SPORT PSYCHOLOGY (PYC4812) LATTEST EXAM SUMMARY.

SPORT PSYCHOLOGY (PYC4812) LATTEST EXAM SUMMARY. Negative side effects of punishment  Used excessively: promotes a fear of failure = least desirable of athletic motivation.  Punishing when an athlete fails is the most affective way to develop fear of failure which will negatively impact their performance (ironic for the coach)  If fear of failure is the dominant motive of the athlete, it is very likely that it will reduce enjoyment and increase the likelihood of failure. Research proves this, as well as increases the risk of injury.  This type of athlete is motivated by the dread of the agony of defeat, as opposed to the desire to achieve and enjoy the thrill of victory  Transformation from challenge to threat  High fear athlete: prone to choke under the pressure  Unpleasant coaching situation: arouses resentment and hostility  Possibility that athletes may act in ways to sabotage coach, by doing the opposite of what they are being told by the coach, reducing their chances of success.  Coaches that succeed with this approach, do so due to: 1. Ability to communicate in a caring way with athletes to ensure that they don’t take things personally 2. They have very talented athletes 3. They recruit thick skinned athletes that don’t take it to heart 4. So skilled that their skills over shadow their aversive approach (they succeed in spite of, not because of, their approach) Downloaded by: nandilove | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: ResourceCentre9 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material S - The study-notes marketplace  Second form of punishment: response cost punishment  Depriving people of something they value  Arouse temporary frustration or anger  Two advantages over aversive punishment 1. Does not create the kind of fear that aversive punishment does, therefore less likely to avoidance of the punisher or punishing situation 2. Punisher is not modeling abusive aggression therefore less opportunity for learning aggression through imitation  Therefore this is a more affective means of punishment  Verbalize the contingency in a matter-of-fact fashion. Eg: I don’t like to do this, but because you were late you get less playing time. The positive alternative  Aimed at strengthening the desired behaviors through the encouragement, positive reinforcement and sound technical instruction carried out in a supportive environment  Instead of focusing on punishing incorrect behavior, strengthen the correct or desired behavior (shift in focus)  Motivational force: positive desire to achieve, as opposed to a negative fear of failure  Mistakes are seen as stepping stones to achievement, providing the necessary information needed to improve performance  Promotes more positive relationship between coaches and athletes  Research has shown that athletes find this more enjoyable, are more cohesive in their team, and perform at higher levels Positive reinforcement  Consequence that increases the likelihood of a behavior  Relations between behaviors and their consequences: reinforcement contingencies 1. Choosing affective reinforces  Social reinforcers are the most frequently used in athletics  Verbal praise, smiles, pat on the back or high five  Coach must decide what is most appropriate for the specific athlete Downloaded by: nandilove | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: ResourceCentre9 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material S - The study-notes marketplace  Eg: one athlete may find praise in the presence of others highly reinforcing, whilst others may feel embarrassed  Coach should use a variety of reinforcers to avoid sounding repetitive and to keep the reinforcement affective  Verbal reinforcement can be increased if the coach combines it with a specific description of the desirable behavior the athlete just performed 2. Selecting and reinforcing target behaviors  Coach needs to know exactly what they want to reinforce and when they want to  Cant reinforce every correct movement, otherwise the effectiveness of the reinforcement is diluted  Most effective use of reinforcement is to strengthen the skills that the athlete is just beginning to master  Complex skills can be broken down into sub skills and coaches can focus on one sub skill at a time  Athletes can enjoy the process of coming to master a skill if the coach employs the correct approach to helping them master the skill by providing them with the correct instruction at the correct time 3. Shaping  Desired behaviors are reinforced under stringent requirements  Start with what the athlete is capable of and then move to a more skillful level of performance before reinforcement is given  The shift of demands must be realistic so that the athlete can achieve them and be reinforced for them 4. Reinforcement and intrinsic motivation  Intrinsic motivation: desired to perform for the love of the game  Extrinsic: perform activity only to obtain something eg: prize money  Extrinsic can undermine intrinsic  If external rewards (money, trophy) are introduced for the performance of a behavior that is intrinsically rewarding, the person may come to attribute the performance to the external reward, and cease performing the behavior when the reward is withdrawn  If extrinsic reinforcement is given to acknowledge a specific level of performance