psychology in sport (personality and motiovation)
...g the game or event. • Control freak = Telling your team mates what to do throughout the game in hockey or basketball. Type B These types of people are: • Relaxed = don’t get stressed in a penalty shootout in football. • Calm in dealing with problems = team losing and you need to figure out how to get back in the game (coaching in any team sport). • Less competitive = don’t feel that you have to win • Work at slow pace = need to think more about next shoot or move(snooker) • Delegate tasks easily = captain of a team Situation Each situation is evaluated with: - • Probability of success- likelihood of beating opponent or completing tasks. • Incentive value- satisfaction gained from success. N.ach seeks probability of 50:50 situations with just a moderate incentive value. This is because they enjoy competing against others of equal ability as it is challenging. N.af on the other hand seeks low or high probability of success situations with a low incentive value to avoid negative self-evaluation or shame. Diagram of situations 7lk N.ARCH 50/50 N.AF (Low) Probability Value (High) Social learning Athletes observe other people’s behaviour and attitudes in a social setting in the presence of others. Athletes copy these behaviours in the appropriate situation at an appropriate time. Bandura (1977) stated character development results from social learning. Models Models are a person who has significance in the observer’s life. Examples of these models are: - • Manager • Friends • Sports players • Parents • Coaches • Relatives Role models can be both real and fictional characters that a young or old athlete can identify within there chosen sport to help them model or try to replicate themselves on them in order to improve their own performance or character. Models are also used in sport as demonstrations that give beginners a good technique to work on. They also can influence attitude and moral behaviour. Factors influencing model effectiveness: - • Appropriateness • Similarity • Reinforced • Consistency • Relevance • Nurturing • Powerful Bandura model This model ensures younger athletes are focused and maintain their attention in order to produce a learned competent performance. Various model stages: - • Attention = Athletes mental effort/ energy to concentrate on a model. The model must prevent distraction or overload the observer. This is gained by forming an effective model. • Retention = Must be able to retain a skill in memory and recall it when appropriate. • Motor Production = Ensures the model is realistic matching the athlete’s capability to complete a task. The athlete needs time to practice the modelled technique. • Motivation = It has a direct impact on the three stages and it is required for these stages to be successful. This ensures that the learner can reproduce the skill again at an appropriate time. Motivation Motivation is the direction and intensity an athlete’s effort. 1. Direction = whether an athlete approaches or is attacked to certain situations. 2. Intensity = How much effort a performer puts forth in a particular situation. High Direction = lots of effort Low Intensity = less effort Motivation types Extrinsic motivation This comes from other people through positive and negative reinforcement (rewards) that affect an athlete’s future response or behaviour. For example you would receive extrinsic motivation from you’re: • Coach • Team mates • Family • Fans • Friends • Role models This will provide the athlete with information on their achievement and competition, which enhances motivation. It is used to shape learning, performance and participation over time of the athlete. External rewards are: - • Tangible – those that can be touched by the performer • Intangible –those that can not be touched by the performer These should only be provided when the athlete: - • Produces skilled behaviour • Produces good performance • Produces high effort • Demonstrates emotional and social skills Intrinsic motivation The athlete holds the desire to succeed inside him or herself. Their goal is too competent and masters the task in hand, which leads to excellence in performance. The mastery of a skill in difficult circumstances increases the athlete’s sense of control and pride. Intrinsic flow High Intrinsic motivation, that results when the athlete’s are equal to the set challenge. This is the ultimate performance experience where an athlete is totally involved in high skilled performance and maximal performance is achieved. It results when the athlete: • Is completely absorbed in the activity • Are not aware of actions • Do not think about actions • Is totally concentrated on the task in hand • Movement is effortless Sports examples • Football- passing • Rugby-conversion • Golf-putts • Boxing jabs Achievement motivation theory Is part of an athlete’s personality that drives to achieve success by persistence, competitiveness and perfection? Or efforts to master a task, overcome obstacles, perform better then others and take pride in exercising talent. For example here are two different sportsmen’s personality’s characteristics and motivation. Roy