Although Seligman (2006) indicates that sporting success is dependent primarily on ability and motivation; Schulman (1999) stipulates that optimism is also key to high athletic achievement. Optimism is conceptualized in two ways: as a dispositional trait characterized by a general sense of faith about the future (Scheier & Carver, 1985); and as an explanatory style which is the manner in which an individual explains their experiences, successes and failures. Explanatory style was previously known as attributional style (Abramson, Dykman, & Needles, 1991). Attribution theory has a strong theoretical presence in sport and exercise psychology (Biddle, 1993). Wiener’s model of achievement attributions was originally used in classroom settings but this theory has been expanded to include achievement in a variety of contexts. Attribution theory is the vigorous analysis of expressions of causal beliefs which emerged from the reformulation of learned helplessness theory and is ‘tightly woven into theoretical fabrics of reformulation and the hopelessness theory’ (Abramson et al., 1991, p.11). The learned helplessness model proposes that when experiencing uncontrollable aversive events, people become helpless, and hold generalized expectancies that future outcomes are unrelated to actions (Peterson, 2000). This concept was further explored by Seligman (2006) who replaced attributional style with explanatory style (Wiener, 1991). Explanatory style An athlete’s explanations are more than merely an assignment of cause after performance (Schinke & da Costa, 2001) but are also an important way of predicting biases, explanations, and future outcomes (Seligman, 1991). Elite athletes usually provide rich explanations for competition outcomes in attempt to refine performance and strive for higher achievement (Schinke, Peterson, & Couture, 2004). These explanations are often linked to expectations of future success or failure (Rettew & Reivich, 1995). Players who approach challenging tasks with minimal expectations of success are not likely to perform as well as those with high expectations (Orbach, Singer, & Price, 1999). Soccer players are faced with varying events in their game such as defeats, victories and adversities, and explanations for such situations will vary depending on their explanatory style. Explanatory style is conceptualized by Seligman (2006) in three dimensions: internality – internal or external (whether the person caused the event or whether it was due to external circumstances such as attributes of others or task difficulty) ; stability – stable or unstable (how long the person sees the cause lasting); and globality – global or specific (whether the event effects just one specific area or several domains). By examining these varying dimensions, a person’s explanatory style can be determined to be either optimistic or pessimistic. Optimistic explanatory style is characterized by the belief that one can control important outcomes (Peterson et al., 1982). According to Seligman’s (2006) perspective, optimists explain negative event by attributing cause to external, unstable, and specific factors (e.g. optimistic soccer players are more likely to say they missed a penalty because of a good save by the goalkeeper). On the other hand, a pessimist sees the world in a more negative manner and believes that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Pessimists are more likely to give up when faced with adversity (Kavussanu & McAuley, 1995). Explanatory style can also be determined based on how an individual explains positive events. Peterson (1991) offers that optimists will attribute the cause of positive events to internal, stable and global causes (e.g. we won because I am talented). The opposite is true for a pessimist in that they would explain positive events as external, unstable, and specific (e.g. ‘we won because the other team underperformed’). Pessimists explain negative events by attributing cause to internal, stable, and global (e.g. lack of talent) which can be detrimental to one’s self esteem (Seligman, 2006). Pessimistic athletes are more likely to lose confidence and motivation after a poor performance than an optimist (Seligman, 1990). Several studies have indicated that a more optimistic explanatory style can have on a positive impact on performance (Wilson & Stallings, 2005). The belief that one will succeed is “the engine that inspires the efforts needed to overcome obstacles and achieve goals” (Schluman, 1999, p.31). Seligman (2006) suggests that how one explains setbacks or difficulties will determine how helpless or energized they will become. An optimist views the world in a positive light and will tend to explain unsuccessful performances as temporary set backs. They take responsibility for their performance and maintain the belief that success can occur in future. They are more likely to renew efforts to accomplish goals because they believe that successful outcomes will occur as a result. Weiner (1986) suggests that the stability dimension of explanatory style influences expectations of success and failure. If a behavioural outcome is caused by a stable source then the behaviour is expected to persist. Attributing a negative event to a stable factor (e.g. ability) is linked to hopelessness as when one attributes. Some athletes believe that performance outcomes are permanent (e.g. due to ability), whereas others believe their results can fluctuate with time or effort (Schinke da Costa, 2001). From 30 years of research with over one million participants, it is claimed that optimistic explanations are significantly linked to achievement in various settings such as athletics, academia, military, and politics (Seligman, 1998; Boniwell, 2006). Within the sporting realm, optimism is related to improved performance. Review and Reivich (1995) found that baseball and basketball teams inheriting an optimistic explanatory style won more games throughout the course of a season, and performed significantly better in games following a loss than teams with a pessimistic explanatory style (Review & Reivich, 1995). Optimism is not only linked to better performance but also to motivation, persistence and the ability to overcome adversities (Carver, Blaney & Scheier, 1979 In. Kavussanu & McAuley, 1995). This was illustrated in a study with ranked US university swimming teams. Explanatory style and coaches judgments of swimmers’ resilience after defeat predicted how many unexpectedly poor swims the team member would go onto show. After negative feedback from their coach (e.g. a poor swim time), second swim times 30 minutes later were poorer for pessimistic swimmers but not for optimistic (Seligman, Nolen-Hoeksema, Thorton, & Thorton, 1990). The optimistic swimmer got faster after defeat and one swimmer went on to win 5 gold medals. Martin-Krumm, Sarrazin, Peterson, & Famose (2003) found similar results with a basketball team whereby those that gave optimistic explanations for a loss were more likely to win the next game than those who offered pessimistic explanations. A pessimistic explanatory style was linked to lower expectations of success, increased anxiety, and poorer achievement (Martin-Krumm et al., 2003). At team level, Gordon and Kane (2001) completed a study analyzing optimism and performance in the game of soccer. Similar to Seligman’s (1990) study, the ASQ was completed by players and highly significant positive relationship between optimism (ASQ scores) and performance was found. In alignment with Seligman et al (1990), the performance of pessimistic soccer players varied as a function of team’s performance (e.g. when the team was winning pessimistic players performed well, but their performance was worse in losing matches). Nevertheless, there was little variability among the optimistic players as they performed at high level across wins and losses. This may support that people with optimistic explanatory style not only try harder, but are able to enhance performance after negative feedback. Tsai, Chen and Kee (2007) found that athletes who are optimistic are less likely to experience burnout and suggest that coaches, and sport psychologists should aim to promote optimism in their athletes. Based on the findings regarding optimism and performance, it is reasonable to presume that an intervention geared towards promoting optimism could have several benefits. This could be attempted through changing pessimistic explanatory style to more optimistic explanatory style. Abramson, L.Y., Dykman, B.M., & Needles, D.J. (1991). Attributional style and theory: let no one tear them asunder. Psychological Inquiry, 2(1), 11-49.
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AuthorTracy Donachie, MSc in Performance Psychology. Archives
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