Term paper for my Psychology 101 course at the College of Southern Nevada (This SlideShare is exactly what the final product of my Psychology 101 sports psychology term paper looked like when I submitted it as a hard copy to my professor at the College of Southern Nevada, except for one thing: the Word document, which this SlideShare was downloaded from, contains the final draft of my psychology term paper which was last saved on November 28, 2011, the day before I submitted the paper as a final draft in hard copy format to my psychology professor. The difference between this SlideShare and the Word document that contains the final draft of my sports psychology term paper, compared to the final draft of my sports psychology term paper that I submitted to my professor in hard copy format is: the SlideShare and the Word document are both missing a title page, whereas, the final draft of my psychology term paper that I submitted to my professor contained a title page with my name, my professor's name, the name of the institution I wrote the paper for, the course and the section number I had written the paper for, and the date and term at the time my paper was written. I am unable to retrieve the title page that I created and saved in Word in 2011 when I was taking Psychology 101:017 at the College of Southern Nevada. Hopefully, I can eventually correct this problem and resubmit my psychology term paper on SlideShare in the exact form that it was originally like in November of 2011.)

1. Imagine you are a team member of your high school basketball team. There are
40 seconds left in your championship game and you are the player executing a free throw
shot which will determine the game for your team. How would you react? Would the
stress of the moment and the audience influence your shot or would you be able to keep
calm and make the shot as you have 95% of the time in practice? This is the kind of
question sports psychologists face when trying to help both amateur and professional
athletes with sports anxiety and performance issues.
Defining the Problem:
"Competitive sports place athletes under enormous pressure to perform, often
under public scrutiny" (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 155). This difficulty can be very
challenging for amateur and professional athletes to manage. Their worries and fears can
cause them to perform poorly before and during a sports event and far worse than what
they actually are capable of. Injury can also be a hindrance to athletic performance if a
similar situation to the one in which the injury has occurred causes emotions in the
athlete. As a result, a field in psychology has developed to help athletes overcome these
barriers to high performance: sports psychology.
The science of sport psychology has a rich variety of perspectives which have
influenced its evolution which include motor learning, psychology,
psychophysiology, and counseling, and its objective is using knowledge and
theory from these perspectives in an effort to explain, understand, and predict
behavior in the context of sport and exercise (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, pp. 2-3).
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2. Number of People Affected by the Problem:
Due to the nature of sports and its presence in both professional and amateur
settings, it is very difficult to assess the number of people who are affected by problems
relating to sports performance and who may need psychological help. According to the
website WikiAnswers, the number of professional athletes in the world is about 30,000
(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_professional_athletes_are_there_in_the_world)
and the number of amateur athletes in America is about 2,000 (http://wiki.answers.com/
Q/How_many_amateur_athletes_are_there_in_America). The figures cited for amateur
athletes seems extremely low in light of the number of people and youth who participate
in amateur sports leagues in soccer, basketball, football, track, and other sports.
Therefore, although the number of professional athletes may be close to the numbers
cited, the statistics for amateur athletes are not convincing.
Behavior in Sports:
What types of behaviors are related to athlete performance? Early theoretical
ideas or approaches about behavior focused on physical factors like strength and
endurance. However, more recent theories point toward a more comprehensive view, one
which looks at how individual behavior varies across time and situations (Silva III &
Stevens, 2002, p. 31).
Physiological explanations of motivation explain how physiological processes
influence emotional experiences and behavior. According to Silva and Stevens (2002):
Many strong emotions such as anger from subjective experience seem to involve
physiological activation, and physiological processes can be assessed by objective
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3. measures such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow, skin temperature, eye
pupil dilation, and sweating (pp. 111-112).
Thus, certain sports behavior lends itself to assessment and measurement of physiological
responses.
More recent theories of athletic behavior consider individual attributes that affect
behavior. For example, how a person controls his emotions lets us predict how well a
person will do in athletics. As Silva and Stevens (2002) state: "Elite athletes who
successfully control their emotions are often more successful than those athletes who
allow their emotions to control them" (p. 56). However, treatments to develop emotional
control are good for participants involved in sports since emotional stability implies that
an athlete can recover from success or failure quickly (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 57).
