BM

Personality in Sport Psychology

  • Types of Information Processing

    • Increased anxiety leads to attending to task-irrelevant information.
    • Attention is more influenced by subjective importance of cues (e.g., perceived threats) than actual location in the visual field.
    • Example: Imagery of a person on a tightrope over sharks illustrating anxiety and focus.

  • Control and Anxiety's Impact on Performance

    • Anxiety can lead to conscious processing that may result in "paralysis by analysis" or choking, where individuals over-analyze their actions instead of executing them.
    • Physiological mechanisms of anxiety include:
    • Increased muscle tension
    • Deterioration of fine motor skills due to coordination loss.

  • Personality in Sport

    • Personality can influence success in sports; it can govern one’s behavior and reactions in various situations.
    • Definition of Personality:
    • Hollander (1967): "sum total of an individual's characteristics making them unique".

  • Hollander's Model of Personality Structure

    • Three distinct levels:
    1. Psychological Core:
      • Represents the true self, including attitudes, self-concept, values.
      • Not easily visible to others.
    2. Typical Responses:
      • Reflects learned adjustment modes, responses to situations (e.g., humor, anxiety).
      • More observable, linked to the core.
    3. Role-Related Behaviors:
      • Changes based on perceived social roles (e.g., student, coach).
      • Influenced by the environment and dynamic in nature.

  • Theories of Personality

    • Psychodynamic Theories (Freud):
    • Focus on unconscious forces (ID, EGO, SUPEREGO).
    • Not typically used in modern sports psychology due to lack of measurable aspects.
    • Sheldon’s Constitutional Theory (1942):
    • Body type theories (somatotyping).
    • Body types associated with personality traits:
      • Endomorphic: cheerful, social
      • Mesomorphic: assertive, bold
      • Ectomorphic: introverted, tense
    • Trait Psychology:
    • Focus on stable characteristics (e.g., aggression, anxiety).
      • Innate traits that can be distributed normally among individuals.
    • Trait Models:
    • Cattell's 16PF: 16 key personality traits assessed.
    • Digman's Big Five Model:
      • OCEAN (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism).

  • Situationism and Interactionism

    • Situationism: Behavior changes with different situations.
    • Interactionism: Combines personal traits and situational context to predict behavior.

  • Measurement of Personality

    • Nomothetic Approach: Focus on individual traits via psychological inventories (e.g., SCAT).
    • Idiographic Approach: Whole-person view (e.g., life history, interviews).
    • Note: Psychological inventories vary in validity; self-presentation can skew results.

  • Key Takeaways:

    • Understanding the interaction of personality traits and situational context is critical in sports psychology.
    • Awareness of anxiety effects on attention and performance can help mitigate choking under pressure.