Attributions Task Sheet
Match up Weiner’s four categories of attributions with the explanations below:
This relates to things out of the performer’s control, unpredictable factors e.g. we lost
because of a bad penalty decision, we won because play was abandoned due to rain.
This relates to the difficulty of the opposition or the strength of challenge the performer
faces e.g. we lost because the opposition were just too strong/better prepared than us, I
failed to get to the top because the rock face was just too steep.
This relates to the performer themselves – their levels of talent, how well they performed
e.g. I won because I had a really good day – everything went well, I won because my smash
shots were excellent, I lost because I just wasn’t fast enough.
This relates to how hard the performer tries e.g. I won because I worked really hard in
training, I lost because I couldn’t be bothered.
Which of Weiner’s categories of attributions are described here – ability, task difficulty, effort or luck?
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I won because I played well
I lost because I didn’t try hard enough in the last set
I beat my opponent because I have been training really hard
I had a great game because I really gave it everything I had
I lost because a squirrel ran on the pitch and distracted me
We lost because we were playing against Arsenal and they play beautiful football
We lost because we were attacking against the wind, which made it very hard for us
Chelsea won because they had a deflected shot, which was going miles wide, that trickled into the bottom
corner – this was their only shot of the match
Cesc Fabregas won the Player of the Year Award because he has such a lot of natural talent.
I won because my opponent had a really bad day.
We won because we have been training a lot and practising our set pieces
We lost to Chelsea because Van Persie got injured- he is our most influential player
Locus of Causality:
Stability Dimension:
Attributions affecting performer’s psychological state
How will performers feel by giving the following attributions?
They are successful and they attribute this to an internal/stable factor (e.g. ability) e.g. I won because I played well
They are unsuccessful and they attribute this to an internal/stable factor (e.g. ability) e.g. I lost because I am not
good enough
They are successful and they attribute this to an external/stable factor (e.g. luck) I only won because I was lucky
They are unsuccessful and they attribute this to an external/stable factor (e.g. luck) e.g. I only lost because I was
unlucky
Summarise your findings in the following statement:
Therefore if a coach wishes to maintain the morale/self-esteem of his performer he must attribute success to
______________________________________________________________________________________________
And failure to ___________________________________________________________________________________
What are the problems with attributing failure to a stable factor?
Self-Serving Bias
This is the name given to the process of attributing success to internal and stable factors and failure to external
unstable. It ensures that the performer’s self-esteem is preserved and that blame is deflected away from the
individual.
Controllability Dimension:
Attribution Retraining
Diagram:
Failure or Poor
Performance
Change from
Attribution to a lack of
ability
Change to
Attribution to incorrect
tactics/luck
Place the following statements in the diagram above:
Learned helplessness – performer will think that failure is inevitable
Very negative emotions
Persistent behaviour – will not want to give it, the result may be different next time
Negative or neutral emotions