CHAPTER 2 – Behavioural Assessment

Question 1

Define behavioral assessment.

Answer 1

• Behavioral assessment is concerned with identifying and describing a target behavior, identifying possible causes of the behavior, selecting an appropriate treatment strategy to modify the behavior, and evaluating treatment outcome.

Question 2

Describe four misconceptions that many people have about sport psychology. Explain why each is a misconception.

Answer 2

• “To do well in competition, you have to get yourself really psyched up.” – This is a misconception because it may be true about certain individuals in certain sports, but it does not apply across the board.
• “Sport psychology alone can make one a super athlete.” – This is a misconception because in order for athletes to have exceptional athletic performance, they must be fully prepared in four main areas; physical, techincal, tactical, psychological.
• “Sports psychologists only consult with athletes at competitions.” – This is a misconception because although is it true that of all services provided by sports psychologists, helping athletes with mental preparation at competitions gets most of the popular press, those associated with sports neet to understand that psychological strategies help improve performance in all aspects of practices and competitions.
• “To get really good at mental preparation, all you have to do is talk to a sport psychologist.” – This is a misconception because mental preparation helps an individual to perform consistently at or near his/her potential. Mental skills must be practiced over and over to get a good mental preparation.

Question 3

Describe the four main areas of athletic preparation. For each area, list a relevant item from the Sport Psychology Questionnaire for Basketball Players.

Answer 3

• Physical: Athletes must be in excellent physical condition
o Having a better health management plan before games? (e.g., getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, eating properly, etc)
• Technical: Technical skills of an athlete must be correct, highly practiced, and second nature to them.
o Giving 100% effort and concentration to the task at hand, in order to have quality practices? (e.g., if ball handling, do it accurately and precisely, etc.)
• Tactical: Athletes must have a game plan for dealing with certain opponents, running certain races, skiing certain courses
o Identifying and reacting to your opponents’ weaknesses and making adjustments as the game progresses? (e.g., your shot is not going in, your opponent is taking away the right-hand drive, etc.)
• Physchological: An athlete must have mental preparation.
o Thinking positive thoughts? (e.g., “An easy 2 points”, “I can do this one”, etc.)

Question 4

What are the four possible causes of slumps identified by Taylor? Briefly describe a specific sport example of each.

Answer 4

• First, some slumps may have a physical cause. Loss pf visual acuity could affect a batter’s ability to hit a ball. Second, slumps may be the result of some slight change in the athlete’s technique. A golfer may be unaware of the fact that the way she grips the golf club has chaned subtly over time. Third, slumps might be cause by slight changes in the equipment used in a particular sport. An example would be an alpine ski racer who experienced a significant deterioration in performance during the latter half of the season. Fourth, if an athlete in a slump comes to you for help, and if you can rule out physical, techinique, and equipment causes of the slump, then a sport-specific behavioral checklist might be appropriate to determine if a slump is due to inadequate mental preparation.

Question 5

List six objective dimensions for describing behavior

Answer 5

• Topography (form)
• Frequency (rate)
• Duration
• Intensity (force)
• Stimulus control
• Latency (reaction time)

Question 6

What are two reasons for being specific in the identification of target behaviors?

Answer 6

• Being specific in the identification of target behaviors helps to ensure the reliability of detecting improvements in the behavior (the yardstick by which one judges the effectiveness of a treatment program) and increase the likelihood that your treatment program will be applied.

Question 7

Name and describe the three minimal phases of a behavioral treatment program.

Answer 7

• The three minimal phases of a behavioral treatment program are baseline phase, treatment phase, and a follow-up phase. Baseline phase; the target behavior is assessed in order to determing its level prior to the introduction of the intervention. Ttreatment phase; involves that period of time, after the initial baseline assessments, during which you intervene in various ways to attempt to help the athlete. Follow-up phase is carried out to determine whether the improvements achieved during treatment are maintained after the termination of the program.

Question 8

What is a baseline? Briefly describe the baseline conditions in Coach Keedwell’s program with swimmers.

Answer 8

• Baseline is a form of measure which is taken at a certain point in time. Coach Keedwell obtained a baseline of the number of missed turns and unscheduled stops of the swimmers.