PED 5: Sports and Exercise Psychology PDF

Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY Unit 1: Introduci...

Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY Unit 1: Introducing Sports and Exercise Psychology A. Objectives At the end of this unit, you will be able to: a. Explain the mental side of Sport; b. Trace the origins of sport and exercise psychology, including personality structure and corresponding behavior; and c. Analyze the difference of sports and exercise psychology as a profession and as an academic discipline. B. Introduction and Overview Many prominent athletes and coaches believe that although sport is played with the body, it is won in the mind. If this belief is correct, then psychologists should be able to help sports competitors to enhance their athletic performance by providing them with practical advice on how to do their best when it matters most. Influenced by the potential benefits of such advice, increasing numbers of athletes and teams are turning to sport psychologists in an effort to gain a winning edge over their rivals. Although this trend is apparent in all competitive games, it is especially evident in mentally demanding individual sports such as golf. Example: world-class golfers such as Ernie Els (Davies, 2002), Pádraig Harrington (Gilleece, 2002), Retief Goosen (Hannigan, 2001a), Phil Mickelson (Browne, 2000), Alison Nicholas (St John, 1997) and Colin Montgomerie (Fleming, 2003) Athletes’ interest in consulting psychologists is particularly noticeable at the elite grade of sport performance because at this level there are minimal differences between competitors in technical ability and/or physical fitness (G.Jones, Hanton and Connaughton, 2002). This unit will provide some answers to these and other relevant questions, thereby introducing you to sport and exercise psychology both as a scientific discipline and as a profession. I. Define Sports, Exercise, and Psychology A. What is sport? According to Cambridge dictionary, sport is defined as a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job. The Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) defines sport as follows: 1. The sport proposed should include an element of competition. 2. The sport should not rely on any element of "luck" specifically integrated into the sport. 3. The sport should not be judged to pose an undue risk to the health and safety of its athletes or participants. 4. The sport proposed should in no way be harmful to any living creature. 5. The sport should not rely on equipment that is provided by a single supplier. The 'Encyclopedia of World Sport - from ancient times to the present' (Oxford University Press, 1999) considered an activity a sport if it involves: 1. Competition between two or more individuals or teams; 2. Rules of play that allow a winner to be determined; 3. A primary goal of victory; 4. Victory determined by the relative physical ability of the competitors, although strategy and chance may also play a role. Ped 5 Handout No. 1 1 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista  Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY B. What is exercise? According to National Library of Medicine, Exercise is a subset of physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive and has as a final or an intermediate objective the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness. Exercise is physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive for the purpose of conditioning the body. Exercise consists of cardiovascular conditioning, strength and resistance training, and flexibility. Exercise is essential for improving overall health, maintaining fitness, and helping to prevent the development of obesity , hypertension , and cardiovascular disease. C. What is psychology? Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. The American Psychological Association adds that it “embraces all aspects of the human experience, from the functions of the brain to the actions of nations, from child development to care for the aged.” What is sport and exercise psychology? Sport and exercise psychology as the scientific study of the psychological factors associated with participation and performance in sport, exercise, and other types of physical activity. Sport psychologists focus primarily on: 1. Helping athletes use psychological principles and skills to achieve optimal mental health and to improve performance. 2. Understanding how individuals' participation in sport, exercise, and physical activity affects their psychological development, health, and well-being. Sport Psychology interventions are designed to assist athletes and other sports participants (e.g., coaches, administrators, parents) from a wide array of settings, levels of competition and ages, ranging from recreational youth participants to professional and Olympic athletes to master’s level performers. II. The Mental Side of Sport Many sport scientists (e.g., Sellars, 1996) distinguish between four hypothetical aspects of athletic performance: physical, technical, tactical and psychological. Figure 1: Four Aspects of Athletic Performance A. Physical - physical aspects of sport performance refer to phenomena such as fitness, strength and stamina which can be measured objectively. Ped 5 Handout No. 1 2 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista  Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY B. Technical - technical aspects of performance refer mainly to the proficiency with which athletes can execute fundamental skills required by their specialist sport. Ex: A competitive swimmer in freestyle events must be able to perform a “turn”. This skill involves approaching the wall, dropping one’s leading arm, lowering one’s chin to one’s chest, tucking in one’s knees and then flipping over one’s feet when they hit the wall. C. Tactical - The tactical part of the Sport and exercise psychology concerns strategic aspects of athletic performance. Included here are such skills as planning and decision making. Ex: a shrewd tactical performer can devise and adhere