CAUSAL ATTRIBUTION THEORY IN SPORT

CAUSAL ATTRIBUTION THEORY: ITS APPLICATION AND MEASUREMENT

Leith (1989) defines a "causal attribution" as the perceived cause of a given event or situation. Attribution theory, according to Sears, Freedman and Peplau (1991) consists of a set of basic principles delineating the entire process involved in the formulation of causal attributions; this includes such processes as what motivates people to generate causal attributions, how they decide which a particular cause is most important, the biases that obstruct accurate causal attributions, and so forth.

The purpose of the review of literature presented here is to examine theory and research regarding the general application of attribution theory in sport and to explore the measurement of the causal attribution process as measured by the Causal Dimension Scale II developed by McAuley, Duncan and Russell (1992), which is a revised edition of the Causal Dimension Scale originally developed by Russell (1982). The review begins with a brief delineation of the importance of attribution theory for the field of sport.

This delineation is followed by a review of some of the well-established findings in research examining causal attributions in sport. Implications of these findings for coaches and sport practioners are then listed.

The last section of the review examines the measurement of causal attribution. In particular, the Causal Dimension Scale and its revised version are examined in terms

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tive feelings associated with losing. This because the athlete will be aware of doing his/her personal best regardless of the outcome. Effort, Leith states, should be focused upon only after a winning outcome. This, he states, will reinforce maximum application to a coach's training program whereas focusing on effort after a failure will only serve to increase negative feelings. Implications can also be derived from the established findings indicating that prior experiences influence current causal attributions. Leith (1989) states that if an athlete has a repeated string of failures, he/she is at risk for "learned helplessness" defined as the belief that factors outside of one's control are responsible for the continual failure; learned helplessness is associated with a strong depression of motivation. Regarding a string of failures, Leith (1989) reports that: In situations such as these, the coach/sport practioner must point out the need to reexamine such internal factors as training and effort. Attributions of external factors such as luck, officiating, or superior opponents must be downplayed and shown to be counterproductive. (p. 218). Another established findings with implications for coaches and sport practione

Category: Psychology - C