ATTRIBUTION THEORY The importance of giving appropriate reasons for success or failure in Sport

Why did you win/loose recent games? What reasons did you give? What did your coach say it occured? If we can feel good about reasons for success OR if we can blame

something else for losing we should continue to try in the future.

Attributions are important: Because they affect motivation, which in turn affects future

performances, future effort and whether the individual will continue to participate

 Young person told they failed because they do not have enough

ability to suceed = unlikely to try again

If they are told they need to try harder = more likely to continue

Attribution Training
Attribution theory is important in sport because it affects future effort If we think that reasons for success are stable and we are

accountable for them, we will have the confidence and continue to improve.
If you believe that reasons for failure are changeable, you can

change the future results and influence the performance

ATTRIBUTION THE THEORY

ATTRIBUTION (REASONS) THEORY

Attribution theory is concerned with the reasons (attributions) performers give to their success or failure Weiner suggested that high achievers and low achievers attribute success and failure to different reasons To become a high achiever the performer must think like a high achiever they must make attributions like a high achiever Weiners 4 Attributions:
Ability Effort Luck Task Difficulty

 The 4 attributions can be placed along 2 dimensions Locus of Causality Stability

Locus of Causality: Whether the performance outcome could be caused by factors under the control of the performer (internal factors of effort and ability)

OR
Caused by factors beyond the control of the performer (external factors of task difficulty and luck)

Copy diagram p.174

The Locus of Stability

Stability:
Whether the performance outcome is fixed and unchanging OR can

vary over time.

Ability and Task difficulty are STABLE and FIXED during the period

of performance.
Effort and luck may change (UNSTABLE) from performance to

performance OR within a performance

High Achievers:

attribute success to INTERNAL factors failure to EXTERNAL factors attribute success to EXTERNAL factors failure to STABLE factors

Low Achievers:

SELF SERVING BIAS

The tendency of performers to attribute success to themselves Therefore these will be INTERNAL reasons ALSO: Reasons for failure might be attributed to external/changeable reasons

EG: It was the referees fault we lost

This demonstrates a tendency to protect ones self esteem

Learned Helplessness
Redefine success where ability is the reason for failure
Acknowledge the need to change attributions (attribution retraining) to

those appropriate to high achievers

If the performer is a low achiever, learn how to attribute success and

failure to the same reasons given by high achievers

Be aware that low achievers often suffer from Learned Helplessness
L.H is the problem caused by continually attributing failure to

INTERNAL reasons that can not be changed (Dweck 1978)

Failure is blamed on lack of ability and is out of your own control

because you will never be able to change the situation

Learned Helplessness Cont

Performers with LH think that:

- Failure is inevitable - What they do makes little difference to the outcome - Success might be due to luck and not repeatable
LH can be global or specific LH can be based on:

- Lack of success - Low confidence - A bad experience

In order to control LH, a change in the attribution process must take

place this is known as Attribution retraining

Mastery Orientation is the opposite to LH. An athlete has confidence, they feel in control, have a history of success

Attribution Retraining A reassessment of the reasons for failure

We must promote the changeable and external reasons: The coach might:

change in tactics or blame equipment adopt a positive approach make the reasons for losing less personal avoid citing lack of ability as a reason for failure use positive feedback and positive reinforcement encourage a change of technique attribute success internally (effort/ability) and failure externally (luck/task difficulty)

 ATTRIBUTION THEORY AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION What can it be used for?

A coach should try to make the performer:

Attribute success to internal factors in order to maximize confidence

and satisfaction
Attribute success to stable factors in order to maximize the

expectation of future success

Attribute failure to external factors in order to minimize negative

feelings
Attribute failure to unstable factors in order to minimize the

expectations of future losses. Be careful when attributing failure to lack of effort if the performer has tried their hardest.

Attribution Theory and Achievement Motivation

ATTRIBUTION The Main Points: Individuals often make INTERNAL attributions for success and

EXTERNAL attributions for failure

As performers we like to feel responsible for success but that failure

was due to factors beyond our control

Stability is usually related to future expectations. If we attribute

success or failure to stable factors next time we compete we will expect the same result.

High and low achievers attribute success and failure to different

factors

January 2008

Jan 08