History of Sports
Psychology
The relationship between mind & body has been known for
centuries.
Ancient Greeks believed exercise was an important component
of both physical and mental health, in the sixteenth century, Mendez wrote the
book entitled “Book of Bodily Exercise”, which discussed the effects of
exercise on the mind.
Psychologist & Philosopher James said,
“Everyone knows the effect of physical exercise on the mood: how much more
cheerful and courageous one feels when the body has been toned up, than when it
is run down… Those feelings are
sometimes of worry, breathlessness, anxiety, and tension; sometimes of peace
and repose. It is certain that physical
exercise will tend to train the body toward the latter feelings. The latter feelings are certainly an
essential ingredient in all perfect human character.”
Exercise and sports psychology is concerned with the
psychology of human movement as it is reflected in our behaviour, thoughts and
feelings of the individuals engaging in that movement.
Many of the theories and methodologies that are used in
exercise and sports psychology come from its parent discipline psychology.
Exercise and sports psychology has two primary research
objectives:
Determination of the
psychological antecedents of participation in sports and physical activity
- Personality factors that might lead someone to
participate in sports or physical activity.
- Examine effects of pre-competition anxiety or
confidence on performance.
Determine what the
psychological consequences of participating in sports or physical activity.
- How exercise might influence anxiety, depression
or well-being.
- How sports performance might influence feelings
of self-confidence or self-efficacy.
Personality
Have you ever tried to
describe your own personality? If you have, you probably found yourself listing
adjectives like funny, outgoing, happy or stable. Maybe you remembered how you
reacted in various situations. Is there more personality than these kinds of attributes?
Many theorists have attempted to define personality and they agree on one
aspect: uniqueness. In essence personality refers to the characteristics or
blend of characteristic to make a person unique. (Weinburg&Gould 2007)
The best way to understand personality is through a
structure.
The structure can be divided into three separate but related levels.
The characteristics or blend of characteristics that make a
person unique can be applied into this structure…
(Hollander 1967)
- Psychological core
- Typical responses
- Role- related behaviour
Psychological Core:
The most basic level of your own personality, this is the
deepest component it includes your attitudes and values, interests and motives
and beliefs about yourself. The psychological core represents the centrepiece
of your personality and is the ‘THE REAL
YOU’ not who others think you are. For example: basic values might revolve
around the importance of family, friends in your life.
Typical Responses:
Typical responses are the ways that we each learn to adjust
to the environment or how we usually respond to the world around us. For
example: you might be happy, shy and even tempered, the often typical responses
are good indicators of your psychological core.
Role Related Behaviour:
This behaviour is the most changeable aspect of your
personality. Your behaviour changes as your perceptions of the environment change.
Different situations require playing different roles. For example: Being at university,
being a football coach to then being with family and loved ones.
Psychodynamic
Approach (Freud, 1933)
Behaviour is determined by a number of unconscious,
constantly changing factors that often conflict with one another. Emphasis is
placed on understanding the person as a whole, rather than identifying isolated
traits.
- ID: basic instincts – no conscious control.
Eating when hungry
- EGO: Conscious link with situation. Seeks
to satisfy desire of ID.
- SUPEREGO: your ‘moral arm’. Judges whether
behaviour of EGO is appropriate
These components interact to produce individual patterns of
behaviour in sporting situations
According to this theory, personality is formed because of a
permanent state of conflict between seeking (ID), releasing (EGO) and inhibiting
(SUPEREGO) behaviour.This theory provides a good explanation for aggression in
sport. However, this raises the question is personality nature or nurture?
The psychodynamic approach is complex; it views personality
as a dynamic set of processes that are constantly changing and often in conflict
with one another (Vealey, 2002).
Trait Approach
Behaviour is determined by relatively stable traits that are
fundamental units of personality. These traits predispose one to act in a
certain way, regardless of the situation.
WHAT ARE TRAITS?
- A trait is said to be a characteristic
inherited at birth
- Causes you to act in a certain way
- Stable and enduring across all situations
Trait theory attempts to predict behaviour via personality
traits *B=F(P)*
Cattell (1965) identified 16 groups of traits, arranged in
hierarchical order with the strongest overriding others. Measurement through
questionnaires.
Cattell's sixteen factors of personality, all bipolar are
listed below.
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
reserved
- - - -
- - -
- outgoing
less
intelligent
more intelligent
affected by
feelings
emotionally stable
submissive
dominant
serious
happy-go-lucky
expedient
conscientious
timid
venturesome
tough-minded
sensitive
trusting
suspicious
practical
imaginative
forthright
shrewd
self-assured
apprehensive
conservative
experimenting
group
dependent
self-sufficient
uncontrolled
controlled
relaxed
tense
Eysenck (1968) supported Cattells work, although suggested
that ‘personality types’ should be used.
Therefore, a number of possible behaviours could happen
although the personality type would still predict response.
Eysenck developed an inventory that was based on the theory
that personality could be measured from looking at TWO dimensions.
- Introversion – Extroversion
- Neuroticism – Stability
Distance runners have been found to be mainly introverted
whilst footballers have been found to be mainly extroverts
Athletes have been found to be towards the unstable,
neurotic end of the scale. This may explain why they have the drive to train
hard.
Girdano (1990)
Developed from trait theory is the ‘Narrow Band approach’
Very simply, it defines 2 personality types: type A and type
B
TYPE A:
- Highly competitive, strong desire to succeed, works
fast, likes control, suffers stress
TYPE B:
- Non-competitive, un-ambitious, works at slower pace,
does not enjoy control, relaxes easily
Trait approach
Current impact: Has little influence.
