Attribution theory

Question 1

Attrubution:

Answer 1

• the reasons given for winning or losing
• Reasons can be given by leaders (e.g. managers, coaches, players)
• The reasons are vital to maintain motivation and effort
• Attribution is vital for task persistence
• Evaluating performance can give confidence and raise the players future expectations

Question 2

Locus of causality:

Answer 2

• amount of control the player has over the result
• can be within their control = internal
• out of the performers control = external

Question 3

Example of internal causality:

Answer 3

• Goal keeper had control over saving the shot

Question 4

Example of external causality:

Answer 4

• Referee’s decision goes against the team

Question 5

Stability:

Answer 5

• Reasons for winning are changeable, unstable or permanent
• Stable attribute could change long-term but is unlikely to change short-term
• If you didn’t out in enough effort in one match, this can change in the next match (unstable)
• If the opposition are good, they are likely to be good next time (stable)

Question 6

Self-serving bias:

Answer 6

• Used to help task persistence
• Promotes self-esteem by attributing losses to external/ unstable reasons
• Putting blame on bad luck rather than players ability increases motivation
• Coaches should ensure that loses can be changed with internal, changeable factors such as effort
• Coaches should not attribute failure to factors that are internal and stable which will lead to a loss of motivation and confidence
• Leads to learned helplessness

Question 7

Learned helplessness:

Answer 7

• when players doubt their own ability to complete a task successfully
• Believe that their failure is inevitable
• self-doubt lowers confidence
• Occurs when players blame failure on internal and stable reasons
• Players think that failure is inevitable
• Can be developed by negative experience

Question 8

Attribution retraining:

Answer 8

• Can help overcome learned helplessness
• Helps change the reason for failure using different strategies
• Internal stable factors for failure such as ability should be changed to external, unstable factors such as luck

Question 9

Strategies to do attribution retraining:

Answer 9

• praise and reinforcement - helps motivation
• Set tasks within performers ability - increases success which improves confidence
• Highly personal achievements
• Link failures to external factors
• Cognitive and somatic stress management techniques

Question 10

Mastery orientation:

Answer 10

• opposite of learned helplessness
• when a player has high confidence, they believe in their ability
• This means an athlete thinks that their success can be repeated
• Failure is temporary
• Approach behaviour - continue to try even if they experience failure