A Critical Introduction to Sport Psychology

A Critical Introduction

Aidan Moran, John Toner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781317329657
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The new third edition of A Critical Introduction to Sport Psychology is the only textbook in the field that provides a detailed overview of key theories, concepts and findings within the discipline of sport psychology, as well as a critical perspective that examines and challenges these core foundations.

Fully revised and updated, the new edition covers key research findings affecting both participation and performance in sport, including topics such as motivation, anxiety, emotional coping, concentration, mental imagery, expertise and team cohesion. In addition, the book includes a range of helpful features that bring the science to life, including critical thinking exercises, suggestions for student projects and new "In the spotlight" boxes that highlight key advances in theory or practice. A comprehensive glossary is also included, whilst a final chapter examines some new horizons in sport psychology, including embodied cognition and socio-cultural perspectives.

Sport is played with the body but often won in the mind; that is the theory. A Critical Introduction to Sport Psychology is the definitive textbook for anyone wishing to engage critically with this fascinating idea.

Part 1
Exploring athletic performance

Key constructs

Overview

Chapter 1 of the book examined the nature of the discipline and profession of sport psychology. Part 1 investigates the various psychological processes that affect individual athletes in their pursuit of excellence. Whereas Chapter 2 explores the psychology of motivation, Chapter 3 examines anxiety in athletes. Chapter 4 addresses coping and emotion. After that, Chapter 5 explores concentration and Chapter 6 tackles imagery processes in athletes. Finally, Chapter 7 investigates the question of what determines expertise in sport performers.

Chapter 2
Motivation and goal-setting in sport

Introduction

According to Arsène Wenger (current manager of Arsenal football club), “the biggest difficulty you have in this job is not to motivate the players but to get them relaxed enough to express their talent” (cited in Fanning, 2004a, p. 5). More generally, motivation plays a crucial if somewhat misunderstood role in sport. To illustrate the first of these claims, the term “motivation” is commonly invoked by athletes, coaches and psychologists to account for the “energizing”, regulation and persistence of behaviour in athletic situations (e.g. when training for endurance events such as marathons). As Standage (2012) explained, the “energy required for an athlete to persist in high-quality training sessions, both across long gruelling seasons and in the face of competitive failure, reveals why motivation is considered a foundation” (p. 233) in sport psychology. Indeed, at the elite level of sport, the role of motivation is crucial in the sense that athletic success depends significantly on the willingness of athletes to exert mental as well as physical effort in pursuit of excellence (see detailed discussion in Chapter 7). In this regard, José Mourinho, one of the most successful coaches in world football (e.g. his teams have won titles in four different countries), claimed that “motivation is the most important thing. Some of them can and they don’t want [to], some of them want and they can’t. We want players who can do it and at the same time want to do it” (cited in Honigsbaum, 2004, p. 18; italics ours). Delving deeper into this idea, Alex Ferguson (the former Manchester United manager), another extraordinarily successful coach, revealed that athletes’ motivation can be manipulated by shrewd managers by understanding how players differ from each other with regard to the factors that drive their behaviour. Specifically, he said:

footballers are all different human beings. Some are self-motivators, they need to be left alone... For some, you need causes, your country, them and us, your religion. And those causes can be created by the manager... at Manchester United, we have to be better than everyone else.

(cited in White, 1999)

Despite these valuable insights from successful coaches, the contribution of motivation to optimal performance in sport is widely misunderstood. For example, as Glyn Roberts (2001) pointed out, motivation is often confused with being “psyched up” (see also Chapter 3) – a view that Arsène Wenger has challenged (see Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1 Arsène Wenger believes that footballers perform best when they are relaxed (source: courtesy of Inpho photography)

