The impact of “Bad Luck”, an analysis using Attribution Theory
When you slip on a banana peel, do you get mad at it? Do you have a grudge towards it? Well probably not, you’d say your luck wasn’t the best, and you move on, maybe with an injured leg; but more or less fine. What about a difficult examination? Do you say the teacher who set the paper made it tough on everyone, or do you say you didn’t study enough? Recently, while looking at my grades, I began wondering the numerous times I attributed my results to luck, or misfortune. This led me to dig a little deeper on similar cases which eventually made me decide to write this paper.
However, it led me to discover the range of psychological and societal impacts that something as small as “bad luck” can cause. So let’s dive right into these impacts.
First off, what do we call “bad luck”?
At its simplest, bad luck is often used as a way to explain negative, unexpected outcomes that feel out of our control. It doesn’t really exist, being a vague, catch-all explanation—“the universe didn’t want this to go well.” But why do humans think this way?
Did the brain go through years of evolution, just to make a random explanation for chance?
Enter Attribution Theory
First introduced by Fritz Heider in 1958 and developed further by Bernard Weiner, Attribution Theory is a theory in which what we attribute the outcomes of events to, shapes what we do in response. It focuses on three key elements: Locus, Stability and Controllability.
The Locus
The Locus refers to whether the cause of the issue is within control or not.
Attributing the root of the cause to the individual (eg. values, actions).
Attributing the root of the cause to circumstances outside one’s control.
Let’s use that exam example. If a man says “I failed because I’m dumb,” They are attributing the cause to something internal, blaming themselves.
Stability
Stability, the next factor, refers to whether the cause of an event is consistent over time or if it’s something that could change.
The cause is permanent or lasting (eg. genetics, socio-economic background).
The cause is temporary or changing (eg. Behaviour, financial status).
A man struggling financially could say that their lack of money could be from our Socio-Economic Background, an example of stability, something we can’t change.
Controllability
Controllability, the final factor, is as its name suggests, what the individual can control.
The cause can be controlled by the individual (eg. hard work, laziness)
The cause is out of our control (eg. weather, other people)
Imagine a denied pay raise, Person A may be a top performer in his company, but the final decision rests upon their Boss. Meaning Person A not getting a pay raise could be attributed to his boss
Back to bad luck: The Good
Bad luck is External, Stable and Uncontrollable, or in simpler terms, we can’t do anything about it. Now why is this good? By acknowledging that “Bad luck” caused X, our brain relinquishes accountability and responsibility about the event. Attributing outcomes to bad luck can protect us from guilt and despair. It lets us move on without blaming ourselves harshly. In games like poker, players often say, “I played well, it was just bad luck.” This isn't denial however, it's a separate coping mechanism. Historically, this makes sense. In uncertain times, when weather, disease, or dangerous hunts decided your survival, blaming bad luck helps people recover emotionally and keep trying. Psychologically, it promotes resilience and persistence.
Back to bad luck: The Bad
Blaming bad luck allows the brain to avoid responsibility, but this isn’t good, in fact it places us in a fixed mindset where we’re content with issues that could affect millions. For example, if lawmakers think people are just unlucky or lazy, they may cut support systems rather than invest in social safety nets. This is where Attribution Theory scales up, on a societal level, bad luck attributions can blind us to real and solvable issues
Why our perspective on issues matters
Let’s revisit that Promotion example. In a world where Person A believes their boss dislikes them, they may grow resentful.However if they believe the company itself is struggling, they may develop considerate habits, showing things like empathy or maintaining professionalism, earning that promotion.
Our perspective shapes what we react to.
The Impacts
So, is blaming bad luck good or bad? Like most psychological mechanisms, the answer isn’t black and white, what does this look like? Well imagine, what happens when an entire society starts treating serious problems as “bad luck”.
While attributing failure to luck can help people to recover mentally, however, like with all things, an over-reliance on it curbs our growth. On top of that, it shifts accountability away from the real causes, like inequality, opportunity and systemic flaws.
If the public blames poverty on bad luck or personal failure, it shifts responsibility away from systems—like underfunded education, wage gaps, or discrimination, and throws it onto the people who need the most help, homeless people being dismissed as failures when many of us are one retrenchment away from losing our house in countries like America. This leads to blame culture, lack of empathy, and resistance to social change.
This also hides privilege. A wealthy person may believe their success is purely due to hard work, ignoring the external, stable advantages they had, such as better schooling, connections, and even inheritance. Meanwhile, someone born into hardship may be told to “just try harder”, with their struggles dismissed as misfortune.
Final Thoughts
Attribution Theory shows us that the way we explain setbacks changes what we do next, so the next time you encounter something like a setback, instead of defaulting to bad luck; ask yourself: “Was there something I could have done?”
Because once we stop looking for reasons, we stop looking for solutions. So the next time you want to blame your boss for not liking you, or your assignment being too hard, pause.
And ask yourself if there is anything you could’ve done. Maybe it was just a banana peel on the floor, and maybe, just maybe, the banana peel was one you left yourself.
Either way, when you stop blaming the stars, and start checking the ground beneath your feet, who knows, maybe it wasn’t fate after all, just a small pebble poking at your foot, waiting to be noticed.