Sport Psychology

General Learning Outcomes

Syllabus Question: To what extent do biological, cognitive and sociocultural factors influence behaviour in sport?

Biological

·         Genetic influence:

-          An athlete is able to perform at a higher level if their genes allow them to.

-          If an athlete lacks the required genetic disposition to perform well in a certain sport, regardless of how hard they try, they will be unable to perform well in that sport.

·         Gender:

-          Gender plays a role in determining the optimum performances of the athlete.

-          Overall, the physical disposition of a male allows them to excel further in sports and physical activities than a female is capable of.

-          This is proven by world records, where the world records of men are evidently much higher (or lower in terms of time) than the records set by females.

Cognitive

·         Cognitive-behavioural orientation:

-          Emphasizes the thoughts and mental processors of an athlete.

-          Self-talk and self-fulfilling prophecy

·         Concentration (being in the zone)

-          Having no fear

-          Being focused on the activity (no distractions)

-          Visualising the event in slow motion.

-          Not feeling the need to try hard but rather being one with the activity itself

-          Feeling increased personal control

Sociocultural

·         Gender stereotypes:

-          Males are more aggressive, independent, competitive and unemotional

-          Females are more soft, emotional, caring and gentle

-          Though society may not accept, in order to be successful in a chosen sport, females must exhibit male characteristics and behaviour in terms of the above mentioned.

·         Sporting Behaviour:

-          Abiding by etiquette/ unwritten rules that are observed by players.

-          Particularly in aggressive sports such as rugby, violence and fights may often erupt.

-          Some say that violent behaviour by sportsmen encourages violent behaviour in the crowd, however this has not been proven.

·         Spectators:

-          Crowds can influence a match by cheering for their team and putting off the opposition.

-          Fans purchase merchandise and tickets which benefit clubs financially.

-          Downside to fans: facilities are needed to cater for them and supervision is required. Hooliganism is a problem and large groups may need to be controlled by police which clubs have to pay for.

-          Different sports have different spectators which behave in different ways. (e.g. In golf the spectators are very quiet whereas in sports such as soccer and football, the crowd is very loud)

·         Social Class:

-          People who belong to a higher social class and are wealthier are more likely to take up elite and expensive sports.

-          This restricts what others are able to partake in, as someone may be good at a particular sport however be unable to afford it.

·         Race and Ethnicity:

-          There are certain sports that are accepted by the same race and ethnicity.

-          This influences which sports a person from a particular background will choose to play and as a whole, what that community will excel in.

-          Behaviour during the sport also reflect their ethnicity (e.g. Italians are divers in soccer).

Syllabus Question: Evaluate psychological research (that is, theories and/or studies) relevant to the study of sport psychology.

HEAPS DOWN THERE.

Emotion and Motivation

Syllabus Question: Evaluate theories of motivation in sport.

Self-efficacy Theory

·         Looks at the role of a person’s expectations

·         Bandura (1977) distinguishes between outcome expectations (estimate the probability that a set of behaviours will lead to an outcome) and efficacy expectations (belief in one’s ability to carry out the required behaviour)

·         Bandura also identified 4 sources of info about efficacy: previous successful performance, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal.

·         These can be used to improve self-efficacy

·         In order for self-efficacy to be high, athletes need a healthy attitude towards failure.

·         If athletes see others performing well, it will motivate them, however seeing others failing will be demotivating as it makes the task seem impossible.

·         Verbal persuasion from coaches and parents, etc, even self talk, if positive contribute to success. Negative comments are a threat to success.

·         Emotional arousal – if viewed as being catastrophic can inhibit performance by lowering self-efficacy.

·         Feelings of distress inhibit performance and is linked to low self-efficacy, resulting from negative self-talk or focusing on a previous failure.

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

·         The CET suggests that motivation is a combination of internal (intrinsic) drive to achieve our aims and external (extrinsic) factors which influence our drive.

·         This divides motivation into two: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic Motivation

·         Refers to reasons that are purely internal. It is motivation based on the task itself.

·         These individuals have a strong desire to perform well and succeed which pushes them to try harder, challenge themselves and be competitive.

·         Will often compete for enjoyment.

Advantages:

·         Athletes who are intrinsically motivated are less likely to be negatively affected by stress, guilt over mistakes or external distractions.

