The purpose of this investigation was to examine culturally based differences in the perceptions of causal attributions for achievement outcomes in sports in a Western and an Asian country. In three studies using a simulational technique, the authors got consistent disparity for the results found in Germany and in China. The Chinese participants perceived the causes for subjective success and failure as more internal and more controllable than their German counterparts. This result is discussed from the perspective of the traditional Chinese culture as well as from today's social conditions in the People's Republic of China.
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