Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory

Idea of realising that failure is not inevitable, by teaching appropriate attributions to allow the performer to achieve success.

Weiner’s 4 Attributions

-Ability – individual/team skill level

-Effort – how hard you work in a game/training

-Luck – e.g. we hit the crossbar 3 times!

-Task difficult – e.g. they’re in the league above anyway so they’re going to be much better.

Locus of causality describers where the performer places the reason for winning or losing:

INTERNAL – within the performer’s control.

EXTERNAL – out of the performer’s control.

Locus of stability:

STABLE – relatively permanent

UNSTABLE – could change from week to week

High Achieving Athletes

-Associate success with internal/stability/ability

-Mastery Orientation – attribute success to internal factors – reasons such as “we were the better team” (ability), or “we deserved that because we but the effort in”.

Question – why do we attribute success to internal…