title: When the chips are down: effects of attributional feedback on self-efficacy and task performance following initial and repeated failure.
abstract: In two experiments, we manipulated the controllability and stability of causes of failure and explored the impact of these factors on self-efficacy and performance. In Experiment 1, participants (N=80; mean age 20.0 years, s=1.0) were provided with false negative feedback following performance on a blindfolded dart-throwing task. Consistent with theory and recent research, an induced belief that failure was beyond control and unlikely to change led to lower self-efficacy and poorer performance (all F1,754>5.49, all P<0.05, all η2=0.01). A second experiment (N=80; mean age 22.0 years, s=2.1) demonstrated that following an induced belief that failure was beyond control and unlikely to change, only new perceptions that a repeated failure was within one's control and likely to change resulted in higher self-efficacy and improved performance (all F1,75>4.53, all P<0.05, all η2>0.004). All effects were mediated by self-efficacy: Sobel's (1982) test, all z>1.97 (in absolute magnitude), all P<0.05, all r>0.22 (in absolute magnitude). These findings suggest that in novel circumstances individuals believe in the best for themselves unless possibilities to self-enhance are explicitly precluded, and only reinvest efforts when opportunities for self-enhancement become clearly admissible.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Sport, Health and Exercise Research, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK. p.j.coffee@staffs.ac.uk
authors.forename: Pete
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coffee
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rees
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D020377:Self Efficacy; D055815:Young Adult