Attributional self-presentation and information available to the audience

Public ability attributions of public task performance were investigated as a function of test performance (high or low), task performance (high or low), and the availability of information about test performance to the audience (audience informed or audience not informed). The results were largely in agreement with self-presentation expectations, Ability attributions concerning public task performance addressed to an audience which was not informed about test results, were found to be strongly self-serving, although they were also influenced by consistency of test and task performance. In ability attributions directed at an informed audience, self-serving biases were completely absent, the attributions being in accordance with the consistency or inconsistency of test and task performances.     

The relationship between mental toughness and affect intensity

Mentally tough athletes are conceptualized as being able to function effectively in stressful situations and recent research has found small to moderate correlations between mental toughness and coping. Despite this no research has thus far examined the possibility that mentally tough athletes experience less intense emotions. This paper tested the relationship between mental toughness and affect intensity to determine whether mentally tough athletes generally experienced more or less intense emotions. A sample of 112 sport performers (55 men and 57 women) aged between 18 and 51 years (M = 29.3, s = 10.3) acted as participants, and ranged from recreational to national level in a variety of sports. Mental toughness and affect intensity were found to be unrelated. This is an important finding because it suggests participants with high or low levels of mental toughness do not characteristically experience more or less intense emotions. Thus there is no evidence to suggest the ability of mentally tough athletes to remain relatively unaffected by pressure or adversity is due to lower levels of affect intensity. More research is required to understand how mentally tough athletes (in comparison to less tough athletes) maintain control and high levels of performance in stressful circumstances.     

The influence of athletic experience and kinematic information on skill-relevant affordance perception

Humans can perceive affordances both for themselves and for others, and affordance perception is a function of perceptual–motor experience involved in playing a sport. Two experiments investigated the enhanced affordance perception of athletes. In Experiment 1, basketball players and nonbasketball players provided perceptual reports for sports-relevant (maximum standing-reach and reach-with-jump heights) and non-sports-relevant (maximum sitting height) affordances for self and other. Basketball players were more accurate at perceiving maximum reach-with-jump for another person than were nonbasketball players, but were no better at perceiving maximum reach or sitting heights. Experiment 2 investigated the informational basis for this enhanced perceptual ability of basketball players by evaluating whether kinematics inform perceivers about action-scaled (e.g., force-production dependent), but not body-scaled (i.e., geometrically determined), affordances for others, and whether basketball experience enhances sensitivity to kinematic information. Only basketball players improved at perceiving an action-scaled affordance (maximum reach-with-jump), but not body-scaled affordances (maximum standing-reach and sit) with exposure to kinematic information, suggesting that action-scaled affordances may be specified by kinematic information to which athletes are already attuned by virtue of their sport experience.     

The influence of athletic experience and kinematic information on skill-relevant affordance perception

Humans can perceive affordances both for themselves and for others, and affordance perception is a function of perceptual-motor experience involved in playing a sport. Two experiments investigated the enhanced affordance perception of athletes. In Experiment 1, basketball players and nonbasketball players provided perceptual reports for sports-relevant (maximum standing-reach and reach-with-jump heights) and non-sports-relevant (maximum sitting height) affordances for self and other. Basketball players were more accurate at perceiving maximum reach-with-jump for another person than were nonbasketball players, but were no better at perceiving maximum reach or sitting heights. Experiment 2 investigated the informational basis for this enhanced perceptual ability of basketball players by evaluating whether kinematics inform perceivers about action-scaled (e.g., force-production dependent), but not body-scaled (i.e., geometrically determined), affordances for others, and whether basketball experience enhances sensitivity to kinematic information. Only basketball players improved at perceiving an action-scaled affordance (maximum reach-with-jump), but not body-scaled affordances (maximum standing-reach and sit) with exposure to kinematic information, suggesting that action-scaled affordances may be specified by kinematic information to which athletes are already attuned by virtue of their sport experience.     