Weakness: Knowing traits will not always help predict behaviour
in particular situations.
Contribution: Emphasizes the importance of traits and the
measurement of such dispositions.
Situational/State Approach
This differs from the trait approach in that behaviour is
determined largely by the situation or environment.
Current impact: Has little influence.
Weakness: Situation will not always influence individual behaviour.
Contribution: Emphasizes the importance of the situation.
Social Learning
Theory – Bandura (1963)
B=F(E)
States that behaviour changes with the situation
Rather than being born with characteristics, we learn them
from other people, especially those we hold in high esteem
- e.g. significant others such as role models, friends
& parents
Therefore responses by the individual cannot be predicted
Learning takes place in two ways:
- Observation (modelling)
- Social reinforcement
Weakness:
Doesn’t take into account inherited behaviours
Some relationship exists between personality traits and
states and sport performance, but it is
far from perfect or precise, no single definitive personality profile has been
found that consistently distinguishes athletes from non-athletes. Few
personality differences are evident between male and female athletes.
Morgan’s (1980)
mental health model shows that successful athletes exhibit greater positive
mental health than do less successful athletes. However, precise predictions
have not been achieved and should not be used for team selection.
The Iceburg
Profile
Type A behaviour patterns (particularly the anger-hostility
component) are associated with cardiovascular disease and appear to be altered
via exercise. Exercise and increased fitness appear to be associated with
increases in self-esteem, especially in individuals with low self-esteem.
Motivation
What is Motivation?
Motivation can be defined simply as the direction and
intensity of one’s effort (Sage, 1977). Sport and exercise psychologists can view
motivation from several specific vantage points, including achievement
motivation, motivation in the form of competitive stress, and intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation. These varied forms of motivation are all parts of the
more general definition of motivation.
Direction of effort refers to whether an individual seeks
out, approaches, or is attracted to situations, Intensity of effort refers to
how much effort an individual puts forth in a situation and direction and
intensity of effort are closely related.
Motivation can be categorised into two types:
Intrinsic Motivation
- Intrinsic (self) motivation comes from our own inner
drive.
E.g.
taking part in something for enjoyment
- The pleasure of being successful and
performing skilfully
- Pleasure gained from being with others
- Improving skill and fitness levels
Extrinsic Motivation
- Extrinsic motivation comes from rewards and outside
pressures.
Examples:
Winning competitions
- Being praised for our achievements
- To satisfy the expectation of parents and
coaches
- Material Rewards e.g. money and medals.
The views of
motivation;
Participant- or Trait-centred View-
- Motivated behaviour is primarily a function of
individual characteristics (e.g., needs, goals, personality).
Situation-Centred View-
- Motivated behaviour is primarily determined by the
situation.
Interactional View-
- Motivated behaviour results from the interaction of
participant factors and situational factors.
Achievement
Motivation
Achievement motivation
- A person’s orientation to strive for task success,
persist in the face of failure, and experience pride in accomplishments (Gill,
2000)
Competitiveness
- “A disposition to strive for satisfaction when making
comparisons with some standard of excellence in the presence of evaluative
others” (Martens, 1986)
What is Achievement Motivation?
“…the athlete’s predisposition to approach or avoid a
competitive situation”.
This is much more than getting motivated for a one off
event.
“..it is the fundamental, internal drive that motivates
athletes to commit a large proportion of their lives to achieve a particular
goal.” (Cox, 1985)
Your motivation to do well in an achievement situation is
referred to as achievement motivation. Sport specific achievement motivation =
Competitiveness.
McClelland-Atkinson Model
- The Need to Achieve Success (TAS): People
with the tendency to approach success
- The Need to Avoid Failure (TAF): People with
the tendency to avoid failure
The need to achieve
success:
These people are motivated to succeed and not worried about
the possibility of failure.
They are more competitive and tend to be stimulated by
situations involving risk.
They are more likely to accept challenges where the
probability of success is low and perceive easy tasks to be too boring to
attempt.
Enjoy being evaluated on the basis of Ego/ability goals.
The need to avoid failure:
These people are scared of failure and as such lack a
competitive edge.
Hate being evaluated on Ego/ability goals as these might
lower self-esteem.
They are more likely to accept challenges where the
probability of success is quite high or attempt tasks that are impossible
because they might actually get credit for having a go against the odds (heroic
failure)!
Attribution Theory
Attribution categories:
- Stability
- Locus of causality
- Locus of control
Attributions
|
Psychological result
|
- Stable
- Internal cause
- In one’s control
|
- Increased expectation of
success
- Increased pride or shame
- Increased motivation
|
Achievement Goal
Theory
Outcome goal orientation (or competitive goal orientation)
focuses on comparing performance with that of others and defeating others.
Task goal orientation (or mastery goal orientation) focuses
on improving relative to one’s own past performances.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s is a well-known snooker player, not just
because of his amazing skills within snooker but his attitudes and personality.
From a sports psychology view his personality and motivation levels reflect on
his sports performance levels. As we all know motivation and personality links
in together, Ronnie O’Sullivan is a big icon to analyse. I feel that he has
both intrinsic and extrinsic factors to motivate his success as he likes the
rewards that he gets such as the money involves for example he retired early
and came back into the snooker world once again for the money. But he also does
the sports for his father which is a big impact for him which is an intrinsic
factor. For his personality he would be classed as a type A personality group. His
personality when player a game of snooker is a not great as he would walk out
after a game instead of waiting around.
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbIs8jb-Ryc
