Perceived competence and causal attribution of junior football players

The motivational model of causal attribution predicts that emotions and expectations generated by the type of cause utilized by a person, to explain what happens to himself, can influence his motivation. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the causes attributed by 111 junior football players to their competence level and its influence on their emotions, expectations and disposition for the action. The results showed that those who evaluated having a high competence level utilized more internal, more stable and equally controllable causes comparing to those who evaluated having a lower competence level. This may explain the absence of significant differences in negative emotions, expectations, and dispositions for the action of athletes.

causality; competence; motivation; football