Lecture 9 - Performance Impairement 2 Doping

Question 1

Define Performance Impairment 2

Answer 1

Behavioural stuff

• Behavioural dysregulation impairs at least one life domain and inhibits athletic participation
• e.g. forced non-participation: like doctors orders, injyr coach dropping you
• Doesnt have to be doping, can be recreational drug use, anger disorders
• Could be performing well on a pitch then going home and doing drugs, or domestic abuse. differs from Pi-1 as an eating disorder is always present across life domains.

Question 2

What are the characteristics of someone in performance impairment 2?

Answer 2

• enduring, inflexible behavioural characteristics
• Difficulty accessing automatic thoughts/ schemas and rational thinking, as they are so deep down and so stubborn. Often present for a long time
• may not be motivated for treatment - especially if the have been banned
• ## Putting all this stuff together makes them tricky people to work with, and form a therapeutic relationship with

Question 3

What are the criteria for it to officially be classed as doping?

Answer 3

2 out of 3 criteria must be present:
– It enhances or has the potential to enhance performance (evidence suggests)
– It represents an actual or potential health risk to the athlete (evidence suggests)
– It violates the spirit of sport (ambiguous)

Question 4

outline the study on elite athletes done in the 90s about if they would dope or not

Answer 4

Asked 198 elite athletes 2 questions:

1. You can take a subtance ,that would make you win but you wouldnt be caught. 195 said yes
2. You can take a substance, and win everything you try for the next 5 years (double olympic champion), but you will die after 5 years. 120 said yes

Question 5

Outline Schaal et al (2011) findings about the prevalence of doping

Answer 5

About 1% of athletes had doped in their lifetimes
About 0.4% had in the last 6 months

Less women doping

X - limited as people arent going to admit it because they will be banned. Unlike when admitting to a clinical illness
- Evident because the top 3 cyclists every year in the tour de france from 99 to 06 all doped

Question 6

What was the prevalence of russian athletes doping?

Answer 6

67/68 track and field athletes were banned competing because of state sponsored doping. Only 1 didnt as she lived in USA

Question 7

How many british athletes are currently banned for doping?

Answer 7

70

• has been increasing since 2013
• but are more people doping? or are we better at catching them? Or is there just more athletes?

Question 8

Who came up with deterrance theory?

Answer 8

Strelan & Boeckman, 2003

Question 9

Outline Strelan & Boeckman, 2003 deterrance theory as an explanation as to why people dope

Answer 9

An athlete weighs up the costs of deciding to dope and the benefits of doping
- this balance is heavily influenced by situational factors

x - doesnt really specify or define what situational factors are

Question 10

Give examples of costs of doping?

Answer 10

If you are caught, the costs include:
•Tarnished reputation (e.g. in press)
• Lose funding
• Expensive - fined
• Titles/ medals taken away from you
•Social sanctions - from team mates as they lose medals too
•Strongest cost is moral compass - could you cope with yourself if you won unfairly - Self-imposed sanctions

In france/ Germany you can go to prison for it, as well as being fined and suspended

Question 11

What are the benefits of doping

Answer 11

• You win lots
• Winning gives you more money, prize money and sponsorship
• You get lots of fame
• if you moral compass doesnt care, it’s very satisfying to win

Question 12

What are the situational factors that athletes take into account when deciding to dope, according to deterrance theory?

Answer 12

1. National culture
2. Sport culture (down a layer from national)
3. Team culture

Question 13

Outline national culture as a situational factor that athletes take into account when deciding to dope, according to deterrance theory?

Answer 13

How much your country bans athletes, like how many they have caught and what the national attitude towards those who dope is. How many athletes in that nation dope

Question 14

Outline Sottas et al (2011) study into national culture about doping*****

Answer 14

Looked at 7289 blood samples from 2737 elite track and field athletes

• blood doping, replacing blood with extra oxygenated blood. Looked at prevalance rates in loads of different countries
• One country has 78% male and 50% female prevalance - so they are an anti-doping country as they have caught the most people
• Other countries have 1% male and 2% female
• Shows massive variation in national culture towards doping

With 70 banned athletes, the UK is quite an anti-doping nation

Question 15

When is a nation most likely to dope their athletes?

Answer 15

Around the time they begin to host an olympic games, and dont have a very good sporting reputation

Question 16

Outline sport culture as a situational factor that athletes take into account when deciding to dope, according to deterrance theory? - what sports are the 70 athletes currently banned from?

