Controlling emotions in sport
Controlling emotions in sport
Given the large effect that emotion has been known to have on sports performance, this article aims to provide not only extensive support for the relationship between emotion and performance, but also provides strategies and techniques to enhance emotional control. The material in this article is largely based on Lazarus’ cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion, emphasizing that emotions occur when the individual appraises encounters with the environment as having either a negative or positive significance (meaning) for them and thus effects the motivation behind behavior (Jones, 2003). Since an emotion must happen as a response to something, research has made the simple connection to the cognitive process that will determine the relevance of the event in order to elicit the appropriate emotion for that individual. The research speaks to both a primary and secondary appraisal, primary looking at how stimuli relates to their goal and secondary appraisal explaining how they interpret their ability to cope with the stimuli. Jones also reviews the characteristics of emotional responses as revealed in three main elements. Physiological changes, which look at the level of arousal you are in, subjective experience or your personal interpretation of the event, and action tendencies, which are behaviors, elicited by the attempt to cope with the event.
Further discussion on the suggestion that an individual’s emotional state could influence motivation along with physical and cognitive functioning is presented. Athletes aim for an optimal emotional state for performance in order to generate the energy needed to preform and maintain the effort needed for a task, thus suggesting that dysfunctional emotional levels may result in an insufficient amount of energy (or motivation) to preform. In that same venue, cognitive resources can become limited as a result of other emotions such as worrying. This use of mental resources can either help an athlete allocate more energy towards a task, or drain them of the energy needed to be successful.
All optimal levels of emotion and need for cognitive resources is specialized to each individual athlete. For example a football player may need the excess emotion of anger to increase their strength and to complete a 10 second play, whereas a golfer may feel their fine motor skills being impaired by such high levels of anger because of the physiological and cognitive effect anger can have. The techniques discussed are extensions of the cognitive-behavioral approach, suggesting that our cognitive perceptions intermixed with our emotions will dictate our behavior, behavior being a good or bad performance. Jones examines an extensive list of strategies to provide emotional control for athletes comprised of self-statement modification, imagery, Socratic dialogue, corrective experiences self-analysis, didactic approach, storytelling metaphors and poetry, reframing, cognitive paradox, and problem-solving skills (2003). Although there has been clear evidence to support Lazarus’s cognitive-motivational-relational theory, it is suggested for future applied research to evaluate the techniques and their direct effects on individual athletes or the effects on teams as a whole.
On June 13, 2016
Delivery of Psychological Skills Training to Youngsters
Delivery of Psychological Skills Training to Youngsters
Foster, D., Maynard, I., Butt, J., & Hays, K. (2015). Delivery of Psychological Skills Training to Youngsters. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 1-16.
by Rachel Webb
The need for more research using psychological skills training (PST) on nonelite and younger athletes has been growing in recognition the past few years. This particular study looks at sport psychologists’ experiences of working with children and adolescents to understand how psychological skills training has previously been delivered and should be delivered to this population (Foster, Maynard, Butt, & Hays, 2015). This population of youth athletes is especially vulnerable to not only development of their physical performance skills, but also their psychological development. Although performance enhancement is an important goal for a sport psychologist to attain, this research looks at the broader issues of personal development as more impactful for these younger athletes. There has been investment in the idea of using a child-centered theoretical approach or philosophy in the attempt to establish a good relationship wit with the child, seemingly one of the more important factors in getting this population to listen. There are also suggested discussed on interventions based on this child perspective that reflect work that would be most effective in learning at this age. Considering past research this study attempts to use a holistic view that may allow for a stronger connection between physical achievements in sport to positive characteristics of the self. There are biopsychosoical factors that must be acknowledge in the development of youth at this stage on their life based on the unique challenges they face. There are multifaceted explanations for possible performance decrements for this population therefore the focus is brought to the exploration of sport psychology consultants when working with this group and how SPC’s can adjust content and delivery of PST to reflect those unique developmental challenges.
Changes were reported in terms of four areas, consultancy skills, changes based on how SPCs relate to youngsters, refinements to delivery mediums, and strategies for maintaining engagement (Foster, Maynard, Butt, & Hays, 2015). The two main conclusions from this work were constructed. First it was imperative that the practitioner matched the content of their intervention with the immediate characteristics of the athlete and encompassed the diversity or biopsychosocial needs of the youngster. Second was geared towards interventions being multifaceted rather than simply scaled-down versions of adult interventions. In order to achieve the greatest amount of effectiveness for these young athletes it is necessary to adjust the content and delivery to operating under a holistic framework. The implications of this study have a vast reach, but ultimately being capable of highlighting excellence through life skills development in addition to performance will create the most successful results for these youngsters. Building these initial psychological skills could have greater effects when they are being revisited later in the athletes’ career, on top of the already implemented developmental skills you have taught them.
On June 13, 2016