Sports Psychology

sports and exercise psychology definition

 the scientific study of people and their behaviors in sport and exercise activities and the practical application of that knowledge

objective of S&E psych

understanding how psychological factors influence performance and how sports impact mental health and general well being

Three main roles of S&E psychologists

research, teaching, consulting

Sport psychology specialties

clinical sport psychologists and educational sport

clinical sport psych specialty

 licensed psychologists that are trained to work with people with severe emotional disorders ie helping athletes with eating disorders and substance abuse

educational sports psych speciality

mental coach approach - understand psych of human movement and training in physical education, kinesiology, or exercise and sports science. Educate and increase athletes and coaches awareness of issues such as anxiety management and confidence development

sports science knowledge domain

• Biomechanics

• Exercise physiology

• Motor development

• Motor learning and control

• Sports medicine

• Sports pedagogy

• Sport sociology

Psychology knowledge domain

• Abnormal psych

• Clinical psych

• Counseling psych

• Developmental psych

• Experimental psych

• Personality psych

• Physiological psych

  • How hormones and internal states impact mental state

Scientific approach

a process, or method, of learning of about the world through the systematic controlled, empirical, and critical filtering of knowledge acquired through experience 

• Systematic - standardized the conditions

• Controlled - no confounding variables

• Empirical - based on observation

• Critical - analysis of observation

methods of knowing

• Scientific method

• Systematic observation

• Single case study

• Shared (public) experience

• Introspection

• Intuition

Three approaches to s&e psych

• Psycho-physiological orientation

• Social-psychological orientation

• Cognitive-behavioral orientation

approach to s&e psych: Psycho-physiological orientation

•  Examines underlying psychophysiological processes of the brain in terns of primary causes of behavior (heart rate, brain wave activity)

  •  ie trained marksmen - they have to shoot in between their heart beats 

  • how the brain reacts to the body and vice versa

  • “I’m so tired. I want to quit”

approach to s&e psych: social psychological orientation

• behavior is determined by a complex interaction of the social environment and the personal makeup of the athlete or exerciser

  • how the general population or team affects your psyche and how people as a whole impact you. Again, also, vice versa

approach to s&e psych: cognitive-behavioral orientation

 behavior is determined by both the environment and thoughts (cognitions)

link of sports psych and business

• Lessons learned in high performance sport can be applied to business

• Corporate athlete notion focuses on helping people in business reach their goals through principles of sports psych and training

• Sustain high business performance through leadership development seminar, team building exercises, and one-on-one coaching

personality

the characteristics or blend of them that make a person unique

structure of personality

• Psychological core

  • Who you are at your base - the deepest part

• Typical responses

  • Related to social environment 

• Role related behavior

  • Who you are in different places/ with different people - dynamic 

  • How one acts in a particular social situation

approaches to understanding personality

• Psychodynamic approach

• Trait approach

• Situational approach

• Interactional approach

• Phenomenological approach

psychodynamic approach to understanding personality

• Behavior determined by unconscious and changing factors that often conflict with one another

• Emphasize understanding the person as a whole and not their isolated traits

• Freud

trait approach to understanding personality

Personality is hereditary - born with certain traits that are fundamental units of personality and predispose you to act a certain way

situational approach to understanding personality

Personality is dependent of context or environment and states that the situation is more determinant of behavior than particular personality traits

• not widely embraced

interactional approach to understanding personality

Personality is determined by the interaction of your environment and your traits you already had 

• You are an anxious person and are in an unsettling environment making you closed off and very anxious

• Majority of sports and exercises psychologists accept this

phenomenological approach to understanding personality

• Type of international approach but says you are influenced by traits, environment, but also how you perceive it

  • Also well liked

perfectionism

multidimensional construct that consists of various components, including setting high standards, feeling concern over mistakes, and being highly organized

• self oriented  Degree to which one sets high personal standards and stringently self evaluate relative to those standards 

• Socially prescribed: Perceives significant others hold high standards for the person and based approval on meeting those standards 

  • can either be good or bad

• Others oriented: One holds others to extremely high standards

depending on specific components can either be functional/dysfunctional

measuring personality: traits and states

• Trait is a typical style of behavior

• State is the situation’s effects on behavior - a “right now” feeling that can change from moment to moment 

• Situation-specific trait tests predict behavior more accurately than general trait measures 

• Often more effective to compare personality test scores to a person’s own previous test results than to a group norm 

• Projective tests are interesting but difficult to score

Do’s and donts in personality testing

• Do inform participants of the purpose of the personality test and how it will be used

• Do allow only qualified individuals who understand testing principles and measurement error to give personality tests 

• Don't use tests to predict behavior in sports and exercise settings without considering other sources of information

• Don't use personality tests to decide who makes a team or program and who does not 

cognitive strategies and athletic stress

• Cognitive strategies and mental strategies are skills and behaviors athletes have 

• Not personality traits but they reflect behavior aspects of personality and interact with personality characteristics

• Cognitive strategies are related to superior performance in elite athletes and help them to cope with adversity and mentally prepare non elite athletes

Arousal

the blend of physiological and psychological activation,varying in intensity on a continuum 

Anxiety

is a negative emotional state with feeling of worry, nervousness and apprehension associated with activation or arousal of the body

Stress

a substantial imbalance between physical and psychological demands placed on an individual and his or her response capability under conditions in which failure to meet demands has important consequences * you have to do something difficult and the outcome it’s important

Measuring arousal and anxiety

• physiological signs (heart rate, respiration, skin conductance, biochemistry)

• Global and multidimensional self reported scales: competitive state anxiety inventory, sport anxiety scale

