The Pros And Cons Of Attribution Theory

Using attributional theories, evaluate critically the reasons why this young person does not participate in sport. How might you persuade this young person to once again take up sport?

How much of what happens in our lives do we actually control? This is a question that mankind has been pondering for thousands of years. There are two different articles that could answer the question. David Epstein, the author of “The Sports Gene”, writes about a true story of fate, in which an amateur high jumper makes it to the top due to his god-given gift of a large Achille’s tendon. Malcom Gladwell argues in his piece, “Outliers,” that success depends on one’s willingness to practice or try again. Using extensive research and solid evidence, Malcom Gladwell creates a better argument that success is a result of hard work and dedication, and therefore better answers the question, “How much of what happens in our lives do we actually control?”

Some people believe that humans do not control their own destiny, and success is due to natural causes. Others believe that humans do control their own destiny, and success is due to hard work. The Sports Gene, written by Daniel Epstein, is about a young man named Donald Thomas who discovered his natural talent for high jumping through a friendly bet. Outliers: The Story of Success, written by Malcolm Gladwell, explains that hard work is more important than natural talent. Through thorough explanation, Gladwell produces a more convincing argument supporting hard work over natural talent for controlling what happens in our lives.

When an individual grows up to be an athlete, we question them on why they are so talented. There are two factors that are taken into account on this topic, and that is their genetic features or their biocultural characteristics. After long studies, philosophers finally agreed that human development is comprised of two factors: nature and nurture. People argue about this because they believe it is what determines our personality and behavior. Nature is the genetics that determines the result, and nurture is the environment that determines the result. Although these factors can be debatable, most scientists believe both of these contribute to the idea of exercise and sports science. Some believe it is the

For many years, the mental aspect of sports performance has received considerable attention in sports psychology. The cognitive processes in elite and less skilled athletes have been studied extensively, in an attempt to shed light on the variables arbitrating task execution during performances (Beilock, Carr, Machon & Starkes, 2002). This essay investigates how cognition differs in elite and less skilled athletes. Firstly, it considers elite-novice- differences in attentional focus; which suggests that where athletes direct their attention while performing differs across skills. Moreover, the essay closely examines the difference in elite and novice athletes ' ability to make effective decisions during performances (Milazzo, Farrow, Ruffault & Fournier, 2016).

There are a lot of aspects that should be taken into account when determining what makes an athlete successful. One could argue that natural ability is one of the determining factors which leads to success. For example, if an athlete has dreams of playing in the NBA then height makes a difference. There aren’t many successful players in the league under six feet tall. One could argue that level of competition plays a role in the development of an athlete. This could include the skill level of the opponent or outside factors such as playing conditions or game circumstances. These types of arguments play a role in athlete success, but will not be used in this paper because they are factors that are out of the athlete’s control. This paper

The Sports Gene, written by David Epstein, supports the argument that natural ability controls our lives. Malcolm Butler, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, argues that preparation and work ethic are more important than innate talent. With great examples and reasoning, Butler builds a more convincing argument by presenting evidence and reasoning from the text, making Butlers position better for answering the question How much of what happens in our lives do we control?

Responsibility is a characteristic that an athlete must possess in order to become successful in the transition into

I can definitely appreciate the Psychology studies so far from just reading and taking the

One of the first strategies that Craig espouses from his experience with brooks is that great teams have to think of themselves as underdogs. The underdog effect is one of he greatest motivators there is in sports because it tells the athlete that they are not good enough to beat the opponent. Brooks and the athletes were “experiencing an underdog status may nonetheless feel self-efficacy, which facilitates performance success. Psychological reactance (?) theory suggests that individuals want to make their own choices and that when they perceive that their freedom is threatened, they tend to react in ways that restores their freedom”(Davis, Burnette, Allison, Stone 334). The underdog status is the

The ultimate quest for sport psychologists is to establish what psychological factors produce the winning formula or to try to establish a profile of the successful athlete. Within the psychological framework attempts, to determine the "ideal athletic personality" have only been marginally successful (Morgan 1980, in White, 1993). One of the categories observed in order to understand and move towards the 'ideal athletic personality' is that of Psychological Skills Training (PST), "It is contended that mental skills training is a significant part of sport psychology and is of particular importance to athletes and coaches" (Rushall, 1995, p0.3).

Analyzation of factors that affect the players overall performance and participation but also the improvement the player could make during activity. Preparations are psychological need for most players as such they have different types of preparations which involve the mindset of the individual, having a positive attitude towards your actions and mistakes can lead to increase in performance in which players tend to maintain high level of self-motivation. Players tend to set goals for them in which they can achieve in a certain amount of time; these goals may include techniques or even fitness challenges. Positive mental imagery is a technique the player uses the illustrate to himself he’s skills and how he will apply them to the game, without maintaining concentration this would cause the player’s anxiety to go unstably high causing a defect in his technique. Motivation is a large factor regarding a player’s performance; this motivation can be passed on Extrinsic or Intrinsic.

Therefore in addition to the social sciences and pedagogic literature I have tried to review its application within sports coaching.

Over the summer, I played tennis with my dad and younger brother pretty often. I always had this preconceived notion before we went to play that I was a better player than my brother, even though he is amazing, especially for his age. One day, I played awfully; I felt like I hadn’t played that poorly in years. Instinctively, I came up with every possible excuse to reason why I played so badly. It was too hot; I couldn’t see the ball; I was distracted by the dogs barking nearby. I went on and on with excuses, external factors, but I never attributed my failure to any internal factors. I didn’t understand why I didn’t play well, so there must have been some other reason. I grudgingly accepted my defeat and told myself that there is always another day for me to play better. I realized that I wasn’t being honest with myself about the game after I went home and started replaying it in my head. It slowly dawned on me that I was at fault for not playing well, not the weather or other noises. I didn’t bend my knees enough, I didn’t follow through with my racquet, and I was too lazy when I had to sprint towards the ball. It was because of me that I lost the game, not because of something else. This showed me that just because something doesn’t go my way doesn’t mean I get to blame it on some external factor; I have to take some time to think about what happened to see if the reason the event occurred was due to what I did. On the other hand, when I found out that I performed really well on any test, I didn’t attribute it to the weather or to any other external factor; I never thought “The test was just really easy that time” or “The teacher graded it leniently this time”. I gave credit to myself for putting so much time and effort into studying, and I

Motivation is crucial for an athlete in order to want to win. It is hard to want to win if you have no motivation. The main aspect of motivation in terms of the self-determination theory is intrinsic motivation. The self-determination theory can be defined as “a highly appropriate conceptual framework from which to study sport persistence and dropout” (Calvo, Cervelló, Jiménez, Iglesias, & Moreno Murcia, 2010). Intrinsic Motivation can be defined as “an athlete taking up playing a sport just for the enjoyment of playing a sport” (Pelletier, Tuson, Fortier, Vallerand, & Briére, 1995). It is important to realize that the self-determination theory affects an athlete’s motivation intrinsically (internally) because the self-determination theory uses factors like “autonomy” and “competence” to motivate an athlete to play better in their sport. Most athletes, now and in the past, find it easier to motivate themselves intrinsically if they enjoy the sport or have fun while playing the sport (Ryan & Deci, 1985).