SPORT PSYCHOLOGY CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS
RICHARD H. COX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Sport Psychology: A Discipline and Profession .................................................................................................... 3
Sport and Exercise Psychology Defined .................................................................................................................................. 3
History of Sport Psychology in North America ....................................................................................................................... 3
History of Sport Psychology in Europe.................................................................................................................................... 3
What Does The Sport Psychologist Do? .................................................................................................................................. 3
Ethics in Sport Psychology ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Multicultural Issues that Relate to Race ................................................................................................................................. 4
Multicultural Issues that Relate to Gender ............................................................................................................................. 4
Chapter 2 Personality as a Core Characteristic of the Individual ......................................................................................... 5
Theories of Personality ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
The Measurement of Personality ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Personality and Sport Performance ........................................................................................................................................ 6
The Interactional Model ......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Chapter 3 Self-Confidence and Intrinsic Motivation............................................................................................................ 7
Models of Self-Confidence ...................................................................................................................................................... 7
Sport Psychology Topics Related to Confidence ..................................................................................................................... 8
An Integrated Theory of Motivation in Sport and Exercise .................................................................................................... 8
Cognitive Evaluation theory .................................................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 4 Goal Perspective Theory ................................................................................................................................... 10
Achievement Goal Orientation ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Developmental Nature of Goal Orientation ......................................................................................................................... 10
Measuring Goal Orientation ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Goal Involvement .................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Motivational Climate ............................................................................................................................................................ 10
Goal Orientation and Moral Functioning .............................................................................................................................. 11
Characteristics of Task and Ego Goal Orientations ............................................................................................................... 11
The Matching Hypothesis ..................................................................................................................................................... 11
Goal Orientation Antecedents and Outcomes ..................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 5 Youth Sports ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
Benefits of Youth Sports and Reasons Children Participate ................................................................................................. 12
Potential Negative Factors Associated with the Youth Sports Experience .......................................................................... 12
Why Do Youth Withdraw from Sport? .................................................................................................................................. 12
Coach, Parent, and Peer Relationships ................................................................................................................................. 13
Issues Associated with Developing a Youth Sports Program ................................................................................................ 13
Chapter 6 Attention and Concentration in Sport and exercise .......................................................................................... 14
Information Processing ......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Memory Systems................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Measuring Information ......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Selective Attention ................................................................................................................................................................ 14
Limited Information Processing Capacity ............................................................................................................................. 14
Attentional Narrowing .......................................................................................................................................................... 15
When Athletes Are in the Zone............................................................................................................................................. 15
Mechanisms that Explain the Relationship between Attention and Performance .............................................................. 15
Competing Mechanisms That Explain the Detrimental Effects of Psychological Pressure on Learning and Performance . 16
Measuring Attentional Focus ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Attention Control Training .................................................................................................................................................... 16
Associative versus Dissociative Attentional Style ................................................................................................................. 16
0HK00 SMSP | Sport Psychology | Cox | Table of Contents 1
,Chapter 7 Anxiety, Stress, and Mood Relationship ........................................................................................................... 17
Differentiating Among the Terms Affect, Emotion, Anxiety, Mood and Stress ................................................................... 17
The Multidimensional Nature of Anxiety.............................................................................................................................. 17
The Stress Process and Antecedents of the State Anxiety Response ................................................................................... 17
Measurement of Anxiety ...................................................................................................................................................... 18
Time-to-Event Nature of Precompetitive Anxiety ................................................................................................................ 18
Perfectionism in Sport........................................................................................................................................................... 18
The Relationship Between Arousal and Athletic Performance ............................................................................................ 18
Mood State and Athletic Performance ................................................................................................................................. 19
Chapter 8 Alternatives to Inverted-U Theory .................................................................................................................... 21