Contrary to popular wisdom, however, there is little research evidence that “psyching up” athletes by emphasizing the disastrous consequences of failure can ever prove to be an effective motivational ploy. Indeed, if anything, such a strategy may prove counterproductive because high levels of arousal (see Chapter 3) are known to impair both athletes’ technical performance (Gee, 2010) and concentration skills (see Chapter 5). To illustrate, Webster (1984) reported that due to the effects of excessive anxiety, not one member of an Australian Rules football team could recall any of the coach’s instructions in a vital game just five minutes after his rousing pre-match address! Interestingly, as the quote at the beginning of the chapter shows, Arsène Wenger, who is the most successful manager in the history of Arsenal football club, observed that his role was not to motivate players – but to help them to relax on the pitch. Similar sentiments were expressed by José Mourinho. Specifically, he said that “… sometimes you may have to shout at them in the face, but fear is not a good emotion” (Campbell, 2015, p. 2). And this brings us to the question of motivation through fear. This issue was highlighted sharply by reports that, in the early 1990s, Iraqi footballers were regularly beaten and tortured for losing matches under the brutal regime of Uday Hussein, son of the notorious Saddam Hussein (Goldenberg, 2003) – a cruel practice which did nothing to enhance team morale or performance. Nevertheless, anecdotal reports suggest that some athletes have used fear to motivate themselves in certain situations. For example, Pádraig Harrington, a three-time golf major winner, admitted that

fear has always been a motivating factor in my golf... This is my 12^th year on Tour and certainly for eight or nine years, every time I took my winter break, I was very anxious I would come out and it would still be there... Yes, fear is a big part of me.

(Pádraig Harrington, cited in The Irish Times, 2008)

By contrast, Arsène Wenger claims that the fear is incompatible with peak performance. Specifically, he said that “fear is the best way not to achieve what you want to achieve” (cited in J. Jackson, 2010; italics ours). In general, empirical research supports Wenger’s rather than Harrington’s position because a strong fear of failure is associated with psychological problems such as excessive anxiety, depression and even withdrawal from sport, especially among young athletes (Travers et al., 2013).

Given this background of confusion and inconsistency about the role of motivational factors in sport psychology, the present chapter attempts to answer the following questions. What exactly does the term “motivation” mean? What types of motivation have been identified? What theoretical approaches have been used to explore this construct? How can athletes increase their motivation? Finally, what factors motivate people to participate in dangerous sports? In order to address these issues, the chapter is organized as follows.

To begin with, we consider the nature and types of motivation that are evident among athletes. Next, we present a brief overview of theoretical approaches to motivation in sport psychology. Special consideration will be given here to three influential cognitive models of motivational processes in athletes: achievement goal theory (AGT; Ames, 1992; J. Nicholls, 1984), attribution theory (AT; e.g. Heider, 1958; Kelley, 1967) and self-determination theory (see Deci and Ryan, 1985, 2000, 2008). The third section explores the theory and practice of increasing motivation in athletes through goal-setting techniques. The fourth section examines a motivational question that has attracted popular debate: why do some people take part in risky or dangerous sports activities? In the final section of the chapter, we provide some practical suggestions for possible research projects on the psychology of motivation in athletes.

Nature and types of motivation

The term motivation refers to “the direction and intensity of one’s effort” (Weinberg, 2009, p. 7). It is derived from the Latin word movere (meaning “to move”: Onions, 1996) and is concerned with those factors that “move” (or energize), direct and regulate achievement behaviour. More precisely, within sport psychology, motivational processes are implicated whenever “a person undertakes a task at which he or she is evaluated or enters into competition with others, or attempts to attain some standard of excellence” (G. Roberts, 2001, p. 6). Unfortunately, as we have suggested already, the term motivation is plagued by a great deal of conceptual confusion. Box 2.1 presents some persistent myths surrounding this construct.

