Persistence in a Putting Task During Perceived Failure: Influence of State-attributions and Attributional Style

Email: david.lefoll@uhb .fr Dans cette etude, on a examine l'influence de l'etat des attributions et le style attributionnel (AS) sur la persistance a court-terme d'un echec percu a une tâche de putting. 101 eleves debutants en golf ont participe a cette recherche. Deux epreuves de 8 putts ont ete interrompues chacune pendant trois minutes. Durant cette periode, on a mesure la persistance individuelle en comptant le nombre de fois que le sujet essayait de putter. L'analyse des resultats montre que le style attributionnel influence la persistance a court-terme contrairement a l'etat des attributions. Les sujets ayant un AS "fort controle personnel" font montre de plus de persistance que ceux ayant un AS "faible controle personnel". Ces resultats confirment ceux obtenus lors de recherches anterieures sur les benefices motiva- tionnels d'un style attributionnel "optimiste" dans des situations d'echec lors de la realisation d'une tâche. Des attributions instables sont particulierement benefiques aux sujets ayant un AS externe/incontrolable. Ces derniers ont un niveau significativement plus eleve de persistance que les sujets ayant un AS externe/incontrolable mais qui ont fait des attributions causales stables. This study investigated the influence of state-attributions and attributional style (AS) on short-term persistence in a putting task during perceived failure. Partici- pants were 101 novice golf students. Two trials of eight putts each were interrupted by a 3-minute free period during which individual persistence was measured by calculating the number of putts attempted in the free period. Analyses revealed that attributional style influenced short-term putting persistence but state- attributions did not. Participants with a "high personal control" AS showed greater persistence than those with a "low personal control" AS, which supports past research on the positive motivational benefits of a more "optimistic" attributional style in task failure situations. Moreover, unstable attributions were particularly protective for individuals with an external/uncontrollable AS, in that they promoted significantly higher levels of persistence than was shown by external/ uncontrollable AS individuals who made stable causal attributions.

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