Sport Psych- Attribution

Question 1

What are attributions?

Answer 1

Attributions are the perceived causes of a particular outcome
The reasons, justifications and excuses given for a performance

Question 2

What is attribution strongly linked to?

Answer 2

Strongly linked to motivation, to some extent, the response that results will be dependent on the individual concerned

Question 3

what will attributions influence?

Answer 3

Will influence subsequent performances and even an individual’s desire to continue to take part in an activity.

Question 4

Why are attributions important?

With example

Answer 4

Because of the way they affect motivation, which in turn affects future performances, future effort and even whether the individual continues to participate in the sport

-A young person who is told that they failed because they do not have enough ability to succeed is unlikely to try again

Question 5

The process of attribution model

Answer 5

outcome of event-> available info-> casual attribution-> 1.1 Expectancy of future results-> 1.2 Affective response (pride, shame) -> Decision of subsequent participation (motivated behaviour or action)

Question 6

What did Weiner identify?

Answer 6

Weiner (1979) identified 4 main reasons given for examination results : ability, effort, task difficulty and luck.

He then constructed a two dimensional model, which he called the locus of causality and stability

Question 7

What does the locus of causality refer to?

Answer 7

Refers to whether attributions come from within the person (internal) or from the environment (external) and affects a person’s feelings of pride, confidence and shame.

Question 8

What does stability refer to?

Answer 8

Refers to whether the attribution is changeable or unchangeable and affects a person’s expectations of future outcomes

Question 9

What is ability within Weiner’s model?

Answer 9

internal/ stable

Question 10

what is task difficulty in Weiner’s model?

Answer 10

external/ stable

Question 11

what is effort in Weiner’s model?

Answer 11

effort/ unstable

Question 12

what is luck in Weiner’s model?

Answer 12

external/ stable

Question 13

what are some issues with Weiner’s model of attribution?

Answer 13

-not sport specific, causes problems when applying it to sporting situations
-e.g task difficulty changes frequently, especially in team games, as the opposition changes

Question 14

what can Weiner’s model demonstrate?

Answer 14

• can be applied to a sort in a general sense
  -can be used to promote reasons for sports outcomes that can be motivating rather than demotivating

Question 15

what is likely to happen if the reasons for winning are stable?

Answer 15

The individual is motivated the achieve again

Question 16

what will happen if failure is attributed to an unstable factor?

Answer 16

The individual is more likely to try again as there is a good chance the outcome will change

Question 17

what do sports people who lose tend to attribute their failure to?

Answer 17

External causes

Question 18

what do sports performers who succeed attribute their success to?

Answer 18

Internal causes

Question 19

what is self- serving bias?

Answer 19

A person’s tendency to attribute their failure to external reasons

Question 20

what did Wiener later add as a third dimension in later versions of his model?

Answer 20

Controllability as a third dimension

Question 21

what is controllability in Weiner’s model said to reflect?

Answer 21

-Reflect whether the cause of an outcome can be influenced or not
-Whether the outcome is controllable or uncontrollable-> shows how controllability is affected by each type of attribution

Question 22

What is not worth focusing on if you want to turn failure into success?

Answer 22

uncontrollable, external, stable factors

Question 23

Define controllability

Answer 23

whether attributions are under the control of the performer or under the control of others, or whether they are uncontrollable (nothing can be done by anyone e.g luck)

Question 24

what are the controllable attributions?

Answer 24

effort

Question 25

what are the uncontrollable attributions?

Answer 25

difficulty, luck, ability

Question 26

what is learned helplessness?

Answer 26

Refers to the belief that failure is inevitable and a feeling of hopelessness when faced with a particular situation (specific learned helplessness) or group of situations ( global learned helplessness)

Question 27

Example of specific learned helplessness

Answer 27

‘I am a hopeless football player’

Question 28

Example of global learned helplessness

Answer 28

I am hopeless at all sport

Question 29

What do low achievers often attribute their failure to?

Answer 29

Uncontrollable factors, which can lead to learned helplessness

Question 30

What do high achievers orientated towards mastery see failure as?

Answer 30

See failure as a learning experience, and who will attribute failure to controllable unstable factors
- The ‘need to achieve perfomers’ are not afraid of failing and will persist with a task until they succeed.

Question 31

What is mastery orientation?

Answer 31

The view that an individual will be motivated by becoming an expert in skill development or sports performance

Question 32

what will an athlete who is mastery orientated often attributes failure to?

Answer 32

Internal, controllable, unstable factors, such as effort, and will continue to strive to become better at the activity

Question 33

Characteristics of someone is mastery orientated

Answer 33

• Seek to develop their competence by acquiring new skills and mastering new situations
  -Not concerned about their performance relative to others, but rather with furthering their understanding of their sport, fitness and sport performance

Question 34

Mastery orientation vs learned helplessness

Answer 34

-Mastery orientation is at the other rend of the scale compared to learned helplessness, which is the belief that failure in inevitable and that the individual has no control over the factors that cause failure.

Question 35

What is attribution retraining?

Answer 35

-can optimise performance; seeking to change learned helplessness into mastery orientation
-when a performer fails, we should encourage them to attribute their failure to controllable, unstable factors
|> in this respect, empower them to make a change to improve next time they perform

Question 36

Many attributions that are given are subjective, not desirable for future progression- give an example of this

Answer 36

-Netball player was in a team that med umpires a lot, although helped draw the team together, team had a bad rep with most officials
-They were not attributing their poor results to changeable or realistic factors

Question 37

Exam Q
In relation to Weiner’s model of attribution explain the term ‘locus of control’

Answer 37

1. considers the extent to which an outcome is under control or controllable and uncontrollable
   2.Controllable attributions-> can be under control of the performer or can be under control from others e.g coach or something can be done to change the outcome
2. Uncontrollable attributions- under no ones control or nothing can be done to change the outcome
   4.Directly affects a performer’s motivation
3. A third dimension was added to Wiener’s model

Question 38

Exam Q
Define ‘learned helplessness’

Answer 38

-belief that failure is inevitable
-a belief that they will never succeed
-why bother attitude
-feeling of hopelessness
-showing avoidance behaviour

Question 39

Exam Q
Define mastery orientation

Answer 39

-feeling of being in control of the outcome
-an individual who is motivated by learning
-individual who is motivated to be man expert
-motivated to be the best they can be
-belief failure is a learning experience
-showing approach behaviour