Attributions in the sports pages.

Abstract

University of IowaThe present investigation extended the generality of attribution research byexploring several important, issues in a highly involving real-world setting inwhich attributions naturally occur: athletic competition. Newspaper accountsof baseball and football games were coded for attributional content. These datasupported a motivational or self-enhancement explanation for the tendency tomake internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure. Nosupport was found for Miller and Ross's contention that this tendency is medi-ated by expectancies. It was also found that more attributions were-made afterunexpected, as opposed to expected, outcomes. And in accordance with Weiner'sattribution model, there was a tendency for relatively more stable attributionsto be given after expected outcomes. The. advantages and disadvantages ofstudying attributions in archival data and the possibility of attributions justi-fying behavior rather than explaining behavior are discussed.An important motivator of human thoughtis the desire to understand the determinantsof behavior. Like the psychologist, the averageperson is assumed to test causal theoriesconcerning the reasons behind his or her ownactions and the actions of other people. Suchcausal knowledge is highly adaptive, yieldingto lay attributors an understanding of (andconsequently the ability to predict and con-trol) many situations in which they findthemselves.The desire to achieve an understanding ofthe causes of human behavior has always beenconsidered the chief motivation underlying theattribution process (e.g., Jones & Davis, 1965;Kelley, 1967, 1971). Rather than studying at-tributions in important human situations,

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