The role of self-schema in attributions for own versus other's exercise lapse

Kendzierski and Sheffield (2000) found that exerciser schematics made less stable attributions for an exercise lapse than did aschematics; this could occur because they either perceived similar causes differently or encountered less stable obstacles to exercise. This research tested the perceptual explanation by examining the stability of the attributions that undergraduates who did versus did not have an exerciser self-schema made for specified lapses that they imagined as having happened to themselves versus another student. It also explored whether exerciser self-schema status was associated with differences in attributions of personal and external control. Consistent with the perceptual explanation, students with an exerciser self-schema made less stable attributions for a lapse imagined as having happened to themselves than did students without an exerciser self-schema, but equally stable attributions for a lapse imagined as having happened to another. Moreover, a content analysis revealed that the 2 groups cited similar causes for their own imagined lapses, providing further evidence that the difference in perceived stability was due to the groups perceiving similar causes differently. Exerciser self-schema status was not associated with attributions of either personal control or (in any clear way) external control.