Attribution Theory

Question 1

What is attribution?

Answer 1

• A perception of the reason for an outcome of an event/performance
• If done correctly it maintains motivation and task persistence
• Classified by Weiner in 1974 and these reasons fall into two sub sections: Locus of Causality and the Stability Dimension

Question 2

What is the Locus of Causality?

Answer 2

• It’s in the control of the performer (internal) or out of their control (external)
• Internal attribute - within the performers control: effort
• External attribute - outside the performers control: the referee

Question 3

What is the Stability Dimension?

Answer 3

• It is a permenant or changeable reason
• Unstable attribute - can change in a small amount of time: luck
• Stable attribute - unlikely to change in a short amount of time: quality of a team

Question 4

What are the factors affecting attribution?

Answer 4

• Refs decision
• Ability
• Luck
• Coaching you’ve received
• Playing a good team
• Effort applied
• Amount of practice that occured

Question 5

What is the self serving bias?

Answer 5

• Using external and/or unstable reasons for losing
• When you win it’s because of you and when you lose it’s because of an external reason
• Blame the ref or weather as they are external and unstable
• Praise effort and reward ability
• To maintain motivation dont attribute the loss to internal and stable attributes
• It promotes self esteem as players feel responsible for the positive result

Question 6

Attribution, example, if used…

Answer 6

Internal, Stable: Ability - reduces confidence and motivation, learned helplessness
Internal, Unstable: Effort - maintains confidence and motivation
External, Stable: Task difficulty - maintains confidence and motivation as we cant control it
External, Unstable: Luck - maintains confidence and motivation, self serving bias
- To improve these we want everything to be attributed to external and unstable attributes via attribution retraining

Question 7

What is learned helplessness?

Answer 7

• Using internal/stable reasons for losing, when doubt in ability affects the player and confidence is lowered
• The performer perceives failure as inevitable = drop in task persistance
• Lack of effort and motivation
• Exhibit avoidance behaviour
• 2 types: Global/General learned helplessness -general sporting situations, e.g., not good at racket sports. Specific/Situational learned helplessness - specific sporting situations, e.g., not good at serving to win the match
• Can be stopped by attributing success to internal and stable factors and by negative feedback and criticism

Question 8

What are some strategies to avoid learned helplessness?

Answer 8

• Develop self efficacy
• Attribution retraining - attributing reason for failure to effective things
• Avoid social comparisons
• Blame external causes - coaches, equipment, tactics
• Goal setting - set performance/process/task oriented rather than outcome goals
• Mental rehearsal/visualisation/imagery
• Positive feedback/reinforcement

Question 9

What is attribution retraining?

Answer 9

• Focus on positive attribution rather than negative
• Shift focus from internal to external factors
• Change the reasons for success and failure
• Promotes self esteem
• Increases confidence by removing learned helplessness
• Set realistic/achievable task oriented goals
• Raise self efficacy using Banduras model
• Highlight previous successful performances
• Give positive reinforcement and encouragement