2.2- Sports Psychology- Attribution theory Flashcards
Attribution
the reasons, justifications and excuses we give for winning losing or drawing
What can attribution be linked to?
Motivation
External attribution usage
Coaches should attribute failure to an external cause in order to take the responsibility of loss away from the players. This maintains self esteem and sustains motivation to restore pride and confidence
Internal attribution usage
Internal attribution should be used to reinforce success as they elevate confidence and create future expectations
What correctly and incorrectly used attributions do?
Correct- they can increase motivation which will affect effort, participation and future performances
Incorrect- decreases motivation
Weiner’s attribution model
2 dimensions- locus of causality and stability
L of C: Internal and external factors
Stability: Stable and unstable factors
Ability- internal & stable
Task difficulty- external & stable
Effort- internal & unstable
Luck- external & unstable
what does locus of causality affect?
Feelings of pride, confidence, shame and motivation
What does stability affect?
expectations of future outcomes
Ability
Extent of the performer’s ability to cope with the task
Task difficulty
Extent of problems posed by task
Effort
Amount of mental and physical endeavour the performer gives to a task
Luck
Factors attributable to chance such as weather or state of the pitch
What happens if the reasons given for losing are unstable?
More likely to try again as there is a good chance that there will be a change in outcome
Which 3rd dimension was added to the attribution model to make it more specific to sport?
Controllability
Self serving bias
Successful performers take credit for their success. Attribute success to their own quality and enhance feelings of pride and self worth
Need to achieve
Increased motivation to succeed
Don’t care about failure
Extroverts
Success is attributed to stable and internal
Need to avoid failure
Decreased motivation to succeed
Feel shame if they fail
Introverts
Success is attributed to unstable and external- luck
High achiever
Adopts task orientated goals
Seems challenging tasks
Perform well in front of evaluative audiences
Low achiever
Adopts outcome oriented goals
Avoids challenge
Perform badly in front of audiences
learned helplessness
A belief acquired over time that one has no control over events and that failure is inevitable
global learned helplessness
Applied to all sports and generalised
Specific learned helplessness
Applied to one specific sport
Attribution retraining
Changing what someone attributed their success and failures to
mastery orientation
The view an individual will be motivated by becoming an expert
Attribute failure to internal controllable factors
Don’t compare performance to others
Sports confidence