Answer 16

Worst sports for doping in the uk include:
•Rugby, cycling, boxing, athletics, weightlifting, wrestling

1 bobsledder, 1 darts player, 1 dodgeball

Mostly welsh rugby players
Not many females

Question 17

Outline prevalence perceptions as part of sport culture as a situational factor

Answer 17

If you think everyone else is doping, you can either disappear from your sport (if moral compass is really strong), or dope. You usually get on board with the doping

• Lance Armstrong starting doping because he knew everyone else was and he would lose otherwise
• Basson got hammered by Amrstrong, other cyclists and the press because he was the only one not doping

Question 18

Outline the sport culture of the governing body

Answer 18

How strict your governing body is, is another sport culture situational factor that influences whether athletes decide to dope or not

• if they are likely to be let off by their body they might dope
• but if they are really strict then they may not

Question 19

Outline team culture as a situational factor that athletes take into account when deciding to dope, according to deterrance theory?

Answer 19

• some teams will dope, others will not
• created by the coach
• mastery of the environment vs performance environment

Question 20

Outline Ntoumanis et al., 2012 findings about the team culture created by the coach

Answer 20

Mastery of the environment

• a team environment surrounding improvement, effort and self-reference. Working to get better everyday and putting in as much work as you can
• the higher levels of this, the less likely to cheat

Performance Environment

• a team environment that is competitive, ego-driven, takes no prisoners, win at all costs
• higher levels of this, the more likely to cheat
• Armstrong feared he would be dropped by his team if he didnt dope

Question 21

Outline Hodge et al., 2013 findings about individuals attitudes towards doping in sport. **

Answer 21

The more you are in sport because of others, you are forced to compete and are not intrinsically motivated, the easier you can turn off your moral compass (moral disengagement)
The higher moral disengagement, the more favourable attitudes towards doping, the more likely to take drugs you are.

Question 22

What are the 8 mechanisms of moral disengagement?

Answer 22

1. Moral justification
2. Euphemistic labelling
3. Advantageous comparison
4. Displacement of responsibility
5. Diffusion of responsibility
6. Distortion of consequences
7. Dehuminsation
8. Attribution of blame

Question 23

Outline moral justification as a mechanism of moral disengagement

Answer 23

Cognitive restructuring of a harmful behaviour into a praiseworthy one
- “it;s good to dope”

Question 24

Outline euphemistic labelling as a mechanism of moral disengagement

Answer 24

Use language to disguise blameworthy behaviours as less harmful
- “drugs arent that bad it’s fine”

Question 25

Outline advantageous comparison as a mechanism of moral disengagement

Answer 25

Comparing detrimental acts with more harmful ones

- im only doping, im not killing anyone

Question 26

Outline displacement of responsibility as a mechanism of moral disengagement - pressure/ told to

Answer 26

People view their behaviour as a consequence of social pressure/ being told to by an authority
- e.g. all my team mates were doing it, or my doctor told me to and that its not doping

Question 27

Outline diffusion of responsibility as a mechanism of moral disengagement

Answer 27

minimising individual responsibility for decisions made

- it wasnt my fault, it was my teams

Question 28

Outline distortion of consequences as a mechanism of moral disengagement *****

Answer 28

avoid or minimise the harm caused

Question 29

Outline dehuminisation as a mechanism of moral disengagement

Answer 29

Dehuminising opponents to justify it

- he’s an animal, he deserved to have his leg broken

Question 30

Outline attribution of blame as a mechanism of moral disengagement - prevalence

Answer 30

consider themselves forced to act immorally due to perceived provocation by their victim or the situation
- prevalance perceptions

Question 31

What did Petroczi et al., 2011 do?

Answer 31

Implicit association tests - assess subliminal attitudes towards things, as the quicker you react to something shows you have a preference for it
- Those that were doping were faster in attributing doping to positive adjectives. Faster than non-dopers

Question 32

How is the coach the gateway in acquiring drugs? ****

Answer 32

• 11% of norweigan coaches knew a colleague who had distributed drugs and could get hold of some
• 70% of coaches believed most records were broken by dopers
• 30% believed non-dopers had no chance of success
• 1 in 9 non-elites said they would find their athletes drugs if they asked for them

Question 33

What are the goals of doping/ taking drugs?

• speed

Answer 33

• obviously main one is performance
• appearance is more attractive
• pressure to recover from injury quicker, drugs can help
• Control weight
• protect self-worth if you win loads
• Build self-confidence
• enhance aggression (taking speed before rugby)
• manage expectations
• Recreational drugs relieve pressure

Question 34

Outline the findings of Backhouse et al., 2013 - nutrition *****

Answer 34

Those taking nutritional supplements had more positive attitudes towards doping

• on the performance enhacement attitude scale
• Is it a gateway to doping?

Question 35

What is the best way to prevent doping, according to

Morente-Sanchez & Zabala, 2010?

Answer 35

Sports psychologists can prevent doping through education

- educated them on consequences etc