Abstract

It was the purpose of the present investigation to determine the effects of three levels of audience evaluation on causal and trait attributions while performing a competitive motor task. Males and females (N = 60) were randomly assigned to an alone, one observer or three observer condition and either succeeded or failed (using a 9:1 ration) at the pursuit rotor task. Therefore, the design was a 2 (sex) x 3 (audience evaluation) x 2 (success-failure) with repeated measures on the last factor. Subjects performed ten trials and were provided bogus feedback via a computer. After assessing casual and trait attributions, subjects performed tenmore trials and were again given bogus performance feedback. Subsequent attributions were then assessed along with manipulation checks concerning task importance and success-failure. Results indicated a significant sex main effect with females viewing luck as a more important causal determinant of performance than males. The success-failure main effect indicated that subjects attributed success primarily to the internal factors of ability and effort whereas failure was attributed to the external factor of task difficulty. Finally, the sex x audience interaction indicated that males considered ability and effort to be more important determinants of performance than females as evaluation potential increased. Results are discussed in terms of social evaluation as well as Deauxs expectancy theory of sex-role socialization. Verf.-Referat