Lesson Structure: Sports Psychology BPS106

There are 8 lessons:

1  Introduction

• Introduction
• History of Sports Psychology
• Performance Psychology
• Physiological Psychology
• Psychophysiolog
• Exercise Psychology
• What is the Difference Between Sports and Exercise Psychologists?
• Environmental Influences
• Aspects of Sports Psychology
• Applying Sports Psychology

2  Psychological Traits of Successful Athletes

• Personality traits are different to Psychological disposition
• Personality Traits
• Personality Types
• Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory of Personality (1933)
• Hollander’s Personality Structure
• Psychological Core
• Typical Responses
• Role Related Behaviour
• Drive Theory
• Psychological Dispositions
• The Sporting Personality
• Concentration
• Psychological Attributes can predict Success
• Personality Theories – An Overview
• The Interactionist Approach
• Stress and Stressors
• Self-esteem and improved involvement in physical activity
• Learned Helplessness
• So what are the benefits of understanding the personality profile of athletes?

3  State of Mind.

• Anxiety and Arousal – an Introduction
• Anxiety: State Anxiety, Trait Anxiety, Physiology of Anxiety, Psychology of Anxiety, Competitive anxiety, Relationship Between Emotional Arousal and Performance
• Arousal: Physiology of Arousal, Psychology of Arousal, Choking
• Cognitive Technique
• How to Maximise Psychological State: Ways to ‘Psych’ Yourself into a Peak Psychological State, Ways to Prevent Choking, Relaxation Techniques, Imagery/Visualisation

4  Motivation

• Basic principles
• Intrinsic motivation
• Extrinsic motivation
• Motivation and Goals: McClelland’s achievement motivation theory, Factors affecting motivation
• Maintaining Motivation – Expectations – Vicious and Virtuous Cycles: Vicious cycle, Virtuous cycle, Self belief and Self talk
• Motivation for Fitness and Weight Control: Nutrition and sport, Weight control
• Slimming for Fun
• Think Before You Eat: Eating disorders and athletes, Endurance sports and eating disorders, Sports psychologists and fitness programmes, Motivation for a personal trainer

5  Aggression

• Anger: Anger Management, Techniques to encourage, Strategies to Manage Anger, Anger can Damage an Athlete’s Performance, Useful Concentration Techniques
• Aggression in Sport: Theories of Aggression (Biological (or Instinct), Frustration-Aggression, Environmental Factors, Types of Aggression in Sport, Steroids in Sport
• Measuring Aggression
• Conflict
• Conflict Handling Techniques: Competing, Soothing, Avoiding, Compromising, Joint Problem Solving

6  Leadership & Coaching

• A Coach’s Role
• Coaching or Leadership Styles: Leadership Characteristics
• Getting Attention: Hints for Leading Activities
• Questioning
• Punishment: Strategies for Dealing with Poor Performance, Developing a Coaching Philosophy, Know Yourself, Obstacles Encountered – The Coaching Context, Understanding Athletes, The Coaching Process

7  Team Dynamics

• A Group
• A Team: Team Dynamics, Goals
• Steps in Building a Team: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing
• Traits of an Effective Team: Suitable membership, Appropriate Leadership, Commitment to the Team, Concern for Achieving, Effective and Well Organised Work Methods and Procedures, Ability to Take Criticism, Creative Strength, Positive Relationships, Positive Environment, Team Roles, Developing the Ideal Team
• Factors Affecting the Team Environment: Autonomy, Support, Pressure, Recognition, Trust, Fairness, Innovation, Cohesiveness, Cohesion, Loafing

8  Special Groups

• Children
• Readiness
• Dropping out
• Stress
• Post Game/Season Evaluation
• Gender Differences: Elite Female Athletes, Special Considerations with Female Athletes, Eating Disorders, Eating Disorders: Facts About Eating Disorders and the Search for Solutions, Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge-Eating Disorder, Disabled Persons

Learning Goals: Sports Psychology BPS106

• Describe the nature and scope of Sports Psychology
• Identify psychological traits found in successful athletes.
• Explain effects of state of mind on athletic performance.
• Recommend ways of maintaining or increasing motivation in an athlete.
• Differentiate between positive and negative application of aggressive emotions in sport.
• Discuss the role of leadership in sports coaching.
• Explain the impact on performance of psychological interactions within a sporting team.
• Describe variations in the sports psychology of different demographic groups.