Relationship between trait and anxiety state

• State refers to right now feelings that change from moment to moment 

• Trait anxiety is a personality disposition test is somewhat stable over time

• High versus low trait anxious people usually have more state anxiety in highly evaluative situations

emotions

“short lived feeling states that occur in response to events”

• Both physiological and psychological components

• Distinctions are made between mood and emotion but boundaries are often blurred

• Emotions influence performance while sport and physical activity participation influence emotions 

  • This is in essence the objective of sports and exercise psychology 

stress process

1. Environmental demand (physical and psychological)

2. Individual’s perception of the environmental demand (amount of psychological or physical “threat” perceived)

3. Stress response (physical and psychological)

4. Behavioral consequences (performance or outcome)

sources of stress and anxiety

• Situational sources

  • Event importance

    • Can create positive stress

    • Or can create negative stress/ anxiety that hinders performance

  • Uncertainty 

• Personal sources

  • Trait anxiety

  • Self esteem

  • Social physique anxiety

izof

people have different levels of ideal arousal that are in varying zones

stressor to control schematic

Different events create different feelings and emotions for different people and those people are going to react differently according to their characteristics and then they will feel they can or cannot control the situation

arousal

 it is multifaceted and consists of the following:

• Physical activation

• Interpretation - can be facilitative or debilitative

  • to perceive as facilitative self confidence and perception of control is important

• Doubtful that the optimal level of arousal is always at the midpoint of the arousal scale

• Interaction of physiological activation and arousal interpretation is more important than actual levels of each 

psyching up

strategies that should be employed with caution because it is difficult to recover from a catastrophe 

• Athletes should have well- practiced self talk, imagery, relaxation, and goal setting skills for coping with anxiety

why anxiety influences performance

• Increased muscle tension, fatigue, and coordination difficulties 

• Changes in attention, concentration, and visual search

  • Narrowing of attention

  • Attending to inappropriate cues

  • Visual cues are differently identified and processed when performers are anxious 

  • Performance worries and situational- irrelevant 

motivation

is the direction and intensity of effort

• Direction of effort 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

• Both are related

views of motivation

• Participant- or trait-centered view

• Situation-centered view

• Interactional view

Participant- or trait-centered view - Views of motivation

Motivated behavior is primarily a function of individual characteristics

situation-centered view - views of motivation

Motivation level is determined primarily by situation

interactional view - view of motivation

Motivated behavior results from the interaction of participant factors and situational factors

guidelines for building motivation

1. Both situations and traits motivate people

2. People have multiple motives for involvement. Understand why people participate in physical activity

3. Change the environment to enhance motivation 

   1. Provide both competitive and recreational opportunities

   2. Provide for multiple motives and opportunities

   3. Adjust to individuals within groups

4. Leaders influence motivation directly and indirectly

5. Use behavior modification to change undesirable participant motives

   1. Reward good behavior and reinforce good behavior 

   2. Last resort of having consequences for negative behavior if other resorts fail

key things to remember with motives of involvement

• May be multiple motives 

• May have competing motives for involvement

• People can have shared and unique motives 

• Motives can change over time 

• Motives differ across cultures

  • In America competition and improvement are motives while in China social affiliation and wellness are 

how to identify a participants motives

• Observe

• Talk

• Ask

major motives for sports participants

• Improving skills

• Having fun

• Being with friends

• Experiencing thrills and excitement

• Achieving success

• Developing fitness

major motives for exercisers

• Health factors

• Weight loss

• Fitness

• Self challenge

• Feeling better

reasons people continue with sports

• Enjoyment

• Liking instructor

• Liking type of activity

• Social factors

developing a realistic view of motivation

• Recognizing that Physical and psychological factors also influence behavior

• Some motivational factors are more easily influenced than others. (change motivational style rather than the building)

implications of motivation for professional practice

1. Recognize the interaction of personal and situational factors influencing achievement behavior.

   1. Goal orientation: ego (outcome) or task (mastery)

   2. Attributions

   3. Situations approached or avoided

2. Emphasize mastery (task) goals and downplay outcome goals. Create a mastery motivational climate

3. Focus on approach goals

4. Monitor and correct attributional feedback

5. Determine when competitive goals are appropriate

6. Enhance feelings of competence and control

mood

any short lived emotional state, usually of low intensity

• Disposition to respond emotionally in a particular way that lasts for hours, day, or even weeks perhaps at a low level and without the person knowing what prompted the state

• Disturbances in mood are characteristic of mood disorders 

• Emotions are intense feelings at are directed at someone or something

moods v emotions

• Moods lack an object; anger can be aroused by an insult but an angry mood may arise when one does not know what one is angry about or what elicited the anger

• Moods are feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that often lack a contextual stimulus

attribution theory

where do you attribute failure and success

• Internal unstable - something you can change about yourself 

  • Skill 

• Internal stable - something you cannot change about yourself 

  • Height

• External unstable - something you cannot change about the conditions

  • Im unlucky, the weather was bad, my opponents are lucky

competition

a social process that occurs when rewards are given to people for how their performance compares with the performance of others during the same task or when participating in the same event

cooperation

 a social process through which performance is evaluated and rewarded in terms of collective achievement of a group of people working together to reach a particular goal

four step model of competition

1. Objective competitive situation 

   1. See something like a scoreboard with your name on it -> makes you think you are about to compete

2. Subjective competitive situation

   1. Not everyone would view something as competitive -> someone that has never seen a scoreboard before wouldn't see it and get aroused 

3. Response 

   1. Arousal or not getting aroused 

4. Consequences 

   1. Performance