Silva and Stevens (2002) also indicate that at higher athletic levels, self-
discipline also becomes more important to an athlete's success at athletic events and has a
positive effect on their performance (p. 58).
Another trait among elite athletes is the amount of anxiety they can be resilient to
in competition. Psychologists refer to the tendency to respond to a variety of situations
with worry or anxiety as well as heightened arousal, trait anxiety. Silva and Stevens
(2002) cite the common psychological definition of state anxiety as "…anxiety
experienced at a particular moment" (p. 134). According to theorists, low-trait anxiety
helps athletes to see competition as a challenge, which in turn, makes them search for
new methods to accomplish success (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 59).
Factors such as athletes' organizational abilities and contrasts between types of
athletes are other distinguishing criteria related to personality and sports performance.
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4. High organizational ability is connected more with someone who has low-trait anxiety.
With respect to differences between athletes, one can ask: are football players different
from wrestlers, soccer players different from gymnasts, and female athletes different
from male athletes (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 61)?
Causes:
Through the development of sports psychology, several approaches have been
formed to explain the underlying motivations in sports performance. Psychologists of the
early 20th century such as William James and Sigmund Freud believed behavior was
guided by instincts, but according to Silva and Stevens (2002) today "Their psychological
theories, called instinct theory, do not hold much weight in modern sport psychology"
(p.72).
Following James and Freud a number of early theories of motivation for behavior
included Hull's Drive Theory, which suggested that motivation is related to desires. Later
Spence and Spence developed a formula to explain performance. They say it is a
"….multiplicative function of habit strength and drive (P = HXD)" (Mahoney &Meyers
1989, p. 78). Basically, they saw a "linear relationship between arousal and
performance," stating that as arousal increases, the quality of performance should also
rise. Yerkes and Dodson developed a contrasting theory called the Yerkes-Dodson Law
or Inverted -U hypothesis, which states that as arousal rises, performance also rises, but
only until high arousal interferes with skilled performance (Mahoney & Meyers 1989,
p.79).
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5. An additional theory which has affected sport psychology is Trait Anxiety
Theory. This theory sees certain traits dominant in athletes and relates how those athletes
with such traits react to stress. Researchers hoped to discover a "global set" of athletic
personality traits to use for the "selection and training of competitors" (Mahoney &
Meyers 1989, p. 80). As a result, sport psychology has found some very similar
personality characteristics of elite athletes that can be considered adaptive (Silva III &
Stevens, 2002, p. 53).
The correlation between personality and the particular level of aptitude one
performs at is determined from three different stances. The first position states there is no
relationship between personality and how an individual performs. A second position
indicates that some people are born with certain psychological characteristics that
increase sport performance and consequently may improve their chances for success
[Morgan, 1974] (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 50). This second approach is called the
gravitational model. Of the three positions, the other one of the three is based on the
Personality Performance Pyramid and states that "…when participants initially enter the
field of sport, personality may play a minor role" (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 50). The
gravitational model implies that because differing sports necessitate certain physiological
characteristics, individuals will "gravitate" toward the sports for which they are best
suited according to their physiological makeup. The Personality Performance Pyramid
theorizes that most people go into sports at an early age with differing ability levels and
personality traits and also suggests that at lower levels of competition, personality varies
and, therefore, is not a very accurate predictor of performance (Silva III & Stevens,
2002, pp. 51-52).
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6. All of these early theories on sports performance and behavior have a common
problem. They create artificial divisions between cognitive, somatic, and behaviorist
approaches. A more holistic approach to understanding sports performance has occurred
(Mahoney &Meyers 1989, p. 85). The weaknesses of achievement motivation theories
(instinct theory, drive theory, and need achievement theory) have been stressed and
newer cognitive theories of motivation view humans as active rather than passive.
According to these theories, people learn to subjectively interpret their thoughts and
environment rather than acting on them by instincts. "These new theories include
attributions theory, achievement goal orientation theory, and cognitive evaluation theory"
(Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 73).
