Attribution Theory
Exam Question #1: Attribution Theory As discussed earlier in the text, motivation is the desire that an individual develops to fuel a drive for success. Individuals may find motivation in the form of external rewards (extrinsic motivation), or simply through internal gratification (intrinsic motivation), knowing that they are exhibiting a great deal of effort in a given activity. When an athlete experiences success or failure they are likely to attribute those successes or failures to different circumstances. This process of attributing causes for successes and failures is a process known as attribution theory, and can be defined as “a cognitive approach to motivation in which perceived causation plays an important role in explaining
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behavior” (Cox, 2012). Not only in athletics but also in life, people tend to assign causes or reasons as to why they performed in a certain fashion. Whether the individual is a professional baseball player who just hit 3 homeruns in single game, or just an ordinary blue collar working man who showed up to work 15 minutes late, they have attributed a cause to that performance. However, in attribution theory, where people differ is in how they perceive success and failure and if they are attributing it to internal or external causes. When evaluating performance the performer can evaluate the outcome of his performance in several ways, he can attribute it to an internal, external, stable, unstable, controllable, or uncontrollable causes. How a person evaluates a particular performance and what factors they attribute the degree of success or failure within that performance directly affects the individuals motivation and likelihood for success in future attempts. Research conducted by Sandra Graham on groups of young scholars suggests that “ability and effort appear to be the most dominant perceived causes of success and failure in our culture today” (Graham, 1991). This research coincides with Coxs’ generalization that most successful individuals attribute successes to internal and controllable causes while less successful individuals find themselves also attributing their failures to internal, yet uncontrollable causes. Both groups tend to judge performance outcomes based on internal aspects such as ability and effort, but differ when accepting responsibility for the actions that led them to either success or failure. The successful individual perceives the causes for success to be controllable and manipulatable which suggest he can recreate the cause for success, while the unsuccessful performer blames the bad performance on causes out of his control. When someone places the blame on causes or factors that are out of their hands and that they have no ability to control, then they cannot obtain the ability to change the outcome of future performances. Personal experience with attribution theory has taught me how to stay motivated and be successful in any given activity you choose to participate in.
My observations throughout my athletic career are that when I am most successful is when I believe I will have an excellent performance and when I accept responsibility for the outcome. I can remember a time where I had contracted mono during the fall and was sidelined from competition for most of the season. I had fully recovered by the end of the fall and resumed training by the start of early winter. While I was doing the best workouts I had ever completed thus far in my career I was falling well short of my expectations during competitions. I could not figure out what the problem was, as my training was going phenomenal, but my results were very poor. I kept falling back on the same excuse after every bad performance, that I was still experiencing lingering effects from the mono. As the season progressed my performances steadily declined until I ended up not even advancing to the state meet. A meet I had won the year I prior, I had failed to even gain entry to this year. The entire season I had attributed my failures to internal, stable, yet uncontrollable causes. I truly believed that my lack of success throughout the season was due to circumstances out of my control. While early failures may have been due to a lack of fitness caused by illness related setbacks, the failures I experienced later that season were all due to the attribution of failure to an uncontrollable cause. Upon the completion of the spring season I took a short break and travelled to a former coach’s residence to train and prepare for the upcoming fall season. The first thing my coach said to me after my first workout was, “Cory you are very fit physically so the only thing we have to work on is strengthening you from the neck up.” As I started to believe I had the ability to control the outcomes of my successes, I started to excel again
and culminated the season with a victory at the state cross country championships. So the way an individual attributes the causes for successes and failures in life is directly associated with the individuals motivation and performance. If the person believes they are in control of the factors that cause them to fail or succeed they are much more likely to stay internally motivated and achieve their goals. Conversely if they allow themselves to attribute their failures to uncontrollable causes they will never accept responsibility for their own mistakes and will most likely chronically fail in the events they are participating in.