to a specific game plan in competitive situations. D. Psychological - The familiar yet mysterious domain called “mental” side performance of sport. The most obvious way to investigate the mental side of sport is to ask athletes what they have learned from their personal experience about the mental factors that seem to affect their performance. Using this strategy, we can gain useful insights into the psychological challenges of team and individual sports. Standardized research strategy is required to explore mental aspects of athletic performance. Researchers found that mental toughness was perceived to be the most important determinant of success in sport. It is interesting to note that this construct was also identified by the golfer Nick Faldo (Nicholas, 2002) and by a sample of Olympic gold medallists as a crucial prerequisite of athletic success (Gould, Dieffenbach and Moffett, 2002). A. What is Mental Toughness? According to the tennis star Tim Henman, mental toughness can be defined simply as the ability “to perform under pressure” (cited in Coaching Excellence, 1996, p. 3). Greg Rusedski, who defined it as “having complete control over your emotions… and controlling all situations that you Sport and exercise psychology: A critical introduction 8 can control” (cited in Coaching Excellence, 1996, p. 3). A review of applied psychological research on mental toughness reveals that this term has been used in a variety of ways. Specifically, G.Jones et al. (2002) showed that it referred to such different psychological processes as the ability to cope with pressure, the ability to rebound from failure, a determination to persist in the face of adversity, and a form of mental resilience. Four Key Components of Mental Toughness (4 C’s Model) 1. Control - the capacity to feel and act as if one could exert an influence in the situation in question (a view which is similar to that of Greg Rusedski’s concept of mental toughness). 2. Commitment - a tendency to take an active role in events. 3. Challenge - refers to the perception of change as an opportunity to grow and develop rather than as a threat. 4. Confidence - is a component of mental toughness that designates a strong sense of self-belief. Ped 5 Handout No. 1 3 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista  Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY Combining these four elements, Clough et al. (2002) defined mentally tough athletes as people who have “a high sense of self-belief and an unshakeable faith that they can control their own destiny” (p. 38) and who can “remain relatively unaffected by competition or adversity”. Using the qualitative research methodology done for this construct by G. Jones et al. (2002). Results showed that mental toughness was perceived to comprise both general and specific components. 1. General component: was a perception of having a “natural or developed psychological edge” that enables an athlete to cope better than his or her opponents with competitive lifestyle and training demands 2. Specific component: mental toughness were perceived to be the capacity to remain more determined, focused, confident and in control than one’s athletic rivals. The researchers did not probe this relativistic view of the construct—the perception that it can be understood only in comparative terms. They don’t think it’s enough, they have questions like… “What about the Personal Characteristics Believed to be Prerequisites of Mental Toughness?” Twelve attributes were elicited by this question. G.Jones et al. (2002) classified these attributes into such categories as motivation, “focus” (or concentration), the ability to deal with pressure and anxiety, and the ability to cope with physical and emotional pain. B. What factors influence the mental demands of a given sport? Sports differ significantly in the physical demands that they make of performers. For example: Sprinting requires a short burst of explosive power whereas marathon running demands not only great stamina but also the ability to maintain a steady pace throughout the race. Interestingly, research on marathon runners indicates that they can lose up to 8 per cent of their body mass during the race (Cooper, 2003). The psychological requirements of different sports also appear to vary widely. Whereas some sports like weightlifting require short periods of intense concentration for a limited duration, other athletic activities like cycling demand sustained alertness for longer periods of time. But what causes such differences in the mental demands of these activities? Among the most important determinants of the psychological demands of any sport are its nature and structure. Ex: Soccer vs. Snooker Soccer - is a timed, physical contact, team-game. Snooker - untimed, non-contact, individual sport. These differences are likely to affect the mental challenges posed by these sports. For example, it seems plausible that whereas motivation, communication skills, and an ability to anticipate opponents’ moves are vital for soccer players, snooker performers depend more on cognitive skills like concentration, decision making and the ability to recover mentally from errors. A footballer can try to win the ball back off an opponent by chasing and tackling him or her, but a snooker player can only sit and watch while his or her opponent is potting balls on the table. Ped 5 Handout No. 1 4 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista  Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY The structure of a sport can affect its psychological requirements. How? Consider the phenomenon of sitting passively “in the chair” in snooker. Briefly, in this game, the player who is not scoring (or building breaks) at the snooker table has to sit and wait for his or her opponent to miss before returning to the table. Clearly, the challenge of sitting in the chair is to retain one’s focus rather than becoming annoyed at oneself for previous mistakes. But what goes through snooker players’ minds as they wait for their opponents? *Mental Demands of Golf: Golf is a psychologically demanding game for at least three reasons. 