·         Less likely to ‘burn out’ and lose interest in the sport

·         Intrinsic motivation encourages confidence, focus and a sense of satisfaction.

Disadvantages:

·         Intrinsic motivation may not always be as powerful as extrinsic motivation when it comes to an athlete’s motivation to perfect their skill or play to the point of exhaustion.

Extrinsic Motivation

·         Motivation based on the possible outcomes for engaging in an activity.

·         Motivation comes from external sources, generally a desire for a promised reward.

·         Two categories of extrinsic motivation:

-          Tangible rewards: consisting of physical rewards such as money, medals and security.

-          Intangible rewards: consisting of praise, recognition, achievements, meeting the expectations of family and coaches.

Advantages:

·         Desire for a reward and fear of a punishment are psychologically powerful reasons for performing an activity, and thus extrinsic motivators can be extremely beneficial to an athlete’s performance.

·         Drives athletes to learn new skills and strategies.

·         Encourages positive coping styles.

Disadvantages:

·         Athletes who rely solely on extrinsic motivators will feel more anxiety before a match and will feel more guilt when they do not perform at their best.

·         Athletes lose interest and feel a lesser sense of enjoyment while playing or practicing the sport when they only have extrinsic motivators.

·         Can create a negative self-perception of one’s ability. If the athlete doesn’t reach an extrinsic reward, they may feel that they are wasting their time in sports and permanently quit the sport.

CET

·         Deals with the interactions between both of the mentioned motivators.

·         According to CET, internal motivation is fundamentally based on the satisfaction of a psychological need for competence.

·         Reason for participation in a sport comes from inside the participant (Ryan and Deci, 2000)

·         Ryan (1982) explains that external events have two functions

-          A controlling aspect

-          An informational or feedback aspect

Controlling aspect:

·         It is the perceived pressure to achieve a particular result

·         For example, a child wanting to win a match due to pressure from their parents.

·         When a controlling aspect becomes important, it can lower a person’s intrinsic motivation, because their desire to achieve something is no longer from their own needs but rather for others.

Informational/Feedback Aspect

·         This consists of things such as feedback from a coach or parents about performance.

·         Can have a positive or negative effect on motivation.

·         People can provide their own informational feedback through their thoughts on their own performance.

Case Studies:

·         Blanchard et al. (2009) surveyed 207 school-age basketball players via a questionnaire regarding the coach’s interpersonal style.

·         Aim was to test whether a controlling style affected their motivation to play basketball in terms of their competence and autonomy.

·         Result: Negative correlation between the degree of perceived controlling style and autonomy.

·         Feelings of autonomy and competence correlated strongly with emotions and satisfaction in sport.

·         Kimball (2007) conducted interviews with 12 North American collegiate athletes.

·         Aim was to investigate the nature and role of autonomy in relation to their sport

·         Open-ended questions were asked in three major themes: personal, relational (based on relationships with other) and lack of autonomy.

·         Results: Sense of personal autonomy related to identity development and increase in sense of maturity; leading to increased confidence and motivation.

·         Relational autonomy appeared to increase motivation; however decisions based around relationships with others were more likely to be personally harmful.

·         Lack of autonomy due to coach control or scholarships were found to be demotivating. To counter this, athletes would induce internal motivation by reminding themselves of why they are pursuing the sport.

·         Kingston et al (2006) found that scores on the sport motivation scale can be used to discriminate between scholarship and non-scholarship athletes in USA. This supports the idea that scholarships undermine motivation.

·         Hollembeak and Amarose (2005) research suggests that the athelete’s perception of the behaviour of coaches may be more important as a mediating factor. This idea is also supported by Kimball (2007)’s findings.

·         Cameron et al. (2005) found that the size of the reward is important and that experiments in the lab are different from scholarships and therefore an accurate conclusion cannot be deduced. In 2001, Cameron also argues that intrinsic motivation is not decreased by rewards.

·         These studies demonstrate criticism of explanations for behaviour at a cognitive level of analysis.

·         Lab studies can provide cause-and-effect relationships however lack ecological validity.

·         It is ethically problematic to run experiments of the effect of scholarships on motivation, so questionnaires are used that allow correlations to be found.

