Attribution theory Flashcards
What is attribution?
The perceived cause of a particular outcome
What does attribution theory attempt to explain?
How individuals/teams evaluate their levels of success and failure and how these reasons may affect future achievement motivation in similar situations
What can attributions effect?
Immediate reactions
Actual behaviour
Future aspirations
Expectations, motivation, future participation
What are the 2 dimensions in Weiner’s model?
Locus of Causality - Internal/external factors
Locus of stability - Stable/unstable factor
What are the 4 types of attribution?
Internal stable
Internal unstable
External stable
External unstable
What is the example of Internal stable attribution?
Ability
What is the example of internal unstable attribution?
Effort
What is the example of external stable attribution?
Task difficulty
What is the example of external unstable attribution?
Luck
What is the problem with Weiner’s model?
Not sport specific - Roberts and Pascuzzi’s model relate it to sport
How does Roberts and Pascuzzi’s model of attribution relate it to sport?
Internal stable - Ability
Internal unstable - Effort, behaviour, practice
External stable - Coaching
External unstable - Luck, teamworks, officials
Positive example of ability
Won because good
Negative example of ability
Lost because bad
Positive example of effort
Won because worked hard
Lost because didn’t work hard
Positive of task difficulty
Lost because opposition were good
Negative of task difficulty
Won because opposition were bad
Positive of luck
Lost because unlucky
Negative of luck
Won because lucky
What is self serving bias/attribution bias?
Performers that attribute failure to external causes or attribute success to internal causes.
Is self serving bias positive or negative?
Positive
Maintains/improves confidence/motivation so success is expected
Which attributions are uncontrollable?
Ability
Difficulty
Luck
Which attribution are controllable?
Effort
Why is ability uncontrollable?
It’s fixed and unlikely to change
Why is difficulty uncontrollable (but kind of controllable)?
Can’t control opposition BUT
The more effort you put in, the easier the task
Why is Luck uncontrollable?
You can’t control the environment/referees decisions
Changes regularly
Why is effort controllable?
You can change how hard you work
What is mastery orientation?
When a high achiever has a strong desire to succeed and expects to succeed
Performance is optimised
What does a high achiever attribute failure/success to?
Failure - internal, unstable, controllable factors
Success - external, stable factors
What is learned helplessness?
Belief that failure is inevitable and a feeling of hopelessness when faced with a particular situation(specific learned helplessness) or groups of situations (global learned helplessness)
Is there any control over the cause of failure in learned helplessness?
No
Attribute failure to stable reasons which offer no hope for change in the future
What does a low achiever attribute failure/success to?
Failure - Internal, stable factors
Success - External, uncontrollable
What is attribution retraining?
Focusing the reasons for failure onto internal, unstable and controllable factors
What are the strategies for the promotion of mastery orientation?
Increase self confidence Goal setting Positive experiences Positive reinforcement Verbal persuasion/cognitive dissonance
How do you increase self confidence to promote mastery orientation?
Giving early success, positive reinforcement
What goal setting do you use to promote mastery orientation?
Achievable, realistic, challenging, success increases confidence, more effort
Performance and process goals
How does positive reinforcement promote mastery orientation?
Praise effort, increases confidence/motivation
How do you use verbal persuasion to reverse negative attitudes?
Persuader - role model
Message - relevant
Person - must want to change
Other persuaders - help change attitude
How is cognitive dissonance used to reverse negative attitudes?
Educate
Make it fun
Persuade them to do it
What are the positive outcomes of attributing failure to internal factors?
Motivate to try harder
Different training methods adopted
Could lead to trying to reach mastery orientation
High fitness levels worked for (unstable)
What are the positive outcomes of attributing failure to external factors?
Keeps up morale
Self-serving bias (protects self-esteem)
Keep team-cohesion
May lead to different tactics/footwear being adopted
Eliminates shame
Improve expectation of success in the future
What are the negative outcomes of attributing failure to internal factors?
Could experience learned helplessness
Decrease in motivation
Lack of belief in future
Deterioration of team cohesion
What are the negative outcomes of attributing failure to external factors?
Could shield other real reasons for failure
Could lead to lack of improvement
What are the positive outcomes of attributing success to internal factors?
Endorses mastery orientation
Elevates confidence/self-esteem
Develops pride
Increases expectation of success in the future
What are the negative outcomes of attributing success to external factors?
Takes away pride associated with success
Takes away the incentive value derived from mastery orientation`
