Controllability and stability in the self-serving attributions of sport spectators

Spectators often attribute their athletic team's victories to internal caus es and its losses to external causes (e.g., A. H. Hastorf & H. Cantril, 195 4; R. R. Lau, 1984; L. Mann, 1974). This self-serving attributional pattern is most common among fans with a strong psychological attachment to their team (D. L. Wann & T. J. Dolan, 1994). The authors examined the relationshi ps among identification, game outcome, and controllable and stable attribut ions. Their Ist hypothesis was that high-identification fans after a victor y, compared with high-identification fans after a Loss and low-identificati on fans after either outcome, would be more likely to exhibit self-serving attributional patterns by attributing their team's successes to controllabl e and stable causes. Their 2nd hypothesis was that high-identification fans would be more likely than low-identification fans to attribute their team' s successes to internal causes and its failures to external causes. U.S. co llege students high and low in identification first watched their universit y's men's basketball team win or lose a contest and then completed measures of identification and attribution. The results confirmed the hypotheses.