3.11. Attribution

Question 1

Attribution definition

Answer 1

The perceived reasons people give to explain their success or failure

Question 2

Why do coaches use attribution theory?

Answer 2

• identify reasons for success or failure
• help to improve future effort
• develop confidence or motivation
• maintain high performance

Question 3

Weiner’s model

Answer 3

Locus of causality
- internal
- external

Locus of stability
- stable
- unstable

Internal - stable : ability
Internal - unstable : effort

External - stable: difficulty
External - unstable : luck

Question 4

Linking Weiner’s model to motivation

Answer 4

If success is attributed to ability, the individual is motivated to achieve again
If success is attributed to luck, the individual is not motivated to achieve again

If failure is attributed to ability, the individual is not motivated to achieve again
If failure is attributed to luck, the individual is motivated to achieve again

Question 5

Impact in confidence and future performance

Answer 5

Success applied to ability - aids future expectations, increase confidence, motivation, creates positive cycle

Success applied to luck - hinders future expectations, leads to anxiety, withdrawal, avoidance

Failure applied to ability - hinders future performance, leads to learned helplessness, relates fear of failure

Failure applied to luck - aids future expectations of performance, encourages resilience

Question 6

Self-serving bias

Answer 6

Typically high achieving performers attribute success to ability, feeling they have to ability to achieve success repeatedly
When they lose they attribute failure to luck

Moving the blame away from themselves protects their confidence and helps them maintain motivation

Using an excuse for failure eliminates the feelings of shame and suggests performance can be changed

Question 7

How does self-serving bias help the performer

Answer 7

Protects self-esteem

Feels better if winning is attributed to their own efforts, while losing is outside their control

Attributing failure externally establishes winning expectations, taking away the responsibility of loss, maintaining pride, motivation and self-esteem

Question 8

Self-serving bias AO3

Answer 8

• limits sense of shame due to failure and highlights achievement & success
• external causes can’t fix internal problems

Question 9

Actor-observer bias

Answer 9

Refers to tendency to attribute one’s own failures to external causes while attributing other people’s failure to internal causes

Question 10

Learned helplessness

Answer 10

Result of a performer attributing failure to ability repeatedly

As ability is internal & stable, failure becomes predicted for the future

This feeling that failure is inevitable leads to the performer perceiving that they have no control over negative events

Causes a strong reaction to failure, leading to giving up and avoidance behaviours. Leads to low confidence and self-esteem

Question 11

Types of learned helplessness

Answer 11

Specific

General/global

Question 12

Specific learned helplessness

Answer 12

Feeling of learned helplessness is confined to one specific situation, skill or sport

Eg. Rugby player who has missed several conversion attempts may refuse to take them in future matches, believing they specifically lack ability for that one task

Eg. An athlete who believes they are ‘bad at squash’ but remains confident in other sports

Question 13

General/global learned helplessness

Answer 13

The feeling of learned helplessness extends to all sporting situations or broad groups of activities

Eg. A person who believes they are ‘bad at all sports’ or gives up exercising entirely due to negative experiences in the past

Question 14

Attributional retraining

Answer 14

Strategy used by coaches or teachers to change how a performer attributes their success or failure

Used to prevent or overcome learned helplessness by helping performers develop a more positive/controlled explanation for performance

Ultimately promoting self-serving bias to increase motivation, confidence and persistence

Focus is to shift from incorrect /negative attribution to correct/positive

Question 15

What can attributional retraining lead to

Answer 15

Increased resilience
Increased effort
Increased motivation
Increased confidence
Decreased anxiety
Decreased distress
Decreased doubt
Display approach behaviour over avoidance

Question 16

Strategies coaches can use for attributional retraining

Answer 16

• encourage athlete to take responsibility
• allow initial/easy success for internal attribution
• use positive feedback & reinforcement
• set achievable/realistic goals
• make activity enjoyable
• look to change tactics
• avoid citing a lack of ability as a reason for failure
• make reasons less personal

Question 17

How can attribution differ for individuals

Answer 17

Age
Gender: female - failure often internal and success external, males opposite
Sport types: individual - failure often internal, team opposite
Stage of learning: cognitive - failure due to ability, autonomous - effort
Personality