then it does not undermine the intrinsic, rather providing the Downloaded by: nandilove | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: ResourceCentre9 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material S - The study-notes marketplace athlete with information that they have met a standard of excellence – providing a basis for positive self-reinforcement  Positive self evaluations can strengthen behavior and maintain intrinsic motivation 5. Positive reinforcement and the mastery motivational climate  Positive reinforcement can be applied to virtually any behavior  Used differently by both approaches (positive: improve, recognize effort and persistence; negative: only when the player is out performing the others  Positive approach is said to foster a mastery motivational climate  Athletes will feel successful and competent when they have learned something new, improved a skill, mastered a task, or just given their best effort  Favorable – reduces performance anxiety, promotes learning  Reduces comparison with others – focusing on their own strengths and improvements  Negative approach: ego-orientated motivational climate  Other-referenced  Goal is to show that they are superior to others, and avoid appearing inferior to others 6. Performance feedback: providing information needed to improve performance  Positive reinforcement is a form of performance feedback (providing knowledge of results communicates the message that performance has met or exceeded the coaches standards) Informational and motivational benefits of feedback:  Objective feedback is effective in improving performance feedback for a variety of reasons 1. Correct misconceptions: athletes often have distorted perceptions of their own behavior – objective evidence in the form of statistics and numbers can help fix this 2. Creates internal consequences by stimulating athletes to experience positive or negative feelings about themselves depending on how well they have performed eg: athlete that is unhappy with their performance may be motivated to improve, and will experience self-satisfaction when they do Downloaded by: nandilove | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: ResourceCentre9 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material S - The study-notes marketplace improve (positive reinforcement as this has caused them to improve) – idea of self-motivation which is sometimes just as important as external reinforcement from the coach (also reduces the need for the coach to reinforce or punish 3. Goal setting: clear feedback of performance in relation to goal. Without the feedback, goal-setting does not improve the performance and without the goals, the performance feedback has little meaning, Instructional benefits of feedback:  Not only motivational, also has instructional effects  Objective performance feedback provides information about 1. Specific behaviors that should be performed 2. The levels of proficiency that should be achieved in each of the skills 3. Athletes current level of proficiency in these activities  Instructional function can be valuable when execution of the skill is broken down into its stages or components  Pinpoint areas of strength and weakness so that the athletes attention can be drawn to correcting mistakes  Allows the coach and the athlete to monitor the progress in a more useful manner  Feedback should be contingent on what the athlete has just done and framed so that it can help the athlete continue to improve  Feedback on correct movements and incorrect ones, with feedback on how to correct these mistakes Implementing a performance measurement and feedback system:  Successful feedback program requires coaches to identify specific and measurable behaviors and consequences – something that can be counted  Coach can choose to measure the desired behavior, or the undesired counterpart  In line with the positive approach it is recommended that they measure the desired behavior (choosing the correct behavior for feedback rather that the mistake) – or presenting both  This puts the coach in a position of reinforcing improvement as opposed to punishing or criticizing mistakes  Also focuses players attention on what they should do as opposed to what they should not Downloaded by: nandilove | Distribution of this document is illegal Downloaded by: ResourceCentre9 | Distribution of this document is illegal S - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material S - The study-notes marketplace CHAPTER 4 Achievement goals: the importance of how we judge our competence  Consider the criteria that athletes use to determine whether they are capable or not  Achievement goal frameworks: perceptions of competence and differences in goal perceptions are critical to quantity and quality of our motivation  Two types: task and ego that govern the way athletes think  Task: o Aim is to gain a skill, exhibit effort, perform at best, and experience personal improvement. o Positive motivational outcomes o Use of problem solving o Intrinsic interest o Belief that ones ability is malleable therefore they can invest in training over longer periods of time because they believe they can improve their skills (it is not fixed) this is important for reaching potential o Task avoidance: avoidance of demonstrating self-referenced incompetence. Linked to anxiety, fear of failure, amotivation