Self-Serving Attributions for Performance in Naturalistic Settings: A Meta-Analytic Review1

The study of self-serving attributions in sports settings is fertile ground for testing the validity of self-serving attributional phenomena. This paper reports the results of a meta-analytic review of research examining self-serving attributions in the context of sports events. A total of 91 distinct hypothesis tests were located, comprising five dimensions of attribution: ability (N= 21), effort (N= 21), task difficulty (N= 21), luck (N= 21), and a general internal-external dimension (N= 7). The meta-analytic combination of significance levels indicated that the combined results were unlikely to occur if the null hypothesis of no effect were true (for each of the five dimensions of attribution). The internal-external dimension and the ability dimension produced effects of moderate magnitude, whereas effort, difficulty and luck produced effects of small magnitude. Meta-anaiytic focused comparisons revealed that self-serving attributions (ended to be more extreme in the context of larger team sizes, and for attribution measures focused upon the team rather than the individual. Discussion considers the implications of these findings and develops and explanation for the finding that ability is the specific attribution dimension exhibiting the greatest self-serving attribution effects.     

The relationship between mental toughness and affect intensity

Mentally tough athletes are conceptualized as being able to function effectively in stressful situations and recent research has found small to moderate correlations between mental toughness and coping. Despite this no research has thus far examined the possibility that mentally tough athletes experience less intense emotions. This paper tested the relationship between mental toughness and affect intensity to determine whether mentally tough athletes generally experienced more or less intense emotions. A sample of 112 sport performers (55 men and 57 women) aged between 18 and 51 years (M = 29.3, s = 10.3) acted as participants, and ranged from recreational to national level in a variety of sports. Mental toughness and affect intensity were found to be unrelated. This is an important finding because it suggests participants with high or low levels of mental toughness do not characteristically experience more or less intense emotions. Thus there is no evidence to suggest the ability of mentally tough athletes to remain relatively unaffected by pressure or adversity is due to lower levels of affect intensity. More research is required to understand how mentally tough athletes (in comparison to less tough athletes) maintain control and high levels of performance in stressful circumstances.     

自我服务偏向研究现状与展望

人们常将满意的结果归因于自己的能力或努力, 将不满意的结果归因为他人或环境, 这种接受成功的荣誉而否认失败责任的倾向称为自我服务偏向。目前, 对该偏向的理论解释并未达成统一的结论, 争论主要集中在其产生是由认知驱动或动机驱动, 抑或两者兼有。大量研究表明, 自我服务偏向普遍存在于日常生活中, 并受年龄、性别、文化、精神机能障碍等因素的影响, 但对其脑机制的研究相对较少。未来研究中, 应拓宽对非抑郁症精神机能障碍患者的自我服务偏向研究以及不同群体自我服务偏向特点的研究; 自我服务偏向的脑机制研究、跨文化研究以及国外已有研究成果在我国的适用性也将成为未来研究的关注点。     

Beliefs About Older Workers' Learning and Development Behavior in Relation to Beliefs About Malleability of Skills,Age‐Related Decline,and Control1

This study investigated beliefs about older workers' ability and inclination to develop career‐relevant skills, concepts that have not been empirically examined previously in any depth. Two sets of distinct but conceptually related variables were examined in relation to these beliefs. First, participants' implicit theory of abilities (whether they are fixed or changeable) was investigated, and was not found to predict beliefs about older workers' ability or inclination to develop. Second, their beliefs about the age‐related decline of learning‐relevant abilities and the controllability of such decline were examined. Beliefs about the decline of such abilities significantly predicted beliefs about older workers' ability to develop and beliefs about their inclination to develop. A significant relationship was also found between beliefs about controllability of decline and beliefs about older workers' learning goal orientation. Implicit theories significantly predicted beliefs about controllability of decline. These results empirically link research on beliefs about age‐related decline of abilities with the older worker stereotype literature. The results also link literature on beliefs about controllability of decline with literature on implicit theories of skill malleability.     

