controllability

What is self serving bias?

Sports performers who tend to attribute their failure to external causes while those who succeed usually attribute their success to internal causes

What is controllability?

Whether attributions are under the control of the performers or under the control of other, or whether they are uncontrollable  

What is learned helplessness?

the belief that failure is inevitable and a feeling of hopelessness 

What is specific learned helplessness?

when faced with a particular situation (e.g. I am a hopeless football player) 

What is global learned helplessness?

when faced with a particular group of situations (e.g. I am hopeless at all sport)

What do low achievers tend to attribute their failure to?

• Often attribute their failure to uncontrollable factors  

• This can lead to learned helplessness 

What do high achievers tend to attribute their failure to?

• Athletes who are oriented towards mastery  

• See failure as a learning experience 

• Will attribute failure to controllable unstable factors 

What are need to achieve performers?

• Are not afraid of failing  

• Will persist with a task until they succeed

What is mastery orientation?

the view that an individual will be motivated by becoming an expert in skill development or sports performance 

What do mastery orientated performed tend to attribute their failures to?

• Will often attribute failure to internal, controllable and unstable factors (e.g. effort) 

• Will continue to strive to become better at the activity 

What is attribution retraining?

an optimise sports performance – seeking often to change learned helplessness into mastery orientation