Box 2.1 Thinking critically about... popular understanding of “motivation”

According to Roberts and Kristiansen (2010), motivation is widely misunderstood. In particular, three myths about it need to be debunked. First, motivation is not the same as arousal. Research suggests that athletes cannot be motivated effectively simply by “psyching” them up into a frenzy of adrenaline. For optimal motivation and performance to occur, arousal needs to be channelled in a specific direction (see also Chapter 3). The second myth about motivation is that it can be enhanced purely through positive thinking. For example, it may be assumed that if athletes can be encouraged to imagine themselves holding up the winner’s trophy, their motivation will be strengthened. Unfortunately, research on goal-setting (see later in this chapter) shows that people’s objectives have to be controllable and realistic in order to be effective. The third myth is the assumption that motivation is a genetically inherited characteristic – something that one either has or does not have. Again, this view is contradicted by research evidence which shows that motivation can be changed through appropriate instruction (see later in chapter). Given these popular misconceptions, is it any wonder that sport psychologists have to be careful when using the term motivation? As Glyn Roberts warned in 2001, “it is defined so broadly by some that it incorporates the whole field of psychology, so narrowly by others that it is almost useless as an organising construct” (G. Roberts, 2001, p. 3).

Critical thinking questions

Do you agree with Roberts and Kristiansen (2010) that motivation is widely misunderstood in sport? Why do you think that many people mistake a heightened state of arousal for motivation? Are there any distinctive behavioural signs or expressions of motivation? How would you design a study to explore athletes’ understanding of motivation? From reading the popular press, do you think that the myth of motivation extend to everyday understanding of the work that sport psychologists do with their clients? If so, why do you think so many people believe that sport psychology is concerned only with motivating athletes to perform well?

In the light of the confusion surrounding motivational processes in sport, how should we approach this construct scientifically? Traditionally, sport psychologists have distinguished between two different types of motivation – intrinsic and extrinsic (see review by Vallerand and Rousseau, 2001). Intrinsic motivation refers to people’s impetus to perform an activity for its own sake – “for itself and the pleasure and satisfaction derived from participation” (Vallerand and Rousseau, 2001, p. 390). For example, many people love walking or running simply because it gives them a feeling of fun and freedom and enhances their sense of well-being (see also Chapter 5 for an analysis of what runners actually think about when running). Anecdotally, it is precisely this sense of intrinsic joy or satisfaction which seems to characterize the motivation of top athletes in sports like swimming, golf and cricket. Thus, consider the importance which Kieren Perkins, the Australian former swimmer and four-time Olympic medallist, attached to intrinsic motivational influences in his sport when he said: “I always race against myself to improve my own performances. The fact that I sometimes set world records in the process is a bonus. My personal best performance is the goal, not necessarily the world record” (Clews and Gross, 1995, pp. 98–99; italics ours). A similar emphasis on intrinsic satisfaction is evident in the approach of Phil Taylor, sixteen times world champion darts player. He said: “I love everything about my job – getting up every morning, practising and dedicating myself; I always try to better myself... There’s always that 1 per cent that I can improve” (cited in P. Newman, 2010, p. 12). Finally, the former cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, who inspired India to victory in the 2011 World Cup and who is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, claimed that “I don’t set myself any targets. I just concentrate on trying to bat well... When I was a kid, I played cricket because I loved it and I still love it now” (Funday Times, 2002). Interestingly, an in-depth study of the motivational processes of elite track-and-field athletes (those who had finished in the top ten at either the Olympic Games or the world championships) supports these anecdotal insights. Specifically, Mallett and Hanrahan (2003) interviewed such expert performers in an effort to identify the factors which sustained their motivation to compete at the highest level. Results showed that these athletes were driven mainly by personal goals and achievements rather than by financial incentives. Not surprisingly (according to M. Martens and Webber, 2002), intrinsic motivation is associated with increased enjoyment of physical activities and a reduced likelihood of dropping out of sport.