Marten’s Multidimensional Anxiety Theory ......................................................................................................................... 21
Fazey and Hardy’s Catastrophe Theory ................................................................................................................................ 21
Hanin’s Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) Theory............................................................................................ 21
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience ....................................................................................................................... 22
Jones’s Directionality Theory ................................................................................................................................................ 22
Apter’s Reversal Theory ........................................................................................................................................................ 23
Chapter 13 Aggression and Violence in Sport.................................................................................................................... 24
Defining Aggression .............................................................................................................................................................. 24
Theories of Aggression .......................................................................................................................................................... 24
The Catharsis Effect............................................................................................................................................................... 25
Measurement of Aggression ................................................................................................................................................. 25
Fan Violence .......................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Effects of Aggression on Performance .................................................................................................................................. 25
Situational Factors in a Sport Setting .................................................................................................................................... 25
Reducing Aggression in Sport ............................................................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 14 Audience and Self-Presentation Effects in Sport ............................................................................................. 27
Social Facilitation .................................................................................................................................................................. 27
Effects of an Interactive Audience on Performance ............................................................................................................. 27
Self-Presentation Effects in Sport ......................................................................................................................................... 28
Chapter 15 Team Cohesion in Sport .................................................................................................................................. 29
Defining Characteristics of Team Cohesion .......................................................................................................................... 29
A Conceptual Model of Team Cohesion ............................................................................................................................... 29
Measurement of Team Cohesion ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Determinants of Team Cohesion .......................................................................................................................................... 30
Consequences of Team Cohesion ......................................................................................................................................... 30
Developing Team Cohesion .................................................................................................................................................. 31
Specific Interventions Designed to Enhance Team Cohesion ............................................................................................... 31
Chapter 16 Leadership and Communication in Sport ........................................................................................................ 32
Leadership Theory Classification System .............................................................................................................................. 32
Situation-Specific Sport Models of Leadership ..................................................................................................................... 33
Predicting Coaching Outcomes from Coaching Efficacy and Competence .......................................................................... 35
Player Position, Leadership Opportunity, and Stacking........................................................................................................ 35
Balk, Adriaanse, de Ridder, & Evers | Coping Under Pressure: Employing Emotion Regulation Strategies to Enhance
Performance Under Pressure ............................................................................................................................................ 36
Theories of Chocking Under Pressure ................................................................................................................................... 36
Emotion Regulation Strategies ............................................................................................................................................. 36
0HK00 SMSP | Sport Psychology | Cox | Table of Contents 2
, CHAPTER 1 SPORT PSYCHOLOGY: A DISCIPLINE AND
PROFESSION
Many professional sport teams have their own sport psychologist. However, the goal of providing
sport psychology services to every coach and athlete is unrealistic. The ultimate goal of a sport
psychology consultant should be to teach clients to teach or counsel themselves.
Positive psychology. An approach to human behaviour that focuses upon wellness and not merely
absence of disease.
Evidence-based psychology. Sport psychology must continue to develop as a scientific discipline in
such a manner that an evidence-based body of knowledge is developed. If the discipline is not based
upon good science, then applied sport psychology cannot be evidence-based.
SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY DEFINED
Sport psychology is a science in which the principles of psychology are applied in a sport or exercise
setting. These principles are often applied to enhance performance.
The sport psychologist is interested in helping every sport participant reach his or her potential as an
athlete.
Sport and exercise psychology is the study of the effect of psychological and emotional factors on
sport and exercise performance, and the effect of sport and exercise involvement on psychological
and emotional factors.
HISTORY OF SPORT PSYCHOLOGY IN NORTH AMERICA
Norman Triplett (1897): analysed the performance of cyclists under conditions of social facilitation.
Cyclists performed significantly better when competing against others than when alone.
Coleman Griffith (1925): the first person to systematically carry out sport psychology research over
an extended period of time. “Father of sport psychology in North America”. He studies the nature of
psychomotor skills, motor learning, and the relationship between personality variables and physical
performance.
HISTORY OF SPORT PSYCHOLOGY IN EUROPE
Avksenty Cezarevich Puni (1898-1986): established the new discipline of Sport psychology, while in
Leningrad , by creating the Department of Sport Psychology.
Piotr Antonovich Roudik (1925): did the same thing in Moscow. He founded the first sport
psychology laboratory in the Soviet Union.
WHAT DOES THE SPORT PSYCHOLOGIST DO?
The Clinical/Counselling Sport Psychologist. They are prepared to deal with emotional and
personality disorder problems that affect some athletes.
The Educational Sport Psychologist. They have mastered the knowledge base of sport
psychology and serve as practitioners.
The Research Sport Psychologist. They make sure the knowledge base continues to grow.
ETHICS IN SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
Sport psychologists need sufficient training regarding ethics.