Longitudinal analysis of stressors,stress, coping and coping effectiveness in elite esports athletes

ObjectiveThe current study aimed to longitudinally examine the stressors, stress appraisal, coping, and coping effectiveness experienced by elite esports athletes.DesignSix elite male League of Legends (LoL) athletes, competing in the Oceanic Challenger Series (OCS), completed diaries over the 2020 competitive season (87 days).MethodAthletes completed weekly diaries after three events: solo training, team training, and competitive matches. Each diary collected data on the stressors experienced, stressor intensity and threat/challenge perception (appraisal), coping strategies used, and perceived coping effectiveness.ResultsGeneral performance, outcome, critical moment performance, and teammate mistakes accounted for 55% of the stressors reported. More stressors were reported in competitive diaries than in training diaries. Competitive stressors were rated as being more intense than training stressors. There were no differences in overall challenge and threat perception, but performance stressors were more likely to be perceived as a challenge, and teammate stressors were more likely to be perceived as a threat. Problem-focused coping (PFC) was the most frequently employed coping strategy. PFC and emotion-focused coping (EFC) strategies were perceived as more effective at reducing stress than avoidance coping (AC).ConclusionsElite LoL athletes experienced a small number of reoccurring stressors over an 87-day competitive period. Athletes reported more stressors around competitive matches and perceived competitive stressors as more intense than team and solo training stressors. Similarly to traditional sports athletes, PFC strategies were the most frequently employed and, PFC and EFC were rated as being more effective than AC.     

Solo status and women's spatial test performance: the role of individuation tendencies

The impact of anticipated solo status on women's spatial performance was investigated in an experimental study. The study was designed to test whether the underperformance of women entering testing situations who find themselves to be the only woman present is related to a tendency to individuate the self. Women performed a test of spatial ability under conditions of anticipated solo or non‐solo status and responded to a measure of self‐construal. In line with previous research, we found a disrupting solo status effect on women's performance on the spatial ability test. Most importantly, the negative effect of solo status on performance was partially mediated by individuation tendencies as reflected in a decreased predominance of the interdependent (as compared to the independent) level of the self under solo status conditions. These findings indicate that individuation tendencies play a crucial role in the process triggered in test takers under threatening performance situations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When appearance concerns make women look bad: Solo status and body image concerns diminish women’s academic performance

Women entering male-dominated fields often find themselves the only women present, i.e., they experience solo status. Solo status diminishes women’s performance when women are negatively stereotyped in the testing domain (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000) or when the performance is public (Sekaquaptewa & Thompson, 2002). Because women experience greater body image concerns than men and underperform when these concerns are high (Fredrickson, Roberts, Noll, Quinn, & Twenge, 1998), body image concerns may also cause diminished performance in solo women. Women were given a stigmatized (i.e., heavy) or neutral appearance (via a manipulated photograph), then tested as either solos or non-solos. Results showed that women performed more poorly when given a stigmatized appearance and placed under solo status compared to when only one of these factors were present. Social identity threat concerns (Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002) mediated the solo status effect on performance for women given a stigmatized appearance.     

Differences in Imagery Content and Imagery Ability Between High and Low Confident Track and Field Athletes

The purpose of this research was to examine how high and low trait sport confident track and field athletes differed in their imagery content and imagery ability. NCAA Division I track and field athletes ( M age = 20.5 +/- 1.61 years; M = 7.15 +/- 3.3 years experience; N = 111, 44 males and 67 females) completed the following measures: Trait Sport Confidence Inventory (TSCI), Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ), and Movement Imagery Questionnaire - Revised (MIQ-R). Profile analyses revealed that high trait sport confident athletes utilized each category of imagery (Motivational General - Mastery, Motivational General - Arousal, Motivational Specific, Cognitive General, and Cognitive Specific) significantly more than low trait sport confident athletes. No significant differences emerged between the groups on the two imagery ability scales. The results suggest that the high confident athletes used more imagery, but they did not have higher imagery skills than low confident athletes.     

