THE EFFECT OF SKILL LEVEL AND SPORT OUTCOMES ON DIMENSIONAL ASPECTS OF CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS

Competitive squash players stated why they had won or lost a match, an d evaluated this causal attribution along several dimensions. Dimensio nal ratings were then analysed according to outcome (win/loss) and the skill level (competition grade) of the performer. Results indicated t hat the attributions of winners were more stable and global than those of losers. In addition, ability level interacted with outcome to infl uence the internality of causal attributions. High-ability players use d internal attributions more after success than failure, but low-abili ty players tended to use internal attributions more after failure than success. These findings are discussed in relation to attributional th eories of motivation, with particular attention given to the learned h elplessness and self-blame models.