C1.2.4 Attribution Theory (HL)

State causes for success or failure often fall on one end of the spectrum

  • “I won because I trained hard”

  • “I lost because they got lucky”

  • Learned helpfulness can result from blaming losses on stable and internal factors, but out of one’s control. People feel as though nothing can be done

  • Stable and internal factors, within control, can be linked to expectations of success. Can motivate an athlete to continue with a training regimen that appears to be working

There are three categories for this theory:

  • Locus of stability 

    • Stable or unstable

  • Locus of causality

    • Internal or external

  • Locus of control

    • In one’s control or out of one’s control

  • Internal factors related to a person, and controllable, mean they can do something about them

  • External factors are not related to a person, and uncontrollable is out of their control

High Ego Orientation

  • High ego orientation means that a person is mostly focused on winning or being better than other people

  • Low task orientation is a lack of motivation toward self-improvement

    • These two traits acting together are often detrimental to motivation and persistence due to an eventual lack of progress, which can lead to low satisfaction (and less winning)

  • Examples

    • In team sports, individuals may focus more on themselves, which results in lower team performance and may eventually lead to team losses

    • In individual sports, self-improvement may stop when competition increases, and then individuals will no longer continue to succeed

High orientation and perceived ability

  • High ego orientation will lead to confidence when the perceived ability is high; however can lead to anxiety and frustration if perceived ability is low

  • When ego is challenged, it can feel as though an individual’s self-worth is being criticised. This can lead to defensive attitudes. In individual sports (such as swimming) ego is often tied to self-worth and identity because performance and ability is the biggest indicators of success.