·         It is hard to measure intrinsic motivation.

Need Achievement motivation theory

·         Some sport psychologists believe that the most important factor in motivation is the need to succeed while other argue that it’s the motive to avoid failure.

·         McClelland and Atkinson (1961) argue that there needs to be a balance between the two.

·         Athlete is motivated because want to succeed and on the other they are motivated to not participate as they want to avoid failure.

·         If intrinsic motivation is moderate but anxiety is high, we will not be motivated to engage in sport or exercise.

·         According to McClelland et al. (1953) those who have high motivation to achieve are more likely to show high levels of performance, persist longer and attribute their failures to dispositional factors.

·         Those with high motive to avoid failure will tend to avoid activities that involve evaluation or the rick to fail. They tend to attribute their failures to situational factors.

·         Both motives are present in athletes however it is the difference between them that determines the personality factor called achievement motivation.

·         Greater the difference = higher achievement motivation.

·         Theory deals with how dispositional and situational factors influence achievement.

·         Claims that the balance between desire to achieve and fear of failure can predict whether a person will participate in sport.

·         Predicts motivation patterns, not performance, though it is assumed that achieved motivation can influence performance.

·         It is difficult to test these concepts, and it does not reliably predict performance.

·         Fodero (1980)studied elite gymnasts and failed to find a relationship between achievement motivation and performance.

Syllabus Question: Using one or more research studies, explain the role of goal-setting in the motivation of individuals.

·         Locke et al (1981) suggests that consciously chosen goals are behind most human behaviour.

·         Four conditions that are required to raise motivation and performance are:

-          Goals must be clear and specific.

-          Goals should be difficult

-          Goals need to be accepted

-          Feedback must be available, specifically about progress towards goal rather than achievement of the goal.

·         Short-term goals are more likely to be motivating than long-term goals.

·         Steinberg et al. (2000) suggested that mastery goals to do with improving skills tend to lead to more success.

·         Latham and Locke (2006) explain that goal-setting is important as we are more motivated to correct a discrepancy between a goal and knowledge of current performance.

·         No goal = no discrepancy = no need for change.

·         Locke (1991) suggest that it is an automatic process when there is feedback and therefore researchers need to be careful in constructing control groups to compare with explicit goal-setting groups.

·         Achievement of goals is associated with feelings of satisfaction.

·         This acts as a reward that encourages the repetition of goal-directed behaviour.

·         Interest in activity increases as successful goal-achievers attribute their satisfaction to the performance of the task and not the achievement of goals as more goals are achieved.

·         Locke and Latham (2006) also suggest that self-efficacy and goal-setting are complimentary theories.

·         Self-efficacy is increased by the successful achievement of goals.

·         Self-efficacy is still the motivational force underlying a person’s willingness to engage in activity, however, goal-setting describes one of the ways that self-efficacy can be increased.

Achievement Goal Theory

·         According to this theory there are two different dimensions that govern how people define success which is referred to as goal orientations.

·         Nocholls (1989)called the two goal orientations: task orientation and ego orientation.

 

Task Orientation:

·         Focus on achieving particular goals based on improving skill or knowledge. Usually involves collaboration with others.

Ego Orientation:

·         Focused on the self in comparison with others, goals are based on establishing superiority over others.

Case Study

·         Duda and Nicholls (1992)conducted a questionnaire on 207 high school students, assessing their goal orientations, satisfaction and interests and beliefs about the causes of success.

·         Findings led them to believe that sport is a domain that allows individuals to demonstrate how good they are.

·         Competitive sports consist of individuals with a stronger ego orientation and therefore perceptions of ability are the best predictors of satisfaction in sport.

·         Hanrahan and Cerin (2009) gathered responses from questionnaires given to male and female Australian athletes in team and individual sports

·         Results: Females had a stronger task orientation then males at all levels of sport.

·         No differences between gender in ego orientation was found.

·         Those who played individual sport were found to have stronger ego orientation than those in team sports.

·         This data is correlational and cause-and-effect cannot be identified.

·         Hanrahan and Cerin suggest that individual sports appeal more to those with an ego orientation because they often involve comparison and ranking.

·         Usefulness of theory = application to improve motivation in athletes

·         Those in team sports need positive feedback to increase their task orientation and take pleasure from personal improvement and team spirit rather than proving their superiority.

