Explanatory style and resilience after sports failure

Some athletes habitually explain bad events with causes that are stable in time and global in effect, and explain good events with causes that are unstable and specific. This pessimistic explanatory style constitutes a dispositional risk factor likely to lead to lower expectations of success, to increased anxiety, and to poor achievement. 62 participants (mean age 14 years) performed a basketball dribbling trial and were given false feedback indicating that they had failed. Consistent with prediction, in a second trial, the optimistic participants (N = 22) were less anxious (assessed by heart rate acceleration), more confident, and performed better than pessimistic participants (N = 20). A third group with a neutral explanatory style (N = 20) obtained scores which were between the two other groups.

[1]  Relation of Irrational Thinking and the Pessimistic Explanatory Style , 2001, Psychological reports.

[2]  C. Peterson,et al.  Pessimistic explanatory style moderates the effect of stress on physical illness , 2002 .

[3]  C Peterson,et al.  Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: theory and evidence. , 1984, Psychological review.

[4]  M. Seligman,et al.  Learned helplessness in humans: critique and reformulation. , 1978, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[5]  C Peterson,et al.  The future of optimism. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[6]  C. R. Snyder,et al.  Handbook of positive psychology , 2002 .

[7]  M. Seligman,et al.  Explanatory Style as a Mechanism of Disappointing Athletic Performance , 1990 .

[8]  T. W. Smith,et al.  Interpersonal control and cardiovascular reactivity: goals, behavioral expression, and the moderating effects of sex. , 1996, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[9]  I. Altman,et al.  Social and psychological factors in stress. , 1970 .

[10]  R. J. Vallerand.  Méthodes de recherche en psychologie , 2000 .

[11]  Joel S. Warm,et al.  Optimism, pessimism, and false failure feedback: Effects on vigilance performance , 1999 .

[12]  G. Parfitt,et al.  Somatic anxiety and physiological arousal: Their effects upon a high anaerobic, low memory demand task , 1995 .

[13]  Susan Bobbitt Nolen,et al.  Adolescents' theories of education. , 1985 .

[14]  Curie Park,et al.  Learned Helplessness and Explanatory Style , 1998 .

[15]  H. Prapavessis,et al.  Learned Helplessness in Sport , 1988 .

[16]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  Estimating the effects of social interventions , 1981 .

[17]  A. Bandura.  Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory , 1985 .

[18]  Daniel W. Russell,et al.  Cross-Situational Consistency in Causal Attributions: Does Attributional Style Exist? , 1984 .

[19]  C. Peterson,et al.  Explanatory Style as a Risk Factor for Traumatic Mishaps , 2001, Cognitive Therapy and Research.

[20]  S. Biddle,et al.  Achievement goals and perceived ability predict investment in learning a sport task. , 1997, The British journal of educational psychology.

[21]  Christopher Peterson,et al.  The Meaning and Measurement of Explanatory Style , 1991 .

[22]  Christopher Peterson,et al.  Explanatory style, expectations, and depressive symptoms , 2001 .

[23]  Edward L. Deci,et al.  Elements of the Competitive Situation that Affect Intrinsic Motivation , 1996 .