Intrinsic motivation such as wanting a challenge, desiring to improve skills, or to
master a task is a factor for why someone pursues an activity like sports. However, Silva
and Stevens indicate that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are reasons why athletes
or people want to be involved in sports (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 83). Some see
motivation in sports as an internal personality characteristic while others perceive
motivation as an external influence, such as a reward or for social status (Silva III &
Stevens, 2002, pp. 67- 68).
Other fundamental principles of motivation in sports include: absolute versus
relative standards; motive to approach success versus motive to avoid failure;
attributional style; self-confidence; optimism and self-efficacy; and situational factors.
The notion that task-oriented athletes judge success by absolute standards compared to
standards of those around them defines absolute versus relative standards. For this reason,
athletes who are task-oriented will focus on performing up to their capability level or an
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7. absolute standard (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 85). Another reason why athletes
participate in sports is because of a motive to approach success versus a motive to avoid
failure (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 87). Self-confidence, optimism, and self-efficacy
are other reasons why athletes perform at certain levels in sports (Silva III & Stevens,
2002, p. 88).
Finally, situational factors such as excitement of playing in front of a large
audience, in a stadium, or on national television may also increase motivational levels of
many athletes. In addition, the media may actually hype the event or sports game to
increase public curiosity. Athletes may be motivated to live up to media claims and
influences or billing or to silence media criticism. (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 90).
Treatments in Sports Psychology:
"Sport psychologists help athletes help themselves through a working knowledge
of psychology and sport" (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 63). Sports psychologists search
for a strategy that studies and figures out in the best way how a certain quality of an
athlete's setback or problem can be improved through intervention so the athlete's sports
performance will be increased to an optimum state.
There are four phases to intervention: the assessment phase, education, practice,
and evaluation and modification phase (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 177) Once the
sports psychologist has assessed the athlete's problem based on objective tests and
profiles to determine the background and objectives of the athlete, he or she will
introduce the education plan. The educational phase consists of using psycho-
physiological, behavioral or cognitive-behavioral approaches to devise a treatment, which
is used to educate or treat the athlete. The practice phase asks the athlete to practice the
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8. interventions from the education phase on a regular basis in order for the new behaviors
to take hold. In the final phase, evaluation and modification, the effectiveness of the
intervention is assessed and modifications are made to improve the intervention if
necessary (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, pp. 179-187).
Athletes can enhance their performance, improve how they get along with others,
and enjoy sports competition more by being taught emotional control skills.
Emotional or regulative intervention strategies include four categories: 1)
physiological arousal management, 2) cognitive interventions, 3) goal setting
interventions, and 4) environmental factors modification (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p.
155). Certain forms of intervention may have an effect on only one category, while other
strategies may directly or indirectly affect several, for example, both goal-setting and
coping skills training (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 157). These various interventions
and how they can assist in emotional control in sport will now be described.
1) Physiological Arousal Management:
For athletes to alter high levels of stress in sport, they must effectively manage
their physiological systems because researchers think central and peripheral nervous
systems are strongly associated with emotions such as fear, anxiety, and anger (Silva III
& Stevens, 2002, p. 157). Progressive relaxation is one kind of physiological arousal
management technique in which a particular muscle group is contracted by an individual,
held, and eventually relaxed. The athlete then progresses to new a new muscle group and
repeats the cycle (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 157-158). Another kind of physiological
arousal technique is biofeedback which involves an individual receiving feedback from
their physiological systems. By systematic training, athletes can figure out how to
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9. control activation levels of physiological systems. They can also be taught that specific
emotional states correspond to changes in these physiological systems (Silva III &
Stevens, 2002, p. 159). Meditation is another technique used for emotional control.
2) Cognitive Interventions
Cognitive interventions are designed to modify appraisal processes. Athletes can
learn various cognitive skills to judge situations as not being as threatening as they were
before or had once been in order to actively alter their interpretation of the situation and
their abilities to manage it. Through these skills they can learn to control response
impulses (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 160).
Several cognitive intervention techniques include attentional refocusing and
efforts to discriminative control. Suinn (1989) describes attentional refocusing as an
attempt to focus on non-stress stimuli versus stress stimuli when in a performance
situation (pp. 210).