1. It is an untimed sport so players have to be prepared to play for as long as it takes (usually, a minimum of 3–4 hours) to complete a round or match. 2. Golf is a tough sport mentally because players have to take full responsibility for their own performance on the course. 3. The “stop-start” nature of golf means that players spend more time thinking about playing than actually hitting the ball. Golf is demanding mentally because it is an untimed, individual and discontinuous sport. In the light of these unique features, the mental challenge for golfers is to learn to concentrate on playing one shot at a time. How to solve this mental challenge? Golfers should learn to restructure the game in their minds. For example, instead of perceiving golf as an eighteen-hole competition against others, people can be trained to see it as a single-shot contest between themselves and the target at which they are aiming. III. Brief History of Sport and Exercise Psychology  1897– 1898 - Tripletfs experimental research on psychological factors in cycling  1925 - Coleman Roberts Griffith established the Athletic Research Laboratory in the University of Illinois  1965 - Establishment of International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) /First International Congress of Sport Psychology held in Rome  1967 - Establishment of North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA)  1969 - Establishment of Fédération Européenne de Psychologie des Sport et des Activites Corporelles (FEPSAC)  1970 - Publication of first issue of International Journal of Sport Psychology  1979 - Publication of first issue of The Journal of Sport Psychology (changed to The Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in 1988)  1986 - Formation of Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP)  1986 - Publication of first issue of The Sport Psychologist  1986 - Establishment of Division 47 of American Psychological Association on “Exercise and Sport Psychology”  1989 - Publication of first issue of Journal of Applied Sport Psychology  1991- Formation of Board of Sport Psychologists within the Australian Psychological Society Ped 5 Handout No. 1 5 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista  Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY  1993 - Establishment of “Sport and Exercise Psychology Section” of the British Psychological Society  2000 - Publication of first issue of Psychology of Sport and Exercise  2003 - Re-naming International Journal of Sport Psychology as International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology IV. Sport and Exercise Psychology as an Academic Discipline A common definition of sport psychology is that it is “a science in which the principles of psychology are applied in a sport or exercise setting” (R.H.Cox, 2002, p. 5). It implies that empirical research on mental aspects of athletic performance is at least as old as psychology itself. Discovery in sports psychology: Social facilitation - Individual athletic activity is facilitated by the presence of others and was attributed to the capacity of rival performers to “liberate latent energy not ordinarily available” It is found that racing cyclists tended to perform at least 25 per cent faster when competing against other cyclists (or “pacemakers”) than when performing alone against the clock. Sport and exercise psychology is not only regarded as a sub-field of mainstream psychology but also as one of the sport sciences. Gill (2000) classified sport and exercise psychology as a “branch of exercise and sport science” (p. 7) rather than of psychology. A. Three Characteristics of Sport Psychology 1. It is generally regarded as a science. As such, it is committed to the principle that its claims should be falsifiable or capable of being tested through objective and systematic methods of empirical inquiry. 2. Sport psychology involves the study of exercise as well as of competitive athletic behaviour. In other words, physical activity undertaken for health and leisure is just as important to sport and exercise psychologists as is competitive sport. In formal recognition of this fact, the title of the Journal of Sport Psychology was changed to the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in 1988. 3. Sport and exercise psychology is a profession as well as a science. Therefore, there are applied as well as theoretical dimensions to this discipline. So whereas some sport psychologists are engaged in basic research designed to establish how the mind works in a variety of athletic and exercise settings, others provide practical advice and training on performance enhancement and/or on healthy living. B. Research Methods in Sport and Exercise Psychology 1. Descriptive Research - is to record and analyse certain aspects of behaviour, especially in natural settings. Included in this category are such methods as case studies (which are intensive or in-depth analyses of individuals, groups or events), naturalistic observation (where researchers observe behaviour as it occurs in its own natural environment), survey research (where information is collected about the behaviour, experiences or attitudes of many people using a series of questions about the topic of interest) and psychometric testing (where differences between people on some psychological construct are assessed using specially designed, standardized instruments. Ped 5 Handout No. 1 6 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista  Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 2. Correlational research- is to measure the relationship or degree of association between two or more variables. For example, what is the relationship between athletes’ anxiety levels and their performance in athletic competition? 3. Experimental research - is to determine cause-and-effect relationships between two or more variables. Using this method, a researcher tries to manipulate an independent variable under controlled conditions in order to study its effects on a dependent variable. For example, what is the Sport and exercise psychology: A critical introduction 16 relative efficacy of mental versus physical practice in the learning and performance of a motor skill? V. Sport and Exercise Psychology as a Profession Three important questions need to be addressed. 