As the name implies, extrinsic motivation applies whenever a person is involved in a task largely as a result of external factors or constraints. More precisely this term refers to “engaging in an activity as a means to an end and not for its own sake” (Vallerand and Rousseau, 2001, p. 391). Typical extrinsic factors held to motivate athletes include money, trophies, praise and/or other forms of social approval from others. For example, golfers would be regarded as extrinsically motivated if they joined a golf club because they wanted to make new business contacts – not because they actually enjoyed the game of golf. In summary, extrinsic motivators are factors which influence a person to do something either because they provide a reward for such behaviour or because they provide some punishment or sanction for not doing it. In general, research shows that extrinsic motivation is associated with increased anxiety in, and increased likelihood of dropping out from, sporting activities (see M. Martens and Webber, 2002). More recently, researchers have explored children’s reasons either for taking part in or for dropping out from organized sport. For example, C. Foster et al. (2007) discovered that extrinsic factors such as gender and cultural stereotyping of certain sports, the costs of participation in organized activities and increasing emphasis on technical and performance issues rather than on having fun were cited as facilitating variables for children under 8 years old. By contrast, the “turn ons” for these children were enjoyment of the activities and parental and peer support. Perhaps not surprisingly, feelings of burnout (i.e. a syndrome characterized by withdrawal from one’s sport and overriding sense of physical and psychological exhaustion; see Chunxiao et al., 2013; Goodger et al., 2010; Gustafsson et al., 2011) in elite athletes are often associated with an extrinsic motivational orientation (Lemyre et al., 2006).

Theoretically, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can be differentiated on at least three criteria (Vallerand and Fortier, 1998). First, consider the purpose of the activity. As indicated earlier, whereas intrinsically motivated activities are undertaken for their own sake, extrinsically motivated tasks are typically conducted for some perceived instrumental benefit. Second, although people who are intrinsically motivated tend to seek experiential rewards, those who are extrinsically motivated tend to be influenced more by social and/or objective rewards (e.g. money). Third, Vallerand and Fortier (1998) proposed that intrinsically motivated performers tend to experience less pressure than extrinsically motivated counterparts when competing because the former people are largely concerned with the experience of participation itself.

Despite these theoretical distinctions, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation often overlap in real life. Indeed, as Box 2.2 shows, extrinsic rewards can affect intrinsic motivation under certain circumstances.

Box 2.2 Thinking critically about... how rewards can change people’s motivation

The National Coaching Foundation (1996) presented an apocryphal tale that nicely captures the idea that the withdrawal of rewards can sometimes change people’s motivation in surprising ways. By the way, this tale has a long history in psychology (e.g. see another version of this story in Myers et al., 2010, p. 172).

An old man was plagued by teenagers playing football and making noise on the street outside his house. No matter what he said to them, they ignored him. In fact, the more he pleaded with them to stop, the more they persisted and the more obnoxiously they behaved. He was at his wits’ end. Then one day, following a chat with a psychologist friend, he decided to try a new approach to the problem. Briefly, instead of scolding the boys, he decided to give them a reward (two euros each) for playing noisily outside his house. Of course, the boys were delighted with this decision. Imagine getting paid for doing something which they really enjoyed – making the old man’s life miserable! When the boys returned the following evening, they received the same reward again – another two euros each. This practice puzzled the boys but they continued to wreak havoc on the old man. After a week, however, the man told them that he could not afford to pay each of them the two euros that they had been given previously. In fact, all he could manage was fifty cents each. This disappointed the boys a little but they continued to torment the man. Another week elapsed and this time, the old man reduced the reward to twenty cents each. Again, this was very frustrating to the boys who had grown used to receiving a larger reward. Eventually, the old man reduced the reward to two cents each – at which time, the leader of the boys grew very angry. Shouting at the old man, he said, “We’ve had enough of your meanness. If you think that we’re going to play football for your entertainment outside your house for two cents, then you’ve got another thing coming! We’re off!” Clearly, the moral of this tale is that when the old man removed extrinsic motivation for the football, the boys lost interest in doing what they had done previously for nothing.

Critical thinking questions

Do you think that this story has any relevance for understanding why highly paid sports performers sometimes lose their motivation? From your knowledge of other areas of psychology (e.g. behaviour modification), can you think of any other explanation of the boys’ loss of motivation? Can cognitive ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part 1 Exploring athletic performance: key constructs
• Part 2 Team cohesion
• Part 3 New directions in sport psychology
• Glossary
• References
• Author index
• Subject index