Effects of Self-Enhancement and Consistency on Causal and Trait Attributions following Success and Failure in Motor Performance

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the relative contributions of self-enhancement and consistency to causal and trait attributions of performance outcome (success and failure) in an achievement motor task. For this purpose, an experiment with a 2 × 2 × 2 (ego involvement x past outcome x present outcome) factorial design was conducted. Eighty college undergraduates performed ten practice trials on a motor task under the high or low ego-involving instructions and were told that they had performed much better or much worse than other college students. Following this past-outcome manipulation, subjects performed ten test trials and were given positive or negative feedback as in the case of the practice trials. The results supported the self-enhancement hypothesis in that: (a) causal and trait attributions to internal factors were greater following success than following failure on test trials and (b) trait attributions of task difficulty were greater under failure than under success on the t...