Attribution Training (AT) refers to interventions designed to influence the reasons athletes give for their performances. AT specifically aims to promote the use of controllable, unstable attributions on the basis that such attributions are determinants of positive emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to success and failure.
There are two broad approaches to AT. The first approach, explicit persuasion, seeks to convince people that performance in a particular task is caused by controllable and unstable factors (such as strategy) rather than by uncontrollable or stable factors (such as ability). Verbal persuasion can occur when introducing a task or following performance on the task. However, it does rely on the information being provided to be perceived as credible and realistic. The second approach involves changing the sources of information that people use to form their judgements and encouraging more balanced reflection on the factors that may have influenced performance. As such, performance evaluation exercises have been proposed to be effective ways of enhancing adaptive attributional thinking (e.g., Allen, Jones, & Sheffield, 2010).
Reference
Allen, M. S., Jones, M. V., & Sheffield, D. (2010). The influence of positive reflection on attributions, emotions and efficacy. The Sport Psychologist, 24, 211 226.
***Contributed by Iain Greenlees for Hackfort, D., Schinke, R. J., & Strauss, B. (Eds.). (2019). Dictionary of sport psychology: sport, exercise, and performing arts. Academic Press. https://amzn.to/3ZxARzT