0HK00 SMSP | Sport Psychology | Cox | Chapter 1 Sport Psychology: A Discipline and Profession 3
RICHARD H. COX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Sport Psychology: A Discipline and Profession .................................................................................................... 3
Sport and Exercise Psychology Defined .................................................................................................................................. 3
History of Sport Psychology in North America ....................................................................................................................... 3
History of Sport Psychology in Europe.................................................................................................................................... 3
What Does The Sport Psychologist Do? .................................................................................................................................. 3
Ethics in Sport Psychology ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Multicultural Issues that Relate to Race ................................................................................................................................. 4
Multicultural Issues that Relate to Gender ............................................................................................................................. 4
Chapter 2 Personality as a Core Characteristic of the Individual ......................................................................................... 5
Theories of Personality ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
The Measurement of Personality ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Personality and Sport Performance ........................................................................................................................................ 6
The Interactional Model ......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Chapter 3 Self-Confidence and Intrinsic Motivation............................................................................................................ 7
Models of Self-Confidence ...................................................................................................................................................... 7
Sport Psychology Topics Related to Confidence ..................................................................................................................... 8
An Integrated Theory of Motivation in Sport and Exercise .................................................................................................... 8
Cognitive Evaluation theory .................................................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 4 Goal Perspective Theory ................................................................................................................................... 10
Achievement Goal Orientation ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Developmental Nature of Goal Orientation ......................................................................................................................... 10
Measuring Goal Orientation ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Goal Involvement .................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Motivational Climate ............................................................................................................................................................ 10
Goal Orientation and Moral Functioning .............................................................................................................................. 11
Characteristics of Task and Ego Goal Orientations ............................................................................................................... 11
The Matching Hypothesis ..................................................................................................................................................... 11
Goal Orientation Antecedents and Outcomes ..................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 5 Youth Sports ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
Benefits of Youth Sports and Reasons Children Participate ................................................................................................. 12
Potential Negative Factors Associated with the Youth Sports Experience .......................................................................... 12
Why Do Youth Withdraw from Sport? .................................................................................................................................. 12
Coach, Parent, and Peer Relationships ................................................................................................................................. 13
Issues Associated with Developing a Youth Sports Program ................................................................................................ 13
Chapter 6 Attention and Concentration in Sport and exercise .......................................................................................... 14
Information Processing ......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Memory Systems................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Measuring Information ......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Selective Attention ................................................................................................................................................................ 14
Limited Information Processing Capacity ............................................................................................................................. 14
Attentional Narrowing .......................................................................................................................................................... 15
When Athletes Are in the Zone............................................................................................................................................. 15
Mechanisms that Explain the Relationship between Attention and Performance .............................................................. 15
Competing Mechanisms That Explain the Detrimental Effects of Psychological Pressure on Learning and Performance . 16
Measuring Attentional Focus ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Attention Control Training .................................................................................................................................................... 16
Associative versus Dissociative Attentional Style ................................................................................................................. 16
0HK00 SMSP | Sport Psychology | Cox | Table of Contents 1
,Chapter 7 Anxiety, Stress, and Mood Relationship ........................................................................................................... 17
Differentiating Among the Terms Affect, Emotion, Anxiety, Mood and Stress ................................................................... 17
The Multidimensional Nature of Anxiety.............................................................................................................................. 17
The Stress Process and Antecedents of the State Anxiety Response ................................................................................... 17
Measurement of Anxiety ...................................................................................................................................................... 18
Time-to-Event Nature of Precompetitive Anxiety ................................................................................................................ 18
Perfectionism in Sport........................................................................................................................................................... 18
The Relationship Between Arousal and Athletic Performance ............................................................................................ 18
Mood State and Athletic Performance ................................................................................................................................. 19
Chapter 8 Alternatives to Inverted-U Theory .................................................................................................................... 21
Marten’s Multidimensional Anxiety Theory ......................................................................................................................... 21