Cultural differences in athlete attributions for success and failure: the sports pages revisited

Self‐serving biases in attribution, while found with relative consistency in research with Western samples, have rarely been found in Japanese samples typically recruited for research. However, research conducted with Japanese participants to date has tended to use forced‐choice and/or reactive paradigms, with school or university students, focusing mainly on academic performance or arbitrary and/or researcher‐selected tasks. This archival study explored whether self‐serving attributional biases would be shown in the real‐life attributions for sporting performance made by elite Olympic athletes from Japan and Australia. Attributions (N = 216) were extracted from the sports pages of Japanese and Australian newspapers and rated by Australian judges for locus and controllability. It was hypothesized that Australian, but not Japanese, athletes would show self‐serving biases such that they attributed wins to causes more internal and controllable than the causes to which they attributed losses. Contrary to predictions, self‐serving biases were shown to at least some extent by athletes of both nationalities. Both Australian and Japanese men attributed wins to causes more internal than those to which they attributed losses. Women, however, attributed wins and losses to causes that did not differ significantly in terms of locus. All athletes tended to attribute wins to causes that were more controllable than the causes to which losses were attributed. Results are inconsistent with a large body of research suggesting that Japanese do not show self‐serving biases in attribution, and are discussed in the light of differences in methodology, context, and participants that may have contributed to these effects.     

Examining the relationship between athletes' achievement goal orientation and ability to employ imagery

ObjectiveImagery ability may be cognitively regulated by motivational states, thus it is important to determine the relationship between goal orientations and imagery ability. Design/Method: Participants were 272 male and female athletes, representing nine sports. Goal orientations and cognitive and motivational imagery abilities were assessed via questionnaires. Task and ego goal orientations were examined via a two-step cluster analysis procedure, resulting in the identification of four goal orientation clusters. Separate multivariate analyses were conducted to assess differences in cognitive imagery ability and motivational imagery ability for the clusters, with gender and sport type entered as covariates. Results: For cognitive imagery ability, gender had a significant effect for athletes with low task/low ego orientation; female athletes rated their internal imagery perspective as clearer and more vivid. Regarding motivational imagery ability, when sport type was controlled for, cluster membership demonstrated a significant multivariate effect. Goal orientations have a relationship with motivational imagery ability but this same relationship was not evident with cognitive imagery ability. Athletes with high task/high ego or high task/low ego goal orientations scored significantly higher on their ability to feel emotions and their ease of generating motivational general-mastery images compared to athletes with low task/high ego or low task/low ego orientations. No differences between goal orientation clusters were found for motivational general-arousal imagery ability. Conclusion: Athletes who have a high task orientation are very motivated and have an easy time forming mastery images and a high ability to experience the emotion of these images.     

Understanding and building clean(er) sport together: Community-based participatory research with elite athletes and anti-doping organisations from five European countries

BackgroundIn sport the narrative is changing from anti-doping to pro-clean sport. Yet, our understanding of what ‘clean sport’ means to athletes is notably absent from the literature.ObjectivesWorking together with elite athletes and National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs), this study explored the meaning and importance of ‘clean sport’ and ‘clean athlete identity’.DesignCommunity-based participatory research design was employed to explore (a) how elite athletes define clean sport and being a clean athlete; (b) the hopes and challenges associated with clean sport and being a clean athlete; and (c) what can be done in anti-doping to elicit clean sport.MethodsFive elite athletes in five European countries (Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia and United Kingdom) were recruited as co-researchers by their respective NADOs, trained for their role as co-researchers and individually interviewed. Seventy-seven elite athletes were then purposefully recruited for 12 athlete-led national focus groups. Finally, the five athlete co-researchers and five athlete participants took part in one 2.5-h long international focus group.ResultsReflexive thematic analysis resulted in generating four overarching themes: ‘clean is being true to the self’, ‘clean performance enhancement has multiple meanings’, ‘clean is not a solo act’ and ‘the problems and solutions are systemic’. Collectively, the themes showed that the clean athlete identity is generally rooted in upbringing, early experiences and love of sport; and characterised by continued, intrinsically motivated commitment to fundamental values and morals acquired in childhood. In contrast, the concept of clean performance-enhancement is highly idiosyncratic and flexible. Elite athletes value anti-doping efforts but their experiences of disparity and unfairness in doping control undermine their trust in anti-doping.ConclusionClean athlete identity is a social endeavour and artefact, which needs to be reflected in and developed through evidence-informed anti-doping interventions. Raising athletes' voices via collaboration and participatory research can be an enriching experience for athletes and researchers alike, and a worthwhile endeavour for sport organisations with responsibility for anti-doping. To make anti-doping education personally relevant, the richness of individual interpretation of ‘clean’ for the self (i.e., clean athlete identity) and performance-enhancement must be acknowledged, respected and cultivated.     

