Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess differences between the current and former users of anabolic steroids (AS) and the control subjects in the following cognitive processes describing one’s self-image as a performer:
1) conviction about exerting control over one’s own achievements, and 2) self-protective interpretation of the achievement. Two inquiry techniques were used:
1) the “Delta” questionnaire for estimation of the feeling of internal-external control; 2) the I-E Scale for estimation of the attributive patterns of success and failure. Three groups of male subjects were examined: bodybuilders currently on steroids (+ +), bodybuilders – former AS users (+ –), and control athletes (– –). The obtained results allow to draw two conclusions. Firstly, compared to the current and/or former AS users, the subjects with no AS experience (controls) demonstrated a significantly stronger sense of being a performer, exerting the internal control. Secondly, the differences in the individual feeling of being a performer were expressed in the ways in which the subjects interpreted causes of the achieved results by means of the so-called attributive patterns: the subjects with no AS experience exhibited a more beneficial and self-protective pattern of the attribution of failure than did the former and/or current AS users. Verf.-Referat