Sport & Performance Psychology
Lesson 1: Introduction + Personality and sport
Sport psychology = scientific study of people and their behaviors in sport context and the
practical application of that knowledge (NIET KENNEN)
2 objectives:
• Understand how psychological factors affect one’s performance
• Understand how participating in sport affects one’s psychological development, and well-being
understanding the mutual influence of participation in a performance environment
and psychological factors
It’s important to make a bridge about the theories and the application
SP is about getting insight in
- Situation
- Thoughts
- Feelings
- Behavior
1.1 History of SP
Is SP a separate discipline? There are advocates and opponents.
Period 1: Early years (1895 – 1920)
Norman Triplett did a cyclist experiment in North America. This is where the beginning of
exploring psychological aspects and of sport and motor learning started. The experiment
consists of 3 conditions where in N.T. asked the contestants to race.
Condition 1: against time, unpaced
Condition 2: cycle a better time than the given time (alone)
,Condition 3: cycle (race) against another person -> there is a winner
He concluded that people perform better if they are competing with someone else!!
Onderste lijn: cond 1
Middelste lijn: cond 2
Bovenste lijn: cond 3
They did some research in this period, but there is little application in the field!
Period 2: The Griffith era (1921 – 1938)
Characterized by the development of sport psychology laboratories in Germany,
Japan, Russia, USA.
Increased psychological testing: concentration, personality, reaction times, aggression
Father of American SP: Coleman Griffith: did research, articles, books, consulting
Period 3: Preparation of the future (1939 – 1965)
Academic discipline of exercise and sport science
Franklin Henry did scientific research on psychological aspects and is responsible for
the scientific development.
Limited applied work!
Dorothy Yates did consult and intervention research
There was a first World Congress of Sport Psychology in 1965
Period 4: The establishment of academic sport psychology (1966 – 1977)
SP became a separate component within sport science
Applied sport psychology consultants emerge:
Bruce Ogilvie is the father of North American applied SP
2 groups of practitioners are forming:
Kinesiology department that focuses on performance enhancement and
enjoyment in sport
Psychologists working with athletes with psychological problems
Period 5: Multidisciplinary science and practice in sport and exercise psychology (1978 –
2000)
• growth: research & application
• More accepted and respected by the public
• 1979: Journal of Sport Psychology
, • 1985: First sport psychologist in US Olympic Committee
• 1986: Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP)
• 2 groups together
Period 6: Contemporary sport and exercise psychology (2000 - …)
• Growth continues
• Journal of Sport and Exercise is developed and published in Europe
There are still challenges.
1) Need for interdisciplinary curriculum
2) Need for profession: minimum qualifications, education, experience (so we know
who is a sport psychologist when; In Belgium you have to have a Master’s degree in
SP, a regular psychiatrist can’t call themselves a SP)
Future direction
Performance aspect is unique for sport psychology
Performance psychology
Training in: performance excellence, mental health counseling, consulting psychology
and performance specific
Peak performance model:
First thing you must take into count is the environment (physical, social, psychological and
organizational). To get peak performance you need psychological skills and strategies as well
as adversity coping strategies.
1.2 Understanding your athletes: personality and sport
Since the 6O’s and 70’s there are thousands of articles on aspects of sport personality.
We wonder if there is a relationship between personality and sport performance.
Yes, there is, but is far from perfect
, Long-distance runners exhibit introverted personalities, but a long-distance
runner doesn’t need to be introverted to be successful. It also doesn’t mean that
all introverts are successful long-distance runners.
SO although personality traits and states can help predict sport behavior and
success, they account for only some of the behavior and may not be as precise as
hoped. Personality alone doesn’t account for behavior in sport and exercise!!!
Are there differences between personalities of athletes and non-athletes?
Schurr, Ashley & Joy (1977) did a study with 2000 male college students using Cattell’s
personality inventory. They tried to find out if there is 1 personality profile that makes them
successful in sport, amongst those students but there wasn’t.
No single personality profile was found that distinguishes athletes from non-athletes.
But when the athletes were categorized by sport, several differences did emerge.
There are differences according to the sport:
Team sports (compared to non-athletes): less abstract reasoning, more extravert
Individual sports (compared to non-athletes): more abstract thinking, higher
objectivity, less anxiety
There are some personality differences, but no definitive.
Individual sport athletes vs. team-sport athletes?
Because of the previous study we find out that there is in fact a difference between
individual sport athletes vs. team-sport athletes!
Individual sport athletes are less dependent and anxious, are more introverted and
imaginative.
It is correlational research! -> Wat bedoelt ze Hiermee?
Female athletes compared to non-athletes?
When female athletes are compared to non-athletes, they are more achievement oriented,
independent, “aggressive”, emotionally stable and assertive.
However, this also goes for male athletes, so those traits aren’t only for women.
We can’t say that there is a female personality profile that makes a woman successful.
