Chapter 1: Introduction Flashcards
What is behaviour, generally and technically? Describe three sport examples that are not in this chapter.
Behaviour, generally, is anything a person says or does. Technically, it is any muscular, glandular, or electrical activity of an organism. Three sports related examples are hitting a tennis ball, executing a long jump, and cheering a team mate.
Three synonyms for behaviour:
Performance, reaction, response.
How do many people use general terms such as intelligence, attitude, and personality? Illustrate with an example.
Most people use “intelligence”, “attitude”, “motivation”, and “personality” as though they refer to causes for behaviour, as opposed to a label for behaviour. An example of this would be, “Jack is disruptive at practices because he has a bad attitude.”
What is a behavioural perspective of such traditional psychological terms as intelligence, attitude, and personality? Illustrate a behavioural interpretation of one of the terms with reference to an example.
The behavioural perspective on traditional psychological terms such as attitude, motivation, intelligence, and personality is that these are labels that describe a behaviour, instead of being a “thing” that causes the behaviour. An example is: Jack is lazy at practices. This is unmotivated behaviour, but there are reasons behind why he is disruptive (lacking motivation).
What is behavioural analysis?
Behavioural analysis is the study of the scientific laws that govern behaviour of humans and other animals.
What is behavioural sport psychology?
Behavioural sport psychology involves the use of behavioural analysis principles and techniques to enhance the performance and satisfaction of athletes and others associated with sports.
What are 3 synonyms for stimulus when a stimulus precedes and influences behaviour?
A stimuli that precedes and influences behaviour is commonly called a cue, a signal, or a prompt.
According to many psychologists, what does the word cognition mean?
According to many psychologists, cognition means “belief”, “thought”, “expectancy”, or “attitude”.
What 2 assumptions does the author make concerning cognitions?
1) Cognitions are assumed to be covert behaviours. 2) That behavioural principles and techniques that apply to overt behaviours are also applicable to covert behaviours.
List 3 reasons that behavioural sport psychology researchers commonly use single-subject research designs.
a. They require assessment of individual athletic performance across several practices and/or competitions, which is very useful information for such athletes and coaches. b. Athletes and coaches commonly accept such research designs because few participants are needed, and sooner or later all participants experience the intervention - there are no control groups. c. Rather than use personality questionnaires, they require assessments of athletic behaviours (shooting techniques), or outcomes of such behaviours (the free throw shooting percentage).
What 3 questions does social validity address?
The 3 questions that social validity attempts to answer are: 1) What do the athletes (and perhaps coach and parents) think about the goals of the program? 2) What do they think about the procedures suggested by the consultant? 3) What do they think about the results produced by those procedures?