Fazey and Hardy’s Catastrophe Theory ................................................................................................................................ 21
Hanin’s Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) Theory............................................................................................ 21
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience ....................................................................................................................... 22
Jones’s Directionality Theory ................................................................................................................................................ 22
Apter’s Reversal Theory ........................................................................................................................................................ 23
Chapter 13 Aggression and Violence in Sport.................................................................................................................... 24
Defining Aggression .............................................................................................................................................................. 24
Theories of Aggression .......................................................................................................................................................... 24
The Catharsis Effect............................................................................................................................................................... 25
Measurement of Aggression ................................................................................................................................................. 25
Fan Violence .......................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Effects of Aggression on Performance .................................................................................................................................. 25
Situational Factors in a Sport Setting .................................................................................................................................... 25
Reducing Aggression in Sport ............................................................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 14 Audience and Self-Presentation Effects in Sport ............................................................................................. 27
Social Facilitation .................................................................................................................................................................. 27
Effects of an Interactive Audience on Performance ............................................................................................................. 27
Self-Presentation Effects in Sport ......................................................................................................................................... 28
Chapter 15 Team Cohesion in Sport .................................................................................................................................. 29
Defining Characteristics of Team Cohesion .......................................................................................................................... 29
A Conceptual Model of Team Cohesion ............................................................................................................................... 29
Measurement of Team Cohesion ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Determinants of Team Cohesion .......................................................................................................................................... 30
Consequences of Team Cohesion ......................................................................................................................................... 30
Developing Team Cohesion .................................................................................................................................................. 31
Specific Interventions Designed to Enhance Team Cohesion ............................................................................................... 31
Chapter 16 Leadership and Communication in Sport ........................................................................................................ 32
Leadership Theory Classification System .............................................................................................................................. 32
Situation-Specific Sport Models of Leadership ..................................................................................................................... 33
Predicting Coaching Outcomes from Coaching Efficacy and Competence .......................................................................... 35
Player Position, Leadership Opportunity, and Stacking........................................................................................................ 35
Balk, Adriaanse, de Ridder, & Evers | Coping Under Pressure: Employing Emotion Regulation Strategies to Enhance
Performance Under Pressure ............................................................................................................................................ 36
Theories of Chocking Under Pressure ................................................................................................................................... 36
Emotion Regulation Strategies ............................................................................................................................................. 36
0HK00 SMSP | Sport Psychology | Cox | Table of Contents 2
, CHAPTER 1 SPORT PSYCHOLOGY: A DISCIPLINE AND
PROFESSION
Many professional sport teams have their own sport psychologist. However, the goal of providing
sport psychology services to every coach and athlete is unrealistic. The ultimate goal of a sport
psychology consultant should be to teach clients to teach or counsel themselves.
Positive psychology. An approach to human behaviour that focuses upon wellness and not merely
absence of disease.
Evidence-based psychology. Sport psychology must continue to develop as a scientific discipline in
such a manner that an evidence-based body of knowledge is developed. If the discipline is not based
upon good science, then applied sport psychology cannot be evidence-based.
SPORT AND EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY DEFINED
Sport psychology is a science in which the principles of psychology are applied in a sport or exercise
setting. These principles are often applied to enhance performance.
The sport psychologist is interested in helping every sport participant reach his or her potential as an
athlete.
Sport and exercise psychology is the study of the effect of psychological and emotional factors on
sport and exercise performance, and the effect of sport and exercise involvement on psychological
and emotional factors.
HISTORY OF SPORT PSYCHOLOGY IN NORTH AMERICA
Norman Triplett (1897): analysed the performance of cyclists under conditions of social facilitation.
Cyclists performed significantly better when competing against others than when alone.
Coleman Griffith (1925): the first person to systematically carry out sport psychology research over
an extended period of time. “Father of sport psychology in North America”. He studies the nature of
psychomotor skills, motor learning, and the relationship between personality variables and physical
performance.
HISTORY OF SPORT PSYCHOLOGY IN EUROPE
Avksenty Cezarevich Puni (1898-1986): established the new discipline of Sport psychology, while in
Leningrad , by creating the Department of Sport Psychology.
Piotr Antonovich Roudik (1925): did the same thing in Moscow. He founded the first sport
psychology laboratory in the Soviet Union.
WHAT DOES THE SPORT PSYCHOLOGIST DO?
The Clinical/Counselling Sport Psychologist. They are prepared to deal with emotional and
personality disorder problems that affect some athletes.
The Educational Sport Psychologist. They have mastered the knowledge base of sport
psychology and serve as practitioners.
The Research Sport Psychologist. They make sure the knowledge base continues to grow.
ETHICS IN SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
Sport psychologists need sufficient training regarding ethics.
0HK00 SMSP | Sport Psychology | Cox | Chapter 1 Sport Psychology: A Discipline and Profession 3
