Week 8: Cognitive Attributions 

                   We were supposed to be their shepherds. 

                                                Cass being under the power of Heaven

When morphing from the Champion of Heaven to the Guardian Angel of Team Fee Will, Cass changes his attribution from external to internal. In fact, this change is what determines his fall from heaven. While as part of the garrison, he would assign the reason for things that happened (attribution) externally because he assumed that God, not him, controlled the causes of creation. He therefore had an attribution paradigm that caused him to believe that all was uncontrollable because the will of God is absolute. Finally, he was convinced that all controllability has high stability because causes are decrees from God. He saw himself as trapped and doomed. On other hand, after falling, he developed an internal locus of control with high controllability of events and quite low expected stability of scenarios. This is because he now attributed causes to his own free will, causing him to understand that stability is low (as it all depends on his effort and capability). Therefore, these psychological paradigms had divergent implications in Cass’s motivations, emotions, and behaviors.

 

When in bondage by the plans of the Archangels, Cass had very little agency. All causes are the will of God and are external to a created being such as himself. Moreover, he had low controllability, the capability of controlling the outcome of events. He was charged with being a vessel for the workings of heaven and could not decide what his life, and that of humans, would be; he is continuously compelled by Naomi (one of the leaders of Heaven) to stand against Dean, to his great distress. Finally, Cass has high stability for his attribution of causability; he interprets the cause of events to the immutable will of God. In this case, stability is absolute because it is the ability of God that drives destiny, not mutable luck, or effort.

 

Interestingly, Cass experiences a major vicissitude after he falls. Now, his locus of control is internal. As a paragon of Free Will, he believes that he is in charge of his own destiny. Moreover, he now develops high controllability because he believes that the outcome of events are solely due to his effort. Finally, he develops low stability as he realizes that life, not God, has a way of surprising him because of the interactions of the Free Will of others.

 

These ideas give precious insight into Cass’s personality. When individuals credit their success to ability (internal locus of control, highly stable, uncontrollable), they feel pride. Cass is extremely humble about all he has accomplished. At one point, he takes on the role of the king of heaven, after defeating the Archangel Rafael; yet, he never becomes boastful, he simply focuses on the next challenge. For the same reason, he is extremely shameful of his failure to protect the souls in purgatory (he instead uses them to power himself to the level of a god). On the same stroke, however, because his paradigm of attribution (effort) is internal, controllable, and unstable (after the fall), he develops extreme motivation. Ironically, the cause of his shame. He is motivated enough to betray his most sacred duty as an angel, guarding souls, and instead uses them for his own benefit (winning the heavenly war).

 

Castiel is a perfect example of the perils and joys of freedom.

                                          Cass being controlled by Heaven but breaking free.