the person as involving as aspect of self that is controllable (e.g., job loss because of dishonest behavior or lack of effort) may elicit guilt; feelings of hopelessness may occur when expectations are very low; diminished self-esteem may occur when the job loss is attributed to internal causes. It is apparent that the affective consequences may be complex depending upon the dimensional location of the attributed causes.

Weiner's (1986) attributional approach can be seen as a variant of expectancy-value theory because he assumes that expectancy and affect together determine action.

For example, the model would predict that an unemployed person who had a low expectation of finding a job and who experienced negative affect such as depression would be less likely to look for a job than a person who was more hopeful and whose self-esteem was higher.

However, Weiner (1986) does not include the subjective values or valences of potential actions and outcomes as variable in his approach. His emphasis is on how individuals attribute causality for positive or negative outcomes, on how these causal attributions determine changes in expectancies, and on the relations between causal attributions and positive and negative emotions.

> Other motivational theories (like Expectancy-Value Theory) argue that motivation depends on both expectations of success and how much a person values the outcome.

> Weiner's attribution theory, however, is more about how people interpret past outcomes and how those interpretations shape future motivation and emotions.

Emotional reactions, however, may be related not only to a complex attributional base but also to a motivational base involving needs and values (Feather, 1992a). The linkages between needs, values, and affect have often been ignored by attributional theorists in their emphasis on causal explanations.

However, it is commonly recognized that the fulfilment or frustration of important needs and values may generate positive or negative affect respectively. Jahoda's (1982) discussion of the manifest and latent functions of employment and their relation to basic needs and psychological well-being involves this assumption. In the present context the assumption implies that the negative affect experienced by a person who fails to get a job will depend not only on how the person attributes causality for the event but also on the degree to which the person needs a job and values employment (Feather, 1990b; Feather & Davenport, 1981). An unemployed person may report feeling unhappy and dissatisfied with his or her lot even though it is reasonable to blame the unemployment on external conditions such as an economic recession. The negative affect relates to the failure to attain a positively valued goal, employment, and the frustration of underlying needs and values that make this goal attractive.