1. What exactly do sport psychologists do? 2. What is the best model for the provision of sport psychology services to clients such as athletes and coaches? 3. How can one qualify as a sport psychologist? A. What do sport psychologists do? In an effort to address the issue of what sport psychologists do, the sport and exercise section of the British Psychological Society organised a symposium designed to explore the professional work and experiences of its members (Steinberg, Cockerill and Dewey, 1998). What emerged from this symposium? Provision of mental skills training schedules for athletes (e.g., footballers, runners and racing drivers) to designing and implementation of health promotion programmes for non-athletic populations (e.g., to encourage people to engage in more regular physical activity). The professional activities of sport and exercise psychologists fall into three main categories: a. Applied consultancy work (including advice on performance enhancement as well as the provision of counselling and clinical psychology services); b. Education; and c. Research. a. Applied consultancy May be subdivided into two types of work: advice on performance enhancement and the provision of counselling/clinical psychology services. 1. Advice on performance enhancement The most obvious reason why athletes consult sport psychologists is to gain practical advice on ways of improving their mental preparation and/or competitive performance. Typically, these consultations are motivated by a desire to realize some unfulfilled athletic potential Sport and exercise psychology: A critical introduction 18 and/or to gain a competitive edge over rival performers. Ped 5 Handout No. 1 7 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista  Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY 2. The provision of counselling/clinical psychology services. Recent years have witnessed a growth of research interest in the personal problems (e.g., alcohol abuse, stress and burnout, eating disorders) that may afflict those involved in sport and exercise. Appropriate formal qualifications and a great deal of sensitivity are required by sport psychologists who offer such services because many athletes are afraid or embarrassed to seek professional help for personal problems. b. Education Many sport and exercise psychologists are involved in educational aspects of the discipline. This professional role usually involves teaching students, athletes, coaches and perhaps business people about the principles, methods and findings of sport psychology. Such educational services are extremely important. c. Research Research in sport psychology is extremely important because it can provide evidence-based answers to a number of practical questions. For example: What is the most effective way of promoting the benefits of physical activity among a sample of sedentary young people? B. What is the Best Model for the Delivery of Psychological Services to Athletes? If sport psychologists work according to a traditional medical model, they will be expected to provide “quick fixes” and instant “cures” for athletes with problems in much the same way as physicians are expected to treat their patients through the prescription of suitable medication. What is wrong with this traditional medical model of service delivery and is there any alternative to it? Three problems associated with a medical model of applied sport psychology (Kremer and Scully, 1998; Moran, 2000a). 1. It places the burden of responsibility on the “expert” psychologist to “cure” whatever problems are presented by the athlete or coach. This situation may encourage clients to depend excessively on their sport psychologist, thereby impeding their growth towards selfreliance. 2. The “expert” psychologist is often on shaky ground theoretically because many of the intervention techniques which s/he recommends have not been validated adequately. 3. The distinction between “expert” and “client” ignores the fact that sportspeople, including athletes and coaches, are naïve psychologists in the sense that they have already developed informal theoretical intuitive psychological theories to account for the behaviour of their players. Fortunately, an alternative model has been proposed for the delivery of sport psychology services to athletes and coaches (see Kremer and Scully, 1998). Briefly, this model identifies the coach rather than the athlete as the primary target for psychological education. The role of the sport psychologist changes from that of a medical expert to that of a management consultant—somebody who works as part of a team with the coach/manager and his or her support staff. It challenges the myth that sport psychologists are “shrinks” or “mind benders” who can provide instant solutions for athletes whose problems have baffled their coaches. Ped 5 Handout No. 1 8 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista  Republic of the Philippines PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY College of Teacher Education Department of Physical Education PED 5: SPORTS AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY C. How can One Qualify as a Sport Psychologist? Sport and exercise psychology as a hybrid discipline with roots in both psychology and sports science. There is no universally agreed academic pathway to professional qualification in sport and exercise psychology at present, but below are the guidelines from the American Psychological Association. 1. One needs to have a recognized primary degree in psychology, and who have an interest or involvement in sport. 2. Have a post-graduate training with a certain duration of supervised practice. 3. Primary degree in sport science with post-graduate degree in sport psychologist. Ped 5 Handout No. 1 9 Prepared by: Diana Lou H. Bautista