Attributional Egocentrism Following Performance of a Competitive Task

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Abstract
A field study questionnaire examined the attributional patterns of males and females (N = 153 ages 11 to 58) who previously had won or lost tennis matches. Consistent with laboratory findings of attributional egocentrism, winning as compared to losing Ss attributed their performance more to internal facilitating factors (personal effort and ability) and less to internal debilitating factors (e.g., lack of practice). Sex differences indicated females took greater personal responsibility for a win than a loss, but also denied total responsibility by emphasizing the importance of luck more after a win than loss, suggesting a “fear of success” conflict. Males, on the other hand, employed less direct modes to achieve accountability for success and unaccountability for failure.