Sport and Performance Psychology
Lecture 1: General introduction and motivation
- The perfect match/race is an unattainable goal
- Performance = potential performance – performance losses
The mental side of sport (it’s multidimensional):
- 4 aspects:
o Psychological
o Physical
o Tactical
o Technical
- Finding out what you can’t control and what you can control
- Mental training is typically directed at avoiding performing losses: To teach, develop, and
maintain mental skills that help athletes to focus exclusively on “How you play” (i.e., the task
at hand) while ignoring distractions, including internal distractors or self-generated concerns
arising from one’s own thoughts and feelings, and external distractors such as weather
conditions, the click of a camera, or actions by opponents or others = help “to remain
composed”
Goals and values
3R Model
How important is the mental side of sport?
- “If mental processes are crucial for athletic success, psychologists should be able to help
sports competitors to enhance their athletic performance…” (M&T, p.3)
o By increasing their performance gains
o By forestalling their performance losses
- Note: Applied sport psychology, as a sub-field of performance psychology, is about enhancing
athletes’ performance and helping them reach their potential (rather than addressing …)
o For example, by developing individual’s mental toughness, regarded by athletes and
researchers as a key characteristic of successful athletes (Moran & Toner, 2017, pp.11-
15)
o What is mental toughness? How do you define, operationalize and measure it?
- However, part of the sport psychologists’ job responsibilities is to be able to provide
therapeutic services, likely by referral to a clinical specialist
‘Mental toughness’ in the sport psychological literature
- “Hardiness is a constellation of personality characteristics that enables people to mitigate the
adverse effects of stressful situations” (Kobasa, 1979):
, 1. Control = the capacity to feel and act as if one could exert an influence in the situation in
question
2. Challenge = the habit of perceiving potentially stressful situations as positive opportunities
rather than as threats
3. Commitment = stickability or the extent to which an individual is likely to persist with a goal
or work task
4C’s Model of Mental Toughness: Hardiness + Confidence (= a strong belief in one’s ability to
complete a task successfully
CONTROL – CHALLENGE - COMMITMENT - CONFIDENCE
How important is the mental side of sport?
Sport is 90% mental > disagree!
- If people lack the competence, that is, do not have the fitness, strength, and technical and
tactical skills required, the mental piece is completely irrelevant
- Competence or skill level, rather than mental factors, determines fluctuations in performance
- Amateur athletes in particular tend to attribute their inconsistency or lack of progress to
mental factors, saying things like. ‘It’s all in my head/between my ears.’ However, low-skilled
individuals typically perform inconsistently, even in low pressure situation.
Sport is 90% mental > agree!
- When competing against an opponent of similar ability, mental factors make the difference
(i.e., determine athletes’ performance losses)
- Why? Mental factors are more sensitive to pressure situations than physical, and tactical
factors
- The correct answer may be that it is not possible to determine the weight of each separate
component because:
o ‘Weight’ is a function of (among others) person, time, context, and moment
o The difference components (body and mind, Yin & Yang) are actually inseparable
- In any case:
o The 90% mental statement stimulates discussions about the mental side of sport!
o Mental factors, as part of an holistic system, are critical predictors of performance
gains and performance losses
What does research say about the development of the world’s best talent?
How you play
1. Expertise, or the capacity to perform
• Genetics
• Practice and training
2. Opportunity to perform
• Social support (e.g. parents and coaches)
• Athlete support programs
• Birthdate (“the relative age effect”)
• Birthplace
• Expertise, or capacity to perform
3. The mind to perform
• Personality traits
, • Psychological skills and motivational orientations
There is now empirical evidence that more successful athletes
- Display higher levels of motivation
- Command a wide range of mental skills (e.g., goal setting, anxiety control, and self-talk)
- Display higher levels of mental toughness and resilience, including:
o Higher levels of confidence and perceived control
o Better abilities to cope with adversity (e.g., problem solving and ability to re-focus)
o Greater resistance to ‘choking’
Implications for mental practice
Principles of high performance and effective self-regulation
, Motivation: Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
What is motivation?
The psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s behaviour, a person’s level of
intensity or effort (p.37) and a person’s self-regulation and level of persistence.
To better understand the role of motivation (e.g., persistence) in sport, it is essential to consider the
conditions and processes that move an athlete to act, think, and develop.
- Intrinsic Motivation (IM), or enjoyment:
When an activity is performed for its own sake – that is, the behaviour is experienced as
inherently satisfying, because it satisfied the basic needs for autonomy, competence and
relatedness, the natural ingredients for IM
- Extrinsic Motivation (EM):
The activity is perceived as a means to a separable outcome (i.e., as being instrumentally
important)
Amotivation:
- The absence of motivation
Lecture 2: Perfectionism, goals and self-efficacy
The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) framework (competence – autonomy – relatedness)
- Intrinsic motivation
- Extrinsic motivation
- Amotivation
The SDT framework: Mini-theory Cognitive Evaluation Theory (effect van beloningen op
iemands intrinsieke motitvatie)
- Do rewards (e.g. credits, money, trophies) undermine individuals’ intrinsic motivation?
- Thwarting peoples’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness,
decreases their intrinsic motivation
• For example, if athletes believe that their behaviour is controlled by external rewards,
their level of intrinsic motivation may decline
▪ Gedrag wordt gecontroleerd door externe beloningen > intrinsieke motivatie
verminderd
• In contrast, if the same rewards are perceived informational, that is, merely providing
feedback, intrinsic motivation will be supported
▪ Beloningen helpen als bevestiging van bekwaamheid en niet iets als dat het
gedrag controleert > intrinsieke motivatie zal niet verminderen
- When individuals are autonomously motivated in their actions, rather than feeling controlled
to act, they experience
o More interest, excitement and meaning (see also Beckmann, 2023)
o Less anxiety and psychological exhaustion
- Because rewards do not necessarily undermine individuals’ autonomous motivation, since the
mid-1990s, Self-Determination Theory (SD) has shifted its emphasis away from the old
distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation towards one between autonomous
and controlled motivation
Lecture 1: General introduction and motivation
- The perfect match/race is an unattainable goal
- Performance = potential performance – performance losses
The mental side of sport (it’s multidimensional):
- 4 aspects:
o Psychological
o Physical
o Tactical
o Technical
- Finding out what you can’t control and what you can control
- Mental training is typically directed at avoiding performing losses: To teach, develop, and
maintain mental skills that help athletes to focus exclusively on “How you play” (i.e., the task
at hand) while ignoring distractions, including internal distractors or self-generated concerns
arising from one’s own thoughts and feelings, and external distractors such as weather
conditions, the click of a camera, or actions by opponents or others = help “to remain
composed”
Goals and values
3R Model
How important is the mental side of sport?
- “If mental processes are crucial for athletic success, psychologists should be able to help
sports competitors to enhance their athletic performance…” (M&T, p.3)
o By increasing their performance gains
o By forestalling their performance losses
- Note: Applied sport psychology, as a sub-field of performance psychology, is about enhancing
athletes’ performance and helping them reach their potential (rather than addressing …)
o For example, by developing individual’s mental toughness, regarded by athletes and
researchers as a key characteristic of successful athletes (Moran & Toner, 2017, pp.11-
15)
o What is mental toughness? How do you define, operationalize and measure it?
- However, part of the sport psychologists’ job responsibilities is to be able to provide
therapeutic services, likely by referral to a clinical specialist
‘Mental toughness’ in the sport psychological literature
- “Hardiness is a constellation of personality characteristics that enables people to mitigate the
adverse effects of stressful situations” (Kobasa, 1979):
, 1. Control = the capacity to feel and act as if one could exert an influence in the situation in
question
2. Challenge = the habit of perceiving potentially stressful situations as positive opportunities
rather than as threats
3. Commitment = stickability or the extent to which an individual is likely to persist with a goal
or work task
4C’s Model of Mental Toughness: Hardiness + Confidence (= a strong belief in one’s ability to
complete a task successfully
CONTROL – CHALLENGE - COMMITMENT - CONFIDENCE
How important is the mental side of sport?
