Sports Psychology
ATTRIBUTIONS
Definition
How an athlete has performed in the past
will affect how they approach the next
challenge. Athletes will look for reasons
for their past performances attributions
Attributions are the way people explain
particular events or behaviours to
themselves
Example
After losing the World Championships in 1991,
when I panicked as Carl Lewis came next to me,
I decided I had to find some way of
concentrating even more intensely so I could
block out everyone else. Linford Christie
Christie attributes losing to insufficient
concentration, which allowed him to panic.
Attributions
Imagine a winning team and a losing
team. What reasons may they give for
success/failure?
Will they be the same reasons?
How do you think the reasons will affect
future efforts?
Your Attributions?
Now think of your last successful sporting
performance and compare it to a time you
have been unsuccessful.
What reasons do you give for both
performances?
Can you suggest reasons why you might
have attributed the reasons you did?
Attribution Theory
Weiner (1972) proposed that achievement is
related to the attributions we make.
Reasons given can be classified as:Ability
Effort
Task Difficulty
Luck
Attribution Theory
Weiner argued that these 4 attributions could be
categorised as internal or external, stable or
unstable.
LOCUS OF CAUSALITY
S
T
Stable
Internal
External
Ability
Task
difficulty
Effort
Luck
B
I
L
I
T
Y
Unstable
Examples
Lack concentration: internal because it relates to
the person and it is something he can change so
it is unstable
Having less talent: internal and stable
Track where he always does badly: external
because it relates to the environment. Stable
because he thinks he will always perform badly
there
Traffic caused him to be late and rush warm-up:
External and unstable because traffic jam will
not happen again.
What type of Attribution?
Im not good at badminton
The referee was biased
I couldnt be bothered to try
Everyone tried their best
The rain caused the match to be
abandoned and that saved us
The coach made us play an unusual
formation
Attribution Process
Locus of causality
internal/external)
Affect
Pride/shame
U
T
Stability
Outcome
Attribution
stable/unstable
Expectancy
success/fail
U
R
E
U
Locus of control
in control/
not in control
Affect
increase/decrease
motivation
Example
A speed skater who wins because she has
beaten everyone will show more
exhilaration in her voice than one who
wins because the leading skaters fell
(gratitude)
Learned Helplessness
Seligman (1975) identified learned
helplessness as being when an individual
learns (by the repeated inability to change
something) that failure is inevitable, so he loses
motivation and gives up.
It depends on the attributions.
If failure is attributed to unstable factors like
effort, then there is a reason to keep trying.
Characteristics of learned helplessness
Can be sports specific or general
Outcome oriented
Results from bad experiences
Rarely tries new skills
Attribution to uncontrollable stable factors
Future effort is limited
Self Serving Bias
We tend to be biased in our attributions because
we explain outcomes in ways to protect our self
esteem.
We attribute success to internal reasons (ability)
and failure to external reasons (poor referee)
However, the more likely an athlete is to take
responsibility for failure, the more likely he will
be to take steps to change it.
Achievement Motivation and Attributions
High achievers tend to attribute success to
internal reasons and failure to unstable
factors, that they can change.
Low achievers tend to attribute failure to
stable factors and give up easily. They
attribute success to external factors.
Attribution re-training
Encourage performers to view success as stable
and internal
Encourage performer to view failure as due to
unstable factors, both internal (poor
concentration,effort) and external (strong
competition). This encourages responsibility,
yet maintains esteem.
Attribute things to poor technique internal and
unstable so they can do something about it.
