Attribution

Question 1

Definition of attribution

Answer 1

The process of ascribing reasons for, or causes to events and behaviours
OR
The process of ascribing reasons for success or failure

Question 2

What are the 3 dimensions of Weiner’s model of attribution?

Answer 2

Locus of causality, Stability, Locus of control

Question 3

Explain the locus of causality

Answer 3

-Whether the attributions come from within the person (internal) or from the environment (external), and effects the persons feeling of pride, confidence and shame
-Internal: comes from within the performer (eg. how hard a player works)
-External: comes from the environment (eg. ability of opposition)

Question 4

Explain the locus of stability

Answer 4

-Whether the attribution is changeable or unchangeable, and affects a persons expectations of future outcomes
-Stable and Unstable
-Stable: unlikely to change in the short term (eg. ability)
-Unstable: changeable in the short term (eg. weather conditions)

Question 5

Who created the model of attribution?

Answer 5

Weiner

Question 6

What are stable attributions?

Answer 6

Ability, task difficulty

Question 7

What are unstable attributions?

Answer 7

Effort, luck

Question 8

What are internal attributions?

Answer 8

Ability, effort

Question 9

What are external attributions?

Answer 9

Task difficulty, luck

Question 10

What is a sporting example of luck?

Answer 10

The court was slippy, the rider in first place hit a pot hole

Question 11

What is a sporting example of task difficulty?

Answer 11

The opposition were world champions, the oppositions team had lots of injuries

Question 12

What is a sporting example of ability?

Answer 12

We were more skilful, the opposition has more skill than us

Question 13

What is a sporting example of effort?

Answer 13

We tried hard, we didn’t put much training into this game

Question 14

Explain the locus of control

Answer 14

-3rd dimension that was added to Weiners model later
-Considers the extent to which an outcome is under control
-Controllable, uncontrollable
-Controllable: under control of others (eg. coach) or performer, something can be done to change the outcome
(eg. how hard you work)
-Uncontrollable: under no one’s control, nothing can be done to change the outcome
(eg. bias referee, ability of opposition)
-Directly affects performers motivation

Question 15

What is an internal, stable, uncontrollable attribution?

Answer 15

Ability

Question 16

What is an internal, unstable, controllable attribution?

Answer 16

Effort

Question 17

What is an external, unstable, controllable attribution?

Answer 17

Task difficulty

Question 18

What is an external, unstable, uncontrollable attribution?

Answer 18

Luck

Question 19

What are controllable attributions?

Answer 19

Effort

Question 20

What are uncontrollable attributions?

Answer 20

Ability, difficulty, luck

Question 21

What are internal attributions?

Answer 21

Ability, effort

Question 22

What are external attributions?

Answer 22

Task difficulty, luck

Question 23

What are stable attributions?

Answer 23

Ability, task difficulty

Question 24

What are unstable attributions?

Answer 24

Effort, luck

Question 25

What is learned helplessness?

Answer 25

-A belief that failure is inevitable, feeling of hopelessness -Attribute failures to internal, stable, uncontrollable attributions

Question 26

What is mastery orientation?

Answer 26

-Individual who is motivated to become an expert, a feeling of being in control of the outcome -Attributes failures to internal, stable, uncontrollable factors

Question 27

What is self-serving bias?

Answer 27

-A persons tendency to attribute their failure to external reasons -Limits shame -Protects self-esteem and motivation -May mean that improvements are never made

Question 28

What is attribution retraining?

Answer 28

-Can help to optimise performance, attributions need to be assessed in order to succeed in the future -A person should be encouraged to attribute to controllable, unstable factors (eg. Group of hockey players who just lost a hockey match, encouraged to give attributions such as ‘we must train and try harder next week”, these are internal,stable, controllable attributions

Question 29

When is attribution retraining used?

Answer 29

To change learned helplessness into mastery orientation

Question 30

If failure is attributed to stable reasons what is the impact?

Answer 30

-Task difficulty, ability -Failure is expected to be repeated, lowers motivation

Question 31

What is the influence/impact of attributions?

Answer 31

Motivation, confidence, pride, future expectations on success and persistence

Question 32

If failure is attributed to unstable reasons what is the impact?

Answer 32

-Luck, effort, weather, tactics -Performer believes outcome could change, is motivated to change the outcome in the future

Question 33

If failure is attributed to controllable reasons what is the impact?

Answer 33

-Effort, tactics -Motivation increases, performer believes something can be done to change future outcomes

Question 34

If failure is attributed to uncontrollable reasons what is the impact?

Answer 34

-Luck, ref, weather -Motivation decreases

Question 35

What is the cause of learned helplessness?

Answer 35

Learned helplessness can develop if performer attributes failure to internal,stable,uncontrollable factors (eg. ability)

Question 36

How is learned helplessness prevented?

Answer 36

-If performer attributes failure to external, unstable, controllable reasons -This can be done through attribution retraining

Question 37

What is the effect of learned helplessness?

Answer 37

Can lead to a performer to give up/believe they can’t change anything/ they have no control over the outcome OR Attributing failure to internal/stable/uncontrollable reasons can lead to a performer to give up/believe they will never succeed

Question 38

What is the cause of mastery orientation?

Answer 38

Develop if a performer attributes failure to internal, controllable, unstable reasons

Question 39

What is the effect of mastery orientation?

Answer 39

Motivate a performer to strive to improve/feeling of being in control of outcome, learn from failure/ believe that they can change the outcome in future

Question 40

If failure is attributed to self serving bias what is the impact?

Answer 40

-External, unstable -Protects self esteem

Question 41

If failure is attributed to internal reasons (-ve effect) what is the impact?

Answer 41

-Ability, effort -Pride/confidence/motivation decreases, then shame increases

Question 42

If failure is attributed to internal reasons (+ve effect) what is the impact?

Answer 42

-Ability, effort -Motivation can increase

Question 43

If failure is attributed to external reasons (-ve effect) what is the impact?

Answer 43

-Luck, task difficulty, weather, ref -It could shield the real reason for failure, lead to a lack of improvement

Question 44

If failure is attributed to external reasons (+ve effect) what is the impact?

Answer 44

-Luck, task difficulty, weather, ref -Pride/confidence/motivation will be retained, shame wont be felt

Question 45

Draw a model that represents the process of attribution

Answer 45