Sport Psychology: A Students's Handbook

[Pages:252]SPORT PSYCHOLOGY

This book offers a student-friendly introduction to the discipline of sport psychology. All the key psychological issues in sport are explored and illustrated with sporting examples. Throughout, difficult questions are raised: are athletes born or made? Does participating in sport affect personality? What impact do cultural beliefs have on personal sporting development? These complex issues are weighed up to provide a detailed overview of the topic. Matt Jarvis has substantially revised and expanded his original coverage of the subject from his highly successful book Sport Psychology (published by Routledge in 1999). Here he provides a succinct but comprehensive account of major theory and research in sport psychology, whilst maintaining the readable style and student-centred approach which made the previous book so successful.

Key issues covered include:

? personality and sport ? attitudes to sport ? aggression in sport ? the social factors affecting performance ? arousal and anxiety ? motivation and skill acquisition.

There is an emphasis not merely on learning about sport psychology, but also on developing critical and creative thinking. In addition, the book includes chapters on conducting research and writing essays in sport psychology, as well as reflective exercises throughout the text.

Written by a successful author who has experience of teaching at sixth form and undergraduate level, this book will be useful to undergraduates in sport science and leisure management, those studying for the BAQTS and PGCE in physical education, and those studying A-level psychology or sports studies.

Matt Jarvis teaches psychology at Totton College and is Visiting Lecturer at Southampton University.

Sport Psychology

A Student's Handbook

Matt Jarvis

First published by Routledge 27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.

"To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to eBookstore.tandf.co.uk."

Routledge is a part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Copyright ? 2006 Routledge

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.

This publication has been produced with paper manufactured to strict environmental standards and with pulp derived from sustainable forests.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Jarvis, Matt, 1966?

Sport psychology : a student's handbook / Matt Jarvis. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1 -84169-581-5 (hardcover) ? ISBN 1-84169-582-3 (softcover) 1. Sports ? Psychological aspects ? Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title. GV706.4.J37 2005 796.01--dc22 ISBN10: 1-84169-581-5 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-1-84169-581-5 (hbk) ISBN10: 1-84169-582-3 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-1-84169-582-2 (pbk)

Contents

List of figures and tables ix Preface to second edition xi

1. Introduction 1 What is sport psychology? 1 A brief history of sport psychology 2 What is a sport psychologist? 3 For those new to psychology 5 Summary and conclusions 11

2. Personality characteristics and sporting behaviour 13 Trait theories 14 Research into traits and sporting behaviour 19 Narrow-band theories of personality 22 Attentional style 27 Discussion of the trait and narrow-band approaches 29 Situational and interactional approaches 30 Summary and conclusions 33

3. Personality development and sport 35 Social learning theory 36 Applying social learning theory to sport 37 Sources of influence on social development and sport 40 Gender and sport 42 Sport as an influence on social development 46 The psychodynamic approach to personality development 49 Summary and conclusions 53

4. Attitudes to sport 55 The nature of attitudes 56 Measuring attitudes 58 The formation of attitudes to sport 61 Attitudes to competition 64 Attitudes to sport and sporting behaviour 65

CONTENTS v

Changing people's attitudes to sport 69 Summary and conclusions 71

5. Aggression and sport 73 Defining aggression 74 The link between aggression and performance 76 Theories of aggression 79 Individual differences in sporting aggression 83 Situational factors affecting aggression 85 The $64,000 question ? does sport increase or reduce aggression? 86 The reduction of aggression 88 Summary and conclusions 90

6. Social factors in sporting performance 93 Groups and teams 93 Social facilitation 97 Negative effects of team membership 102 Leadership 104 Summary and conclusions 110

7. Arousal, anxiety and sporting performance 113 Definitions of arousal, anxiety and stress 114 Factors inducing anxiety and stress 118 The relationship between arousal and performance 120 The relationship between anxiety and performance 122 Stress management 127 Summary and conclusions 133

8. Motivation and sport 135 Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation 136 Theories of motivation 138 Self-efficacy 147 Counterfactual thinking 148 Pathological motivation and sport 150 Summary and conclusions 152

9. Skill acquisition and expertise 155 Definitions 156 Classifying abilities 156 Classifying skills 158 Two linked issues: the existence of superability and the nature?nurture debate in sport 160 Stages of skill acquisition 163 The information-processing approach to skills 166 Memory 167 Theories of motor learning 170

vi CONTENTS

Expert performance 172 Enhancing skill and expertise: the role of practice 174 Summary and conclusions 177

10. Research methods in sport psychology Quantitative and qualitative research The experimental model 180 The correlational method 184 Survey methods 187 Case studies 190 Archival studies 191 Review methods 192 Summary and conclusions 194

179 180

11. Writing essays in sport psychology Seven deadly sins of essay writing Content 199 Structure 203 Style 207 Conventions 208 Summary and conclusions 213

197 197

References 215 Index 229

CONTENTS vii

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