More successful and less successful athletes
Lesson 1: Introduction + Personality and sport
Sport psychology = scientific study of people and their behaviors in sport context and the
practical application of that knowledge (NIET KENNEN)
2 objectives:
• Understand how psychological factors affect one’s performance
• Understand how participating in sport affects one’s psychological development, and well-being
understanding the mutual influence of participation in a performance environment
and psychological factors
It’s important to make a bridge about the theories and the application
SP is about getting insight in
- Situation
- Thoughts
- Feelings
- Behavior
1.1 History of SP
Is SP a separate discipline? There are advocates and opponents.
Period 1: Early years (1895 – 1920)
Norman Triplett did a cyclist experiment in North America. This is where the beginning of
exploring psychological aspects and of sport and motor learning started. The experiment
consists of 3 conditions where in N.T. asked the contestants to race.
Condition 1: against time, unpaced
Condition 2: cycle a better time than the given time (alone)
,Condition 3: cycle (race) against another person -> there is a winner
He concluded that people perform better if they are competing with someone else!!
Onderste lijn: cond 1
Middelste lijn: cond 2
Bovenste lijn: cond 3
They did some research in this period, but there is little application in the field!
Period 2: The Griffith era (1921 – 1938)
Characterized by the development of sport psychology laboratories in Germany,
Japan, Russia, USA.
Increased psychological testing: concentration, personality, reaction times, aggression
Father of American SP: Coleman Griffith: did research, articles, books, consulting
Period 3: Preparation of the future (1939 – 1965)
Academic discipline of exercise and sport science
Franklin Henry did scientific research on psychological aspects and is responsible for
the scientific development.
Limited applied work!
Dorothy Yates did consult and intervention research
There was a first World Congress of Sport Psychology in 1965
Period 4: The establishment of academic sport psychology (1966 – 1977)
SP became a separate component within sport science
Applied sport psychology consultants emerge:
Bruce Ogilvie is the father of North American applied SP
2 groups of practitioners are forming:
Kinesiology department that focuses on performance enhancement and
enjoyment in sport
Psychologists working with athletes with psychological problems
Period 5: Multidisciplinary science and practice in sport and exercise psychology (1978 –
2000)
• growth: research & application
• More accepted and respected by the public
• 1979: Journal of Sport Psychology
, • 1985: First sport psychologist in US Olympic Committee
• 1986: Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AAASP)
• 2 groups together
Period 6: Contemporary sport and exercise psychology (2000 - …)
• Growth continues
• Journal of Sport and Exercise is developed and published in Europe
There are still challenges.
1) Need for interdisciplinary curriculum
2) Need for profession: minimum qualifications, education, experience (so we know
who is a sport psychologist when; In Belgium you have to have a Master’s degree in
SP, a regular psychiatrist can’t call themselves a SP)
Future direction
Performance aspect is unique for sport psychology
Performance psychology
Training in: performance excellence, mental health counseling, consulting psychology
and performance specific
Peak performance model:
First thing you must take into count is the environment (physical, social, psychological and
organizational). To get peak performance you need psychological skills and strategies as well
as adversity coping strategies.
1.2 Understanding your athletes: personality and sport
Since the 6O’s and 70’s there are thousands of articles on aspects of sport personality.
We wonder if there is a relationship between personality and sport performance.
Yes, there is, but is far from perfect
, Long-distance runners exhibit introverted personalities, but a long-distance
runner doesn’t need to be introverted to be successful. It also doesn’t mean that
all introverts are successful long-distance runners.
SO although personality traits and states can help predict sport behavior and
success, they account for only some of the behavior and may not be as precise as
hoped. Personality alone doesn’t account for behavior in sport and exercise!!!
Are there differences between personalities of athletes and non-athletes?
Schurr, Ashley & Joy (1977) did a study with 2000 male college students using Cattell’s
personality inventory. They tried to find out if there is 1 personality profile that makes them
successful in sport, amongst those students but there wasn’t.
No single personality profile was found that distinguishes athletes from non-athletes.
But when the athletes were categorized by sport, several differences did emerge.
There are differences according to the sport:
Team sports (compared to non-athletes): less abstract reasoning, more extravert
Individual sports (compared to non-athletes): more abstract thinking, higher
objectivity, less anxiety
There are some personality differences, but no definitive.
Individual sport athletes vs. team-sport athletes?
Because of the previous study we find out that there is in fact a difference between
individual sport athletes vs. team-sport athletes!
Individual sport athletes are less dependent and anxious, are more introverted and
imaginative.
It is correlational research! -> Wat bedoelt ze Hiermee?
Female athletes compared to non-athletes?
When female athletes are compared to non-athletes, they are more achievement oriented,
independent, “aggressive”, emotionally stable and assertive.
However, this also goes for male athletes, so those traits aren’t only for women.
We can’t say that there is a female personality profile that makes a woman successful.
More successful and less successful athletes
