Examines the influence of participating in sport on an individuals psychological make-up

1. Examines the influence of participating in sport on an individuals psychological make-up • does participation in organized sport at an early age result in positive character development? Sport Psychology

2. Examines the effect of particular psychological factors have on behavior before, during and/or after physical activity • is there a particular personality characteristic that is necessary to handle high anxiety situations? Sport Psychology

3. Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP) • Health Psychology • Social Psychology • Performance/Intervention • American Psychological Association • Division 38 (Health Psychology) • Division 47 (Exercise and Sport Psychology) What is a Sport Psychologist?

4. Health and Exercise Psychology focuses on the application of psychological principles to the promotion and maintenance of health-enhancing behaviors and the psychological and emotional consequences of those behaviors. Researchers in this area also investigate the role of exercise in disease remediation, injury rehabilitation, and stress reduction.

5. Social Psychology focuses on individual and group processes in sport and exercise settings. This area applies social psychological principles in examining factors related to the sport participant, coach, team, and spectator. The Ringelmann Effect thus describes the inverse relationship between the size of a team and the magnitude of group member's individual contribution to the accomplishment of the task.

6. Performance Enhancement and Intervention • focuses on research, theory, and practice intended to improve performance in exercise and sport. This area is also concerned with the effects of sport psychology interventions on the well–being of participants in exercise and sport.

7. Some Issues • Influence of personality on performance • Effects of sport on personality • Relationship between anxiety and performance • Effects of motivation on performance

8. Personality: A Definition Pattern of characteristic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish one person from another and persist over time and situations.

9. Trait perspective examine relatively enduring intrapersonal characteristics that account for the unique yet stable behaviors to events in the environment

10. Assessing Traits Cattell’s 16PF • anxiety, introversion/extroversion, tough-minded/tender-minded, independence/subduedness Athletic Motivation Inventory (AMI) • aggressiveness, coachability, drive, trust, conscientiousness, determination, leadership, emotional control, guilt proneness, mental toughness, and self-confidence

11. State perspective individual’s regulate their behavior according to the situation or environmental constraints

12. Assessing States • Profile of Mood States (POMS) • tension, depression, anger, vigor, fatigue, and confusion • Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI)

13. Although differences exist, a clear pattern of differences has yet to emerge Personalities of Athletes Versus Non-Athletes X Compared to non-athletes, athletes are more: • Stable • Extroverted • Competitive • Dominant • Self-confident • Achievement-oriented • Psychologically well-adjusted • Conservative with respect to political views • Authoritarian • Persistent • Display higher levels of self-esteem

14. Traits vs. States: Athletes • It is NOT yet possible to distinguish between successful and unsuccessful athletes using personality traits • However, it is possible to distinguish between the elite athletes and the lesser skilled in terms of mood states

15. Profile of Mood States Iceberg Profile

16. POMS and Athletics • Over-training • high depression, fatigue, and low vigor • Hyperactive/Misdirected • high tension and anger • Stale • non distinguishable factors

17. Trait • a motive or acquired behavioral disposition that predisposes an individual to perceive a wide range of objectively non-dangerous circumstances as threatening Arousal, Anxiety, and Stress

18. State • emotional state characterized by subjective, consciously perceived feelings of apprehension and tension. Arousal, Anxiety, and Stress

19. Arousal, Anxiety, and Stress general physiological and psychological activation of the organism that varies on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement

20. A substantial imbalance between task demands and response capability, under conditions where failure to meet demands has important consequences (this is typically what we think of as Distress but we can have Ustress) Arousal, Anxiety, and Stress

21. USTRESS ANXIETY (TRAIT)(STATE) AROUSAL DISTRESS PERFORMANCE A possible relationship between Anxiety, Arousal and Stress

22. Performance AROUSAL Drive Theory: Knute Rockne Approach

24. Catastrophe Theory

25. Intervention Passive Techniques • Conditioning • flooding (overload) • implosive therapy (hierarchy) Active Technique • Cognitive Restructuring • thought reorganization • coping strategies (relaxation, positive self-talk, imagery) • adaptive self-statements as re-focusing tool

26. Imagery • Mental practice • Covert rehearsal • Mental rehearsal • Visualization (VMBR)

27. TheSport Imagery Questionnaireis a 30-item self-report questionnaire that asks athletes to rate on a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 = rarely, 7 = often) how often they use imagery in five different ways. Sport Imagery Questionnaire • Cognitive Specific (e.g., imaging perfectly executed sport skills); • Cognitive General (e.g., imaging strategies of play); • Motivation General - Mastery (e.g., imaging staying focused and solving problems); • Motivation General - Arousal (e.g., imaging the arousal, stress, and anxiety that may accompany performance); and • Motivation Specific (e.g., imaging specific goals and outcomes).