Understanding driver anger and aggression: attributional theory in the driving environment

Two studies tested the applicability of Weiner's (1995, 1996, 2001, 2006) attributional model of social conduct to roadway environments. This model highlights the role of inferences of responsibility after making causal judgments for social transgressions. Study 1 employed written scenarios where participants were asked to imagine themselves driving on a major highway. The degree of controllability and intentionality of the driving act was manipulated experimentally by altering the specific event-related details provided to the participants. Study 2 extended this research to life events by having participants complete online driving diaries every 2 days, identifying their most negative/upsetting encounter with another motorist. The most anger-provoking event was selected from among 4 diary entries and participants were asked to respond to a questionnaire similar to that used in Study 1. Path analyses in both studies generally supported predictions derived from Weiner's model; the association between perceived controllability, intentionality, and dispositional locus of causality of the negative driving event and subsequent anger was mediated by perceptions of responsibility. Additional results in Study 2 suggested that low perceived controllability, intentionality, and dispositional locus of causality were associated with reduced perceived responsibility, which, in turn, facilitated feelings of sympathy. Anger was associated with aggressive responses to the offending driver, whereas sympathy was associated with prosocial responses. Recommendations were offered for improved driver safety, including the development of attributional retraining programs to combat self-serving attributional biases, teaching novice drivers about both formal and informal roadway communication, and the promotion of forgiveness among drivers     

Attribution of success and failure revisited, or: The motivational bias is alive and well in attribution theory

Do causal attributions serve the need to protect and / or enhance self-esteem? In a recent review, Miller and Ross (1975) proposed that there is evidence for self-serving effect in the attribution of success but not in the attribution of failure; and that this effect reflects biases in information-processing rather than self-esteem maintenance. The present review indicated that self-serving effects for both success and failure are obtained in most but not all experimental paradigms. Processes which may suppress or even reverse the self-serving effect were discussed. Most important, the examination of research in which self-serving effects are obtained suggested that these attributions are better understood in motivational than in information-processing terms.     

Beliefs m Realistic and Unrealistic Control: Assessment and Implications

ABSTRACT Scales were constructed to measure perceived control over controllable events (realistic control) and perceived control over uncontrollable events (unrealistic control). Internal reliability, test-retest reliability, and discriminant validity of both scales were adequate. Study 1 measured perceived personal control over hassles that judges rated on general controllability. For hassles very high in controllability, perceived personal control was related to belief in realistic control but not to belief in unrealistic control; for hassles very low in controllability, perceived personal control was related to belief in unrealistic control but not to belief in realistic control. Study 2 showed that participants high in unrealistic control belief (but not those high in realistic control belief) persevered more on a task that was in part uncontrollable. Study 3 showed that the combination of low realistic control belief and high unrealistic control belief predicted poorer future health, particularly for participants who have reported the experience of many negative events and/or hassles. The conditions under which unrealistic control results in maladaptive outcomes are discussed.     

Solo status revisited: Examining racial group differences in the self-regulatory consequences of self-presenting as a racial solo

The present study examined the impact of racial group membership on the self-regulatory consequences of self-presenting with racial solo status. Based on the strength model of self-regulation, we proposed that individuals who acquire more practice with solo status by virtue of their racial group membership, may find it less depleting relative to individuals with less practice. To examine this, White and racial minority (Black, Hispanic) students at a predominantly White university were asked to engage in a self-presentation task in which they were assigned either racial solo or nonsolo status. Persistence on a subsequent hidden objects task served as the measure of depletion. Results revealed an interaction between racial group membership and solo status. In particular, consistent with previous research, White participants were more depleted (i.e., persisted less) after self-presenting with solo (vs. nonsolo) status. Racial minority participants, however, were not similarly impaired by solo status. These results suggest that our social group memberships, by virtue of the experiences they typically confer, may play an important role in determining which social demands will be depleting for whom.