Matthew Lee
BTEC Level 3 National Foundation Diploma in Sport
Unit 4 Assignment 2
Psychological Factors
Examine the importance of psychological factors and
their link
with effective leadership
External Psychological factors
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Anxiety and Arousal
Arousal is the level of consciousness and awareness a performer experiences before a certain
event or training. We can use the levels of arousal of performers to see how motivated they are
depending on the situation they are in. Having too low levels of arousal can cause performers to
underestimate the activity whether it be a difficult training method or a lower ranked
opponent/team. High levels of arousal can become stressful for performers and they will cause
them to be nervous and anxious. Depending on the leaders and type of sport they lead each of
them will deal
with anxiety and
arousal
differently with
their own unique
methods. Some
players may
have too high
levels of arousal
which may need
to be decreased
,and some players will need an increase in arousal levels as they are too low. Leaders use the
Inverted U theory which states that physiological arousal levels directly affect the performance
of a player. The Inverted U theory guides leaders and performers in how to progress in the
sport.Players will need to reach optimal arousal to remain stable at that point in order to gain
maximum performance in competitions. Low levels of arousal will cause players to be lazy and
sluggish and will not be consistent with the quality of work they put into the sport. This may be
due to them being unmotivated. Leaders will need to consider this and try different types of
training methods and exercises which will allow them to be both motivating and fun but also
challenging and will allow them to gain good levels of exercise and performance. High levels of
arousal will cause players to have high amounts of anxiety and stress and this will put them off
the game and may disrupt them and cause them to not play to their full potential. Leaders will
need to put exercises in place during competitions in order to allow players to relax and
destress.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
Personalities
Introvert
Introverts mostly are to themselves, more reserved and are comfortable to spend time alone by
themselves rather than in social situations with other people. Does this mean that introverted
people are shy and do not lack leadership skills and confidence? Introverts are approached by
leaders and coaches differently when compared to extroverted and outgoing people. Introverted
leaders also have different methods to lead an sporting group. Introverts might lead more by
their sporting performance on the field rather than speeches and team talks. Introverts can
motivate those around them by their high levels of skills and experience in the sport. Introverts
can become role models and admire their teammates to then work harder and do better.
Typically, introverts will participate in individual sports such as long distance swimming, golf or
snooker. An example of a sports athlete who is an introvert would be Andres Inesta who is now
a retired football player who is playing at the very highest level at professional football. Inesta
played for top team barcelona where he received huge amounts of recognition for his hard work
and success. This caused him to be constantly under pressure from peers,media and loyal fans
due to the expectation he needed to bring whilst playing professional football. Inesta has great
coordination and reaction time. Inesta kept good composure and was focused on the task at
hand. Introverts are patient people and this makes them able to receive and listen to instructions
set by coaches and trainers. They are observant and will play the sport from an alternative
perspective. This will help them to find weaknesses and strengths about the opponents and will
help the team win. However, introverts by nature are quite reserved and not as sociable. This
may cause teammates to create misunderstandings as they will believe this player does not
have a good friendship with us and therefore this could escalate onto the pitch and during
matches which require teamwork and team bonding.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
,Extroverts
Extroverts and the opposite of an introvert. Extroverted people are very outgoing, highly
sociable and self-confident in what they do. Extroverts tend to play sports involving a team such
as basketball and rugby. Extroverts are more dependent on their teammates for motivation and
reassurance. Typically, extroverts will be guided and will pick up techniques from their
teammates and will apply this to the game. When communicating with extroverts it is very
important that you have effective communication through leadership as this is what motivates
those around you. Extroverted leaders tend to lead with confidence and motivation, they will
encourage the team to push themselves whilst also balancing practice with socializing at the
same time as this is what extroverts fuel themselves upon. An example of an extrovert would be
Cristiano Ronaldo, who motivates those around them due to this self-confidence and experience
through his many awards and achievements. Extroverts need to put themselves more outwards.