Practicals:

• Read articles (magazines, newspapers), watch interviews on TV/Radio, etc. with elite athletes/coaches/sports persons. Try to find out what techniques they use to stay motivated, to reduce stress and tension, to remain focused, to prepare for a competition, etc.
• How do successful athletes cope with failure, error or poor performance in a major competition? Give an example of an acute stressor because of one of the above in sport, and describe the techniques you recommend for an effective coping strategy.
• Discuss the difference in coping with sports related stress for the athlete and the non elite sportsperson. Include examples of their ability to handle fatigue,
  pain, competitive situations, and performance failure.
• What can a coach do to reduce or eliminate learned helplessness? Discuss the potential harm caused by this?
• Talk to one or more athletes to find out what psyching techniques they use to help improve their performance. Have they tried other techniques? If so, why did they stop using them?
• Think about two or three different activities (sporting, or otherwise) that you undertook recently but weren’t keen to do, or that you felt would be beyond your capabilities. How were you motivated to complete the activity was the motivation intrinsic or extrinsic? Did you use different motivating techniques to accomplish each activity? How did you feel once you had accomplished each activity? Would you use the same motivating technique(s) in the future? Also speak to someone else, and ask them the same questions.
• Watch a range of altercations (such as a fight or collision between players) or aggressive behaviour in sporting events, such as in team sports like football or basketball, or in direct competition between two or more individual competitors such as in tennis, fencing, car racing, or distance running. What events have led up to the altercation/s or fight or aggressive behaviour? What form of behaviour did the aggression take? Who was it directed at? How many people were involved? How did it stop? What penalties, if any, where applied (e.g. fines, frees, time outs, lost points, etc.)?
• Speak to a coach to find out what role they play in organising and training their athletes. Speak to a coach who trains children. Find out how their role differs to when they are training adults. What techniques do they use for gaining attention and motivating the children?
• Discuss the development of a team with someone who has been a member of a sporting team (school, amateur or professional) for more than one season. Ask about their ups and downs and the reasons they think contributed to high points and low points. Investigate those reasons to see whether any situations or patterns relate to things you have studied in this lesson.

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Intrinsic Motivation – The Meaning!

We act in an intrinsically motivated way when we find the endeavour a challenge, of inherent interest, and enjoyable. We do it for its own sake. We act in an extrinsically motivated way when we want something — money, promotion, candy — not in the endeavour itself.

This distinction leads to the “over justification”: too much incentive and pressure from outside an activity can undermine the enjoyment it induces by itself. We soon find the pleasure of eating tasty food becomes work if we accept money for it. Extrinsic motivation replaces its intrinsic cousin.

Intrinsic motivation is internal motivation: motivation that comes from stimuli within the athlete. It is derived and supported by the satisfaction that comes from participation in activities such as exercise or sporting events.

Motivation will, for example, increase for an athlete completing their first event, or winning their first trophy. Their perception of “what is success” will be important. One athlete may derive success from completing a marathon, while another may not.

This may be because one perceives success as finishing the marathon, whereas the other may perceive it as winning or doing very well. The result of the race is not the stimuli – the attitude within the athlete is the stimuli.

Intangible rewards are those that we cannot be given, but that arise from within the person as feelings or values.

Extrinsic motivation

This is motivation that comes from external stimuli, primarily influenced by events or rewards outside of the person (not primarily influenced by any internal stimuli such as attitude).Tangible rewards can be important motivators.

If a member of staff knows that if they do their job well, they will receive certain rewards; it can act as a powerful reinforcer. Tangible rewards include money, benefits, services and goods, winning a match, receiving a sponsorship deal and so on.

THINK ABOUT THE SUBTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION.

For some people, motivation seems to come easy. Maybe somewhere along the line, they learned to value achievement, and their central role in gaining it. Perhaps motivation, and the desire for increased productivity or success that drives it, have become internalised, so that their motivating ‘motor’ on always on.

Many others, however, continually strive to become more motivated, to sustain their initial level of motivation as it wanes, or to motivate others. They might think of the obvious rewards (for example, improved health from stopping smoking; a promotion for working hard and being creative), but unless they have a good idea of what actually motives individuals, and what might de-motivate them, their approach to motivation will be based on stereotypes, assumptions and a lot of wishful thinking.

The key ingredient for successful motivation is awareness. This includes learning to become aware of what motivates a particular individual (including yourself), what de-motivates them, or inhibits their motivation, what environmental factors may be affecting motivation, the individual’s general attitude and beliefs about success and achievement, and other factors.

In other words, to motivate others, you need to take a learning and enquiry approach to finding what works, and what doesn’t.  Awareness also includes knowing why the task is worth doing well (or quickly and well), where it fits into the realisation of business, workplace, study or other goals, and what difference the motivation will make.