Work Cited:
Cox, R. (2012). Sport psychology concepts and applications. (7th ed., p. 5). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Graham, S. (1991). A review of attribution theory in achievement contexts. Educational Psychology Review, 3(1), 5-39. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01323661
Shaver, K. (2012). An introduction to attribution processes.American Psychological Association, 1(153), Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1975-21052-000
Zuckerman, M. (2006). Attribution of success and failure.Journal of Personality, 47(2), 245-287. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1979.tb00202.x
behavior” (Cox, 2012). Not only in athletics but also in life, people tend to assign causes or reasons as to why they performed in a certain fashion. Whether the individual is a professional baseball player who just hit 3 homeruns in single game, or just an ordinary blue collar working man who showed up to work 15 minutes late, they have attributed a cause to that performance. However, in attribution theory, where people differ is in how they perceive success and failure and if they are attributing it to internal or external causes. When evaluating performance the performer can evaluate the outcome of his performance in several ways, he can attribute it to an internal, external, stable, unstable, controllable, or uncontrollable causes. How a person evaluates a particular performance and what factors they attribute the degree of success or failure within that performance directly affects the individuals motivation and likelihood for success in future attempts. Research conducted by Sandra Graham on groups of young scholars suggests that “ability and effort appear to be the most dominant perceived causes of success and failure in our culture today” (Graham, 1991). This research coincides with Coxs’ generalization that most successful individuals attribute successes to internal and controllable causes while less successful individuals find themselves also attributing their failures to internal, yet uncontrollable causes. Both groups tend to judge performance outcomes based on internal aspects such as ability and effort, but differ when accepting responsibility for the actions that led them to either success or failure. The successful individual perceives the causes for success to be controllable and manipulatable which suggest he can recreate the cause for success, while the unsuccessful performer blames the bad performance on causes out of his control. When someone places the blame on causes or factors that are out of their hands and that they have no ability to control, then they cannot obtain the ability to change the outcome of future performances. Personal experience with attribution theory has taught me how to stay motivated and be successful in any given activity you choose to participate in.
My observations throughout my athletic career are that when I am most successful is when I believe I will have an excellent performance and when I accept responsibility for the outcome. I can remember a time where I had contracted mono during the fall and was sidelined from competition for most of the season. I had fully recovered by the end of the fall and resumed training by the start of early winter. While I was doing the best workouts I had ever completed thus far in my career I was falling well short of my expectations during competitions. I could not figure out what the problem was, as my training was going phenomenal, but my results were very poor. I kept falling back on the same excuse after every bad performance, that I was still experiencing lingering effects from the mono. As the season progressed my performances steadily declined until I ended up not even advancing to the state meet. A meet I had won the year I prior, I had failed to even gain entry to this year. The entire season I had attributed my failures to internal, stable, yet uncontrollable causes. I truly believed that my lack of success throughout the season was due to circumstances out of my control. While early failures may have been due to a lack of fitness caused by illness related setbacks, the failures I experienced later that season were all due to the attribution of failure to an uncontrollable cause. Upon the completion of the spring season I took a short break and travelled to a former coach’s residence to train and prepare for the upcoming fall season. The first thing my coach said to me after my first workout was, “Cory you are very fit physically so the only thing we have to work on is strengthening you from the neck up.” As I started to believe I had the ability to control the outcomes of my successes, I started to excel again
and culminated the season with a victory at the state cross country championships. So the way an individual attributes the causes for successes and failures in life is directly associated with the individuals motivation and performance. If the person believes they are in control of the factors that cause them to fail or succeed they are much more likely to stay internally motivated and achieve their goals. Conversely if they allow themselves to attribute their failures to uncontrollable causes they will never accept responsibility for their own mistakes and will most likely chronically fail in the events they are participating in.
Work Cited:
Cox, R. (2012). Sport psychology concepts and applications. (7th ed., p. 5). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Graham, S. (1991). A review of attribution theory in achievement contexts. Educational Psychology Review, 3(1), 5-39. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01323661
Shaver, K. (2012). An introduction to attribution processes.American Psychological Association, 1(153), Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1975-21052-000
Zuckerman, M. (2006). Attribution of success and failure.Journal of Personality, 47(2), 245-287. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1979.tb00202.x