28. Imagery: Does it help? Here are some general principles to enhance imagery: • Make the imagery seem as realistic as possible by including all senses, in full color and detail, within a similar emotional context • Practice imagery regularly as it may take months before seeing improvement • Believe that imagery works, as your attitudes and expectations enhance the effect (Placebo effect) • Keep a focused yet relaxed attention while using imagery • Internal imagery (as opposed to external) is most effective. Picture yourself actually accomplishing the feat (from your minds eye), rather than viewing yourself from the outside looking in (first vs. third person)

29. Motivation the direction and intensity of effort (Gill, 1986) and is characterized by the type of choice, effort, and persistence of behaviors (Weiss & Chaumeton, 1992)

30. Exercise Adherence • 45% of adults are sedentary • 65% of children participate in regular physical activity • 35% of adults participate in exercise on a weekly basis • 10% of adults participate in vigorous and frequent activity • 50% of people starting an exercise program will drop out within 6 months

31. (from Weiss & Chaumeton, 1992) In general, why would an individual participate, or persist? • Improvement in skills and fitness • establishing affiliation, socialization • competition • having fun • Weight control • Building self-esteem

32. Key factors impacting motivation • Self-Efficacy • Use of extrinsic and/or intrinsic motivation • Goal setting

33. Changing Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy (cf. self-confidence) can be enhanced through: (a) Successful performance* (b) Vicarious experience (c) Verbal persuasion (d) Emotional arousal (preparation)

34. Increasing Intrinsic Motivation • using positive verbal and non-verbal feedback • ensuring some success • increased individual responsibility • providing a variety of practice experiences • appropriate use of goal setting (Locke & Bryan, 1966)

35. Goal Setting: Needs • Challenging - Will it require effort? • Realistic - Is it reasonable? • Specific - What is the objective? • Measurable - How will meeting this goal be determined? • Controllable - Own performance not someone else

36. Goal Setting for Physical Activity Goal setting may be improved by • specifying goals in absolute (i.e., outcome) terms • setting short-term and long-term goals • allowing individuals to participate in setting goals • making goals public and be accountable • moderate goals, those in which attainment was between 10 and 50%, were best

37. Attribution theory is a cognitive approach to motivation Assumes that people strive to explain, understand, and predict events based upon their own perceptions What the athlete believes to be true is important for future motivation

38. Outcomes can be attributed Internally to the person (i.e., personal force) • Composed of ability and effort Externally to the environment (i.e., environmental force) • Composed of task difficulty and luck

39. Locus of Control Internal External Stable Ability Task Difficulty Stability Unstable Effort Luck Classification Scheme for Causal Attribution

40. Locus of Control Example from Sport Internal External Stable Ability Task Difficulty Stability Unstable Effort Luck • Before competition the athlete should be encouraged to focus on effort versus ability • Both effort and ability are within athlete’s control, but effort is unstable from game to game • Athletes must focus on preparing strategies that will be effective against task difficulty (e.g., an opposing team) versus luck • Both luck and task difficulty are beyond athlete's control, but task difficulty is stable and predictable

41. Effort Greatest affect Ability Task Difficulty Luck Internal Attribution External Attribution Lowest affect Causal Attributions

42. Emotional responses associated with attributions and outcomes

43. The “flip-side of attrition” Addiction Estimates suggest that as many as 2.5 million Americans are addicted to exercise (exercise addition syndrome) These individuals continue to exercise even though contraindicated due to other problem (e.g., orthopedic, etc)

44. Exercise and Mental Health • 15 million Americans suffer from depression • 10-12 million Americans suffer from anxiety or stress reactions • Hectic pace of westernized, technological society

45. Physical Activity: Intervention for Psychological well-being Psychological well-being • via sense of mastery or achievement • reduced depression • reduced state and trait anxiety (endurance exercise) • improved cognitive performance

46. J.A. Blumenthal, et al (1999). Effects of Exercise Training on Older Patients With Major Depression. Arch Intern Med: 159:2349-2356

49. Colcombe, S. & Kramer, A.F. (2003). FITNESS EFFECTS ON THE COGNITIVE FUNCTION OF OLDER ADULTS: A Meta-Analytic Study. Psych. Research: 14(2), 125-130.