Keane I would say Roy Keane had intrinsic motivation as he is very competitive and masters the task in hand on the football pitch, which has lead to excellence in his performance and world recognition which he richly, deserves. This would also mean that he has a high intrinsic flow because he is always equal to the task in hand. I also believe Keane is motivated through external rewards as throughout the season there are many cups to be won in his sport. Also I think he has type 1 (N.ach+) personality type 1 because Keane is motivated to achieve success by winning the football league and cups throughout the season. This will make him feel pride and satisfaction of his performance and his team. He is also a very aggressive, strong and has a lot of authority on the pitch, which would tell me he is also a type A personality. You can see from just reading his autobiography that he has a winning mentality and that he would do almost anything to succeed. Kevin Philips I think that Philips has both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as he can be affected by what the media says about him whether it’s positive or negative information. Also he is driven by external rewards, which would be the top goal scoring golden boot or Sunderland’s position in the league and cups. He is very competent and masters the task in hand on the field, which has lead to excellence in his performance during the first few seasons at his club. This also tells me he has a high intrinsic flow, as he is always equal to the challenge even though the current team is struggling as in his opinion they don’t match his ambition. I think that Kevin has type 1(N.ach) personality and a type B personality. The reason for this is because he is motivated by success and he is a very relaxed, calm in dealing with problems. Here are two coping strategies that are used in sport to enhance performance: Self-Talk This is a specific form of verbal cues that can keep an athletes mind appropriately focussed. Or it’s a potential internal distracter that comes from within thoughts, our worries, concerns and Thoughts. The way it works is how the athlete interoperates an event and there response/feelings. Types of self- talk 1. Positive self-talk This has a motivational component (“I can do it”) and an instructional component (keep eyes on the ball). This in turn helps the athlete focus on the present, preventing the mind from wandering and enjoying the challenge. Event “An injury set back” Self Talk “This type of injury takes time to heal” Response “Self motivation, focused, optimistic” 2. Negative self-talk Critical and self-demanding (you stink) getting in the way of a person reaching a goal. This will create the response of anxiety and fosters self-doubt. Event “Injury setback” Self Talk “I’ll never get back into the starting line up” Responses “Demotivated, upset, frustrated Uses of self-talk • Skill acquisition Self-talk is used as cue words to focus the participants • Breaking bad habits Self-instructional cue to make the new response automatic • Initiating action Self-talk can start or change a sports action • Sustaining effort Enables motivation and working hard to be maintained Van Raalte (1994) a well known psychologist analysed self talk while studying a tennis player. He found that negative self talk was used after a mistake was committed while Rushall found out in 1988 that positive self talk was used with cross county skiers and Figure skaters and there performance increased. It all depends how a athlete reacts to a mistake. Improving Self Talk 1. Thought stopping This requires the athlete to focus on an undesired thought briefly and use the cue to stop thought and clear there mind 2. Changing negative self talk to positive This redirects intentional focus to provide encouragement and motivation. The athlete must take a deep breath then exhale, relax and repeat a positive statement. For example the following table below shows the various ways in which a Cricket player can talk to himself before or during the game: - Positive Negative Relax and focus on the target area I cant seem to bowl a good length today We can win this without the umpire The umpire is making us lose the game Footwork will make spin bowling easy I just cant spin bowl It will be o.k. as long as I play off the front foot I am worried about the opening bowling I can imagine that both Roy Keane and Kevin Philips use this type of motivational strategy as they are both performing at the highest level in the game. The best example of positive talk I can think about is Ex Newcastle striker Malcolm Macdonald. He was such a good goal scorer and is one of Newcastle’s all time legends. The reason why he was such a good player is because he knew how to motivate himself and concentrate on the environment around him. He could play a game and miss 10 clear cut chances but on his eleventh he would score the goal of the season from an impossible angle and win the game for Newcastle 1-0. he didn’t care about how many he missed he only cared about how many he scored and that’s what he kept telling himself thought games and it must of worked as he is one of Newcastle’s top g...