Sport is 90% mental > disagree!
- If people lack the competence, that is, do not have the fitness, strength, and technical and
tactical skills required, the mental piece is completely irrelevant
- Competence or skill level, rather than mental factors, determines fluctuations in performance
- Amateur athletes in particular tend to attribute their inconsistency or lack of progress to
mental factors, saying things like. ‘It’s all in my head/between my ears.’ However, low-skilled
individuals typically perform inconsistently, even in low pressure situation.
Sport is 90% mental > agree!
- When competing against an opponent of similar ability, mental factors make the difference
(i.e., determine athletes’ performance losses)
- Why? Mental factors are more sensitive to pressure situations than physical, and tactical
factors
- The correct answer may be that it is not possible to determine the weight of each separate
component because:
o ‘Weight’ is a function of (among others) person, time, context, and moment
o The difference components (body and mind, Yin & Yang) are actually inseparable
- In any case:
o The 90% mental statement stimulates discussions about the mental side of sport!
o Mental factors, as part of an holistic system, are critical predictors of performance
gains and performance losses
What does research say about the development of the world’s best talent?
How you play
1. Expertise, or the capacity to perform
• Genetics
• Practice and training
2. Opportunity to perform
• Social support (e.g. parents and coaches)
• Athlete support programs
• Birthdate (“the relative age effect”)
• Birthplace
• Expertise, or capacity to perform
3. The mind to perform
• Personality traits
, • Psychological skills and motivational orientations
There is now empirical evidence that more successful athletes
- Display higher levels of motivation
- Command a wide range of mental skills (e.g., goal setting, anxiety control, and self-talk)
- Display higher levels of mental toughness and resilience, including:
o Higher levels of confidence and perceived control
o Better abilities to cope with adversity (e.g., problem solving and ability to re-focus)
o Greater resistance to ‘choking’
Implications for mental practice
Principles of high performance and effective self-regulation
, Motivation: Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
What is motivation?
The psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s behaviour, a person’s level of
intensity or effort (p.37) and a person’s self-regulation and level of persistence.
To better understand the role of motivation (e.g., persistence) in sport, it is essential to consider the
conditions and processes that move an athlete to act, think, and develop.
- Intrinsic Motivation (IM), or enjoyment:
When an activity is performed for its own sake – that is, the behaviour is experienced as
inherently satisfying, because it satisfied the basic needs for autonomy, competence and
relatedness, the natural ingredients for IM
- Extrinsic Motivation (EM):
The activity is perceived as a means to a separable outcome (i.e., as being instrumentally
important)
Amotivation:
- The absence of motivation
Lecture 2: Perfectionism, goals and self-efficacy
The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) framework (competence – autonomy – relatedness)
- Intrinsic motivation
- Extrinsic motivation
- Amotivation
The SDT framework: Mini-theory Cognitive Evaluation Theory (effect van beloningen op
iemands intrinsieke motitvatie)
- Do rewards (e.g. credits, money, trophies) undermine individuals’ intrinsic motivation?
- Thwarting peoples’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness,
decreases their intrinsic motivation
• For example, if athletes believe that their behaviour is controlled by external rewards,
their level of intrinsic motivation may decline
▪ Gedrag wordt gecontroleerd door externe beloningen > intrinsieke motivatie
verminderd
• In contrast, if the same rewards are perceived informational, that is, merely providing
feedback, intrinsic motivation will be supported
▪ Beloningen helpen als bevestiging van bekwaamheid en niet iets als dat het
gedrag controleert > intrinsieke motivatie zal niet verminderen
- When individuals are autonomously motivated in their actions, rather than feeling controlled
to act, they experience
o More interest, excitement and meaning (see also Beckmann, 2023)
o Less anxiety and psychological exhaustion
- Because rewards do not necessarily undermine individuals’ autonomous motivation, since the
mid-1990s, Self-Determination Theory (SD) has shifted its emphasis away from the old
distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation towards one between autonomous
and controlled motivation