·         Feedback from coaches is very important.

Syllabus Question: Discuss theories relating arousal and anxiety to performance.

·         Arousal is a physiological state that prepares the body for action – the flight or fight response.

·         Through the release of hormones and activation of parts of one’s brain, a person’s alertness increases and reaction time decreases.

·         This may sometimes lead to anxiety and threaten performance.

·         Self-efficacy theory ties in here.

Drive Theory

·         The drive theory is supported by Hull (1943, Spence (1956) and Zajonc (1965).

·         Driver refers to arousal.

·          According to this theory, arousal is an increase in the activation level of the person that makes their dominant response more likely to occur and decreases the probability of other reactions.

·         Dominant response = that which is priority, usually because it’s well learned

·         When a person is prepared for a situation or hasn’t practiced enough for an action to be dominant, it may result in the wrong response.

·         Penalty goal kick = lot of practice, increase arousal = goal

·         Increase arousal = not enough practice = miss goal

·         The level of arousal has a direct effect on the quality of performance.

·         Well-practiced athlete = more arousal = better performance

·         Inexperienced athlete = more arousal = increased errors

·         Theory not very popular as research and evidence refute the theory. Even for well-practiced athletes, high levels of arousal can inhibit performance.

The Inverted-U hypothesis

·         Performance increases at first with increased arousal, but after a certain point – which varies between people, etc – performance drops.

·         Key difference between inverted u-hypothesis and drive theory is that in this theory, moderate levels of arousal are associated with successful performance.

·         Sports requiring fine movements and precision, are performed better at low levels of arousal

·         Sports requiring more effort like throwing and tackling will be performed at higher levels of arousal.

·         Sonstroem and Bernardo (1982) supported this theory by studying female basketball players.

·         Found that optimum level of arousal is the median level.

·         Problems with inverted-u theory are: that it lacks empirical support, a failure to distinguish between somatic anxiety and cognitive anxiety, and a lack of clarity to how performance effects arousal.

·         Hardy and Fazey (1987) suggested that, primarily cognitive anxiety has a mediating role in determining whether somatic arousal might lead to catastrophic effects.

·         Meaning = if a person is highly aroused, being worried about their performance at the same time would cause problems like choking.

·         Hardy et al. (1994) asked lawn bowlers to bowl under different conditions of physiological arousal and cognitive anxiety.

·         Found that performance suffered most when both were high.

·         Smith et al. (2000) developed a questionnaire to distinguish between golfers who suffered from the yips (physical symptoms) and those who tended not to.

·         Those who suffered from the yips sowed worse performance and above average heart rate.

·         This suggests that there is a relationship between fine motor control and anxiety, however the relationship is yet to be explained.

·         Although it has been made clear that anxiety has an impact on performance, it is not understood why.

·         It is not clear which comes first, lack of confidence or increased anxiety.

·         Some researchers cited anxiety as a causal factor that interacts with self-confidence to affect performance.

Optimal Arousal Theory

·         According to this theory, every athlete has their own zone of optimal functioning (ZOF).

·         Suggests that each person has a narrow range, somewhere between not anxious and extremely anxious, where there performance will be at their best.

·         An athlete’s precompetitive anxiety so that it can be compared with performance is used to try and establish each individual’s ZOF.

Skill Development and Performance

Syllabus Question: Evaluate techniques for skill development used in sport.

Mental Imagery

·         There are two types of imagery, internal imagery (athlete imagines performing the activity) and external imagery (athlete imagines from the perspective of an observer).

·         Moran (2009) suggests that there is also the distinction between visual and motor imagery, where motor requires imagining the body actually moving.

·         Imagery enhances performance, manages arousal and assist rehabilitation after injury. (Jones and Stuth 1997)

Study:

·         Research by Marlow et al. (1998) looked at the effect of mental imagery on three athletes who were part of a water polo team.

·         They were experienced in taking penalty shots, however for one and a half weeks were told not to practice physically but to only use mental imagery, internal and external.

·         By the end, when asked to perform penalty shots, there was a significant increase in performance by all three participants which lasted throughout the research.

·         Increase by 21%, 25% and 28%

·         Jones and Stuth (1997) identified problems with mental imagery.