Extroverts people are more able to manage groups of people by commanding them and
giving them instructions on what strategies and training routines you need to do depending on
your playing style. Extroverts use friendships to build trust which then build effective
communication with teammates when it is time to play the sport. However, teammates may get
the wrong first impressions of an extrovert when he is commanding the team. They may be too
forceful and this may cause too much pressure on the teammates. This could lead to mistrust
and lead to bad communication. Therefore, lowers the team performance during competitive
fixtures.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
Cohesion
Cohesion occurs in sport which involves your team and involves social interactions by building
trust with teammates and leaders. Cohesion is what builds a team to work together as they are
more stronger when united. Effective communication and clear goal setting by leaders will
cause players and staff to work together towards a certain goal such as winning awards. This
creates strong cohesion within the team as they are all working with each other for the same
reward. England Manager Gareth Southgate encourages and motivates his team by building
their confidence with each other through team building games such as possession of the ball
and using conditioned game situations. This is effective as most of the england players are from
different teams across the country and therefore this training will help them towards building
trust with each other. Therefore during the tournaments this allows them to work together and
this creates a good team performance and creates a higher chance of winning the competition.
Cohesion causes loyal players to the team and this will increase their arousal and drive to
perform, teammates would encourage each other with both moral support and advice on how to
improve their techniques. This will cause a positive atmosphere. However, staff may focus too
much on team cohesion training which will allow sport related training to have less time. This
could cause the performance of the team on the pitch to decrease as they have more invested
time into exercise and sport related activities. This could lead to a bad performance during the
competition.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
, Motivation
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation are two types of motivation. Extrinsically and
Intrinsically motivated people behave differently in situations to each other both in social
situations and during sport. Intrinsic motivation is more focused on the phrase ‘It is not about
winning, It is about taking part’. Intrinsic motivation follows the idea that when playing sport it is
about participating, having fun and socializing with your mates. Intrinsic motivation is not
focusing on playing competitive sports and some may say that the skills and professionals of
intrinsically motivated people are less than extrinsically motivated people as they are not
focused on rewards and milestones in their sporting career. Intrinsic motivation is caused by the
positive and friendly atmosphere, excitement and improving their skills in the sport to help with
performance during play. Intrinsically motivated people are good team players as they are
willing to improve their performance for themselves and to play to their best ability. They are
then willing to encourage and motivate others as this makes the team perform better. They can
also be good leaders and role models to team players as they can share knowledge and
experience to each other and this allows team members to improve and boost the team
performance during matches. Intrinsically motivated people are able to focus more on how to
improve their performance such as analyzing their strengths and weaknesses and talking to
coaches and players for feedback and improvements. Intrinsic motivation causes players to
build a strong and healthy relationship with their club as they feel comfortable around the people
that surround them. This causes them to be more loyal to their club and less likely to change
clubs if they offer them a high paying contract. However, Intrinsic motivation focuses more on
the taking side of sport and how fun and exciting participating in sport is. Players that are
intrinsically motivated after some time eventually feel stressed out and unmotivated to play as
they do not feel they are seeing results in order to maintain their professional level. Therefore,
this then creates a negative atmosphere for the team thus resulting in the overall team
performance to fall and decrease.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
Extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation is focused on milestones and rewards such as awards and trophies. These
types of people are motivated by their reputation that the public remembers them based upon
and their career achievements. In National Cricket in India, during the IPL (Indian Premier
League) the league uses external rewards to motivate these types of players. During the end of
the season there are rewards such as Man of the Match, Most sixes scored by a player, Most
fours scored by a player, Best Batsman partnership, most wickets taken. All of these rewards
are what extrinsic motivators hope to win and this pushes them and improves their performance.
This is good to the team perhaps for the short term as this will boost their team performance but
perhaps only temporarily as these extrinsic motivated people may switch teams after 1 or 2
years as they may get a higher playing contract elsewhere. However, Extrinsic motivation can
cause many complications within a team. If a team is mixed with both Intrinsic motivation and
Extrinsic motivated people can have misunderstandings and not want to work together and
cooperate with each other as both these types of people have different opinions of success.