3) Goal-Setting Interventions:
Goal-setting is a third technique used to help athletes increase emotional control
performance. Increasing the athlete's perceptions of control and improving his or her
ability to manage competitive demands, is a goal-setting treatment which helps the
athlete control the emotional experience. Goal-setting has benefits that allow the athlete
to improve their levels of performance including focusing attention, problem solving, and
increasing effort and persistence (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 163).
An intervention technique closely related to goal setting is the use of imagery or
mental rehearsal of the desired sports performance. Athletes are encouraged to use all
their senses to imagine the sports competition or action they will be performing. Many
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10. athletes use imagery prior to a competition to focus themselves for the task facing them.
(Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 163).
4) Environmental Factors Modification:
A final intervention strategy designed to help emotional control is the
modification of environmental factors which may affect performance. Examples of
environmental conditions which might be changed include: the type of ball used in youth
basketball, field size, playing surface, size of field, or presence of a supportive coach or
parent. It is frequently not possible to change environmental factors to gain control of
emotions; thus proper psychological preparation is advantageous for regulating emotions
themselves. (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 164).
5) Coping Skills Training:
In addition to emotion control treatments, another intervention for sports behavior
involves teaching coping skills, which are seen as the main way to modify a stressful
relationship between the environment and the athlete or to control the affective and
physiological experiences associated with emotion [Crocker, Kowalski, and Graham,
1998; Lazarus, 1991] (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 165). Coping can influence
emotional experiences by changing how a person assesses a situation through the control
of arousal and action impulses, and by altering the environment to yield different
judgments. In general, two types of coping in sport psychology are used. These two
coping types are problem-focused and emotion-focused coping (Silva III & Stevens,
2002, p. 165).
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11. There is a consensus that no single type of coping strategy or intervention
technique is effective in all athletic settings. Therefore, athletes ought to learn a diverse
collection of problem- and emotion-focused coping methods so they have preparation on
how to manage their emotions in all types of stressful situations (Silva III & Stevens,
2002, p. 165). Stress inoculation training (SIT), and Stress Management Training [SMT]
are training programs which teach athletes coping skills. These two types of programs are
used with sports populations to help athletes manage stress and emotion. They help
athletes control debilitating emotions as well as generate more adaptive appraisals and
improve their reactions to challenging situations through coping skills so they can
increase their confidence for managing athletic stress (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 165).
Intervention packages exist which combine several components into an integrated
system. These may include visio-motor behavior rehearsal and the pre-performance
routine. The pre-performance routine consists of a collection of carefully planned,
practiced activities used before a sports event to assist an athlete so they have satisfactory
preparation (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p. 218).
Interventions for Injured Athletes:
Another area of sport psychology interventions concerns injured athletes. The
techniques and treatments for injured athletes are closely related to those used to enhance
sport performance with some adaptations. One of the most prominent additions is social
support. Emotional support and emotional challenge sources of social support can come
from friends, parents, and significant others, while the shared social reality category of
support comes from others who have the same experience and background, such as other
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12. injured athletes or athletes who have recovered from injury (Silva III & Stevens, 2002, p.
241).
In conclusion, problems athletes have with performance related to behavior issues
such as anxiety and injury are treatable conditions and sports psychology has developed
over the years to treat them. General psychological theories, principles, and treatment
techniques have been adapted to the needs of helping athletes perform optimally in their
preferred sport.
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13. References
Mahoney, M. J., & Meyers, A. W. (1989). Anxiety and athletic performance: Traditional
and cognitive-developmental perspectives. In D. Hackfort & C. D. Spielberger
(Eds.), Anxiety in sports: An international perspective (pp. 77-94). New York,
NY: Hemishpere Publishing Corporation.
Silva III, John M. & Stevens, Diane E. (2002). Psychological foundations of sports.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon Publishers.
Suinn, R.M. (1989). Behavioral intervention for stress management in sports. In D.
Hackfort & C.D. Spielberger (Eds.), Anxiety in sports: An international
perspective (pp. 203-214). New York, NY: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation.
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