·         It is not possible to know what is going on in an athlete’s mind and if they have the same mental imagery occurring for the same length of time.

·         Moran (2009) points out that many researchers instruct participants not to think of something which is almost impossible to do.

·         It is also difficult to establish whether mental imagery is a cause or by-product of successful performance of skills.

·         Decety and Ingvar (1990) report that various parts of the frontal cortex are activated when a person is imagining carrying out a physical activity. So the more timing and planning is in the performance of a skill, the more likely it is that having previously imagined performing the skill will help.

·         Moran (2009) also reports that the brain is activated whilst watching someone else perform the activity and that high-level athletes are better at predicting the outcome of another athlete’s bodily actions than people like coaches and journalists.

·         Wright and Jackson (2007) concluded that this may be due to activation of mirror-neurons.

Self-Talk

·         Self-talk is another popular method used to improve skills and enhance performance.

·         Hardy (2006) defined it as being verbalizations or statements addressed to the self which serve as instructions and motivation.

·         Positive self-talk facilitates performance whereas negative self-talk is critical or pessimistic.

·         Instructional self talk is when athletes give themselves instruction on how to complete a task

·         Motivational statements are encouragements a sportsperson uses.

·         There is also overt and covert self talk where overt is visible (out loud) and covert goes on in the athlete’s mind.

·         Self talk is a powerful motivational tool that can focus attention

·         If it is negative, it can reduce self-efficacy and contribute to choking.

·         The Self-talk and Gestures Rating Scale (STAGRS) is used to measure overt self-talk.

·         Internal thoughts, however, cannot be recorded.

·         Van Raalte et al. (1994) used STAGRS and found that negative self-talk was used more by unsuccessful tennis players, but there was no difference in the amount of positive self-talk.

·         They suggest that positive self-talk is more likely to be covert which complicates the measurement process.

·         Losing triggers negative self-talk. This is seen with overt self-talk however it is not possible to say that losses cause negative covert self-talk.

Syllabus Question: To what extent does the role of coaches affect individual or team behaviour in sport?

·         Short and Short (2005) identify five key roles of a coach: Teacher, Organizer, Competitor, Learner, Friend/Mentor

·         Most research is done on the teacher aspect and coach/athlete relationship.

·         Coach has a key influence over the motivational climate which is the cues and expectations that contribute to a particular goal orientation.

·         This goal orientation can focus on improvement (mastery climate) or comparative success (performance climate).

·         If a coach establishes a mastery climate, there are higher levels of motivation, enjoyment and performance amongst younger athletes.

·         Balaguer et al. (2002), asked female handball players to complete a questionnaire and found that motivational climate was associated with feelings of competence and a sense of improvement in performance.

·         Smith et al. (1979) described a training program for coaches that might establish a motivational climate.

·         This includes: rewarding good play immediately, offering encouragement not punishment for mistakes, maintaining order with clear instructions and establishing expectation and a role as an instructor.

·         Fraser-Thomas et al. (2008) found that players are more likely to persist with the sport if they are satisfied with their coach.

·         After interviews, they found that swimmers that had dropped out of swimming didn’t have a great relationship with their coach whereas those who continued the sport were satisfied with their coach.

·         Parents also have a major impact on children and their continuing the sport, it is not just coaches.

·         Jowett and Cockerill (2003) found that closeness, co-orientation and complimentarity with their coaches were all important to successful Olympic swimmers.

·         Keegan et al. (2009) ran a focus group with 40 children, aged between 7 and 11 to summarize the effects of coach behaviour.

·         Equality, one-to-one coach instruction, positive feedback, competitive tasks and fun activities at the end of training had a positive impact.

·         Fault-finding and labeling was demotivating.

·         Baker et al. (2000) indicates that a coach has a key influence on anxiety.

·         Good feedback = self-confidence and better performance and vice versa.

·         Coaches expectations of athletes also effects their performance.

·         It’ll affect the way a coach treats athletes, and depending on whether it is positive or negative, will have a corresponding affect on motivation and performance of athletes.

·         More research is needed to study the causal relationships between the coach’s role and performance through comparisons of equal training of athletes that coaches have high and low expectations for.

·         Performance cannot be solely a result of a coach’s feedback or expectations.