BTEC Level 3 National Foundation Diploma in Sport
Unit 4 Assignment 2
Psychological Factors
Examine the importance of psychological factors and
their link
with effective leadership
External Psychological factors
Stuvia – Please leave a 5-star review!
Check out my other Stuvia documents.
Anxiety and Arousal
Arousal is the level of consciousness and awareness a performer experiences before a certain
event or training. We can use the levels of arousal of performers to see how motivated they are
depending on the situation they are in. Having too low levels of arousal can cause performers to
underestimate the activity whether it be a difficult training method or a lower ranked
opponent/team. High levels of arousal can become stressful for performers and they will cause
them to be nervous and anxious. Depending on the leaders and type of sport they lead each of
them will deal
with anxiety and
arousal
differently with
their own unique
methods. Some
players may
have too high
levels of arousal
which may need
to be decreased
,and some players will need an increase in arousal levels as they are too low. Leaders use the
Inverted U theory which states that physiological arousal levels directly affect the performance
of a player. The Inverted U theory guides leaders and performers in how to progress in the
sport.Players will need to reach optimal arousal to remain stable at that point in order to gain
maximum performance in competitions. Low levels of arousal will cause players to be lazy and
sluggish and will not be consistent with the quality of work they put into the sport. This may be
due to them being unmotivated. Leaders will need to consider this and try different types of
training methods and exercises which will allow them to be both motivating and fun but also
challenging and will allow them to gain good levels of exercise and performance. High levels of
arousal will cause players to have high amounts of anxiety and stress and this will put them off
the game and may disrupt them and cause them to not play to their full potential. Leaders will
need to put exercises in place during competitions in order to allow players to relax and
destress.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
Personalities
Introvert
Introverts mostly are to themselves, more reserved and are comfortable to spend time alone by
themselves rather than in social situations with other people. Does this mean that introverted
people are shy and do not lack leadership skills and confidence? Introverts are approached by
leaders and coaches differently when compared to extroverted and outgoing people. Introverted
leaders also have different methods to lead an sporting group. Introverts might lead more by
their sporting performance on the field rather than speeches and team talks. Introverts can
motivate those around them by their high levels of skills and experience in the sport. Introverts
can become role models and admire their teammates to then work harder and do better.
Typically, introverts will participate in individual sports such as long distance swimming, golf or
snooker. An example of a sports athlete who is an introvert would be Andres Inesta who is now
a retired football player who is playing at the very highest level at professional football. Inesta
played for top team barcelona where he received huge amounts of recognition for his hard work
and success. This caused him to be constantly under pressure from peers,media and loyal fans
due to the expectation he needed to bring whilst playing professional football. Inesta has great
coordination and reaction time. Inesta kept good composure and was focused on the task at
hand. Introverts are patient people and this makes them able to receive and listen to instructions
set by coaches and trainers. They are observant and will play the sport from an alternative
perspective. This will help them to find weaknesses and strengths about the opponents and will
help the team win. However, introverts by nature are quite reserved and not as sociable. This
may cause teammates to create misunderstandings as they will believe this player does not
have a good friendship with us and therefore this could escalate onto the pitch and during
matches which require teamwork and team bonding.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
,Extroverts
Extroverts and the opposite of an introvert. Extroverted people are very outgoing, highly
sociable and self-confident in what they do. Extroverts tend to play sports involving a team such
as basketball and rugby. Extroverts are more dependent on their teammates for motivation and
reassurance. Typically, extroverts will be guided and will pick up techniques from their
teammates and will apply this to the game. When communicating with extroverts it is very
important that you have effective communication through leadership as this is what motivates
those around you. Extroverted leaders tend to lead with confidence and motivation, they will
encourage the team to push themselves whilst also balancing practice with socializing at the
same time as this is what extroverts fuel themselves upon. An example of an extrovert would be
Cristiano Ronaldo, who motivates those around them due to this self-confidence and experience
through his many awards and achievements. Extroverts need to put themselves more outwards.
Extroverts people are more able to manage groups of people by commanding them and
giving them instructions on what strategies and training routines you need to do depending on
your playing style. Extroverts use friendships to build trust which then build effective
communication with teammates when it is time to play the sport. However, teammates may get
the wrong first impressions of an extrovert when he is commanding the team. They may be too
forceful and this may cause too much pressure on the teammates. This could lead to mistrust
and lead to bad communication. Therefore, lowers the team performance during competitive
fixtures.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
Cohesion
Cohesion occurs in sport which involves your team and involves social interactions by building
trust with teammates and leaders. Cohesion is what builds a team to work together as they are
more stronger when united. Effective communication and clear goal setting by leaders will
cause players and staff to work together towards a certain goal such as winning awards. This
creates strong cohesion within the team as they are all working with each other for the same
reward. England Manager Gareth Southgate encourages and motivates his team by building
their confidence with each other through team building games such as possession of the ball
and using conditioned game situations. This is effective as most of the england players are from
different teams across the country and therefore this training will help them towards building
trust with each other. Therefore during the tournaments this allows them to work together and
this creates a good team performance and creates a higher chance of winning the competition.
Cohesion causes loyal players to the team and this will increase their arousal and drive to
perform, teammates would encourage each other with both moral support and advice on how to
improve their techniques. This will cause a positive atmosphere. However, staff may focus too
much on team cohesion training which will allow sport related training to have less time. This
could cause the performance of the team on the pitch to decrease as they have more invested
time into exercise and sport related activities. This could lead to a bad performance during the
competition.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
, Motivation
Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation and Extrinsic motivation are two types of motivation. Extrinsically and
Intrinsically motivated people behave differently in situations to each other both in social
situations and during sport. Intrinsic motivation is more focused on the phrase ‘It is not about
winning, It is about taking part’. Intrinsic motivation follows the idea that when playing sport it is
about participating, having fun and socializing with your mates. Intrinsic motivation is not
focusing on playing competitive sports and some may say that the skills and professionals of
intrinsically motivated people are less than extrinsically motivated people as they are not
focused on rewards and milestones in their sporting career. Intrinsic motivation is caused by the
positive and friendly atmosphere, excitement and improving their skills in the sport to help with
performance during play. Intrinsically motivated people are good team players as they are
willing to improve their performance for themselves and to play to their best ability. They are
then willing to encourage and motivate others as this makes the team perform better. They can
also be good leaders and role models to team players as they can share knowledge and
experience to each other and this allows team members to improve and boost the team
performance during matches. Intrinsically motivated people are able to focus more on how to
improve their performance such as analyzing their strengths and weaknesses and talking to
coaches and players for feedback and improvements. Intrinsic motivation causes players to
build a strong and healthy relationship with their club as they feel comfortable around the people
that surround them. This causes them to be more loyal to their club and less likely to change
clubs if they offer them a high paying contract. However, Intrinsic motivation focuses more on
the taking side of sport and how fun and exciting participating in sport is. Players that are
intrinsically motivated after some time eventually feel stressed out and unmotivated to play as
they do not feel they are seeing results in order to maintain their professional level. Therefore,
this then creates a negative atmosphere for the team thus resulting in the overall team
performance to fall and decrease.
Evidence towards BP.3, BM.2, BD.2
Extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation is focused on milestones and rewards such as awards and trophies. These
types of people are motivated by their reputation that the public remembers them based upon
and their career achievements. In National Cricket in India, during the IPL (Indian Premier
League) the league uses external rewards to motivate these types of players. During the end of
the season there are rewards such as Man of the Match, Most sixes scored by a player, Most
fours scored by a player, Best Batsman partnership, most wickets taken. All of these rewards
are what extrinsic motivators hope to win and this pushes them and improves their performance.
This is good to the team perhaps for the short term as this will boost their team performance but
perhaps only temporarily as these extrinsic motivated people may switch teams after 1 or 2
years as they may get a higher playing contract elsewhere. However, Extrinsic motivation can
cause many complications within a team. If a team is mixed with both Intrinsic motivation and
Extrinsic motivated people can have misunderstandings and not want to work together and
cooperate with each other as both these types of people have different opinions of success.
