Sports Psychology Flashcards
Model of group cohesion
P - Personal
E - Environment
L - Leadership
T - Team
Personal Factors
Relate to the individual characteristics of the group. Each player in the team is an individual and these individual differences can affect group cohesion.
A major personal factor – affecting task and social cohesion, individual motivation and individual differences.
Personal Factors - Motivation
Task motivation – associated with task cohesion and being involved on a successful team e.g. winning premiership.
Affiliation motivation – associated with social cohesion and a desire to be part of a group e.g. enjoy the club/friends
Self motivation – attempts to obtain personal satisfaction through improving personal performance e.g winning fairest + best
Environmental Factors
relate to the social and physical environment of the group.
* review contracts to have clauses about not professional expectations.
*Code of conduct
*Selection process
*Eligibility to represent eg if it is National –where they are from?
*Location
*provide social opportunities for players to learn acceptable social conduct.
*provide opportunities for team members to get to know each other through camp, which is useful in pre-season.
Leadership Factors + examples
The style of leadership and the relationships developed such as – the leaders and coaches’ behaviour.
Strategy examples
*Ensure that the coaching / leadership style is appropriate for all players
*Establish a leadership group within the team
*Distribute roles among team members
*Outline clear expectations to the players with consequences for those that don’t follow the ‘team rules’
Team Factors
Relates to the aim and experiences of the team together, such as creation of short and long-term goals for the team, team identity, desire for group success, member ability and roles, how long the team has been together.
Strategy examples
*Create shared / common team goals that the group want to achieve
*Explain rules for wearing team uniform and dress to-and-from games and training to increase team identity
*Develop social norms / expectations for the team
*Increase team stability so that all players feel valued
*Rewarding of team and individual efforts that contribute towards team success
Why does social loafing occur
*An individual athlete perceives other athletes to be working at a lower intensity which in turn gives them an excuse to put in less effort themselves.
*A belief that their efforts won’t make a difference to the team and little if any effect on the outcome and the desired outcome will still be reached.
*Avoiding hard work and assuming no one will notice in a large group – easier to hide in the pack
*Individuals feeling like their input is not essential to achieving the goal
What is the relationship between social loafing and group cohesion?
*Individual athletes are prone to social loafing if they feel that the team can still perform well without a maximum contribution from them.
*no form of personal evaluation e.g. a rowing crew.
*The individual athlete perceives the team will win even without every player performing at their best and consequently puts in less effort.
*Social loafing has a negative impact on individual and team and team performance.
*Individual effort towards the team performance increases where each player’s input is identifiable and consequently individual and team performance improves
Factors affecting group cohesion
*Personality clashes between team members
*Unclear / conflicting roles among team members
*Frequent changes to the group
*Disagreement on group objectives
*Lack of communication
Power struggle
Strategies to improve Group cohesion
- Create / Develop a team contract
* Written contracts which states group expectations, individual responsibilities, lines of communication within the team, methods of discipline. - Develop rules / code of conduct
* Establish rules of expected behaviour which will help the team achieve goals and objectives. - Create appropriate group sizes
Assigning too many members to an easy task / training drill encourages loafing. - Evaluate all members of a group individually
Members will be more productive if they know that their individual contribution will be evaluated.
How do you measure group cohesiveness in sporting teams
Sociograms
What is a sociogram
The players are asked to describe their interpersonal relationships within the group – who they like, who they don’t like and a sociogram is developed from the responses (similar to leadership sociogram but the focus of the questions changes). The coach can then use this information to try and improve cohesiveness within the team.
Who are the 2 players you like?
Which player do you find it hard to get on with?
self confidence
an individual’s belief that they will be successfully perform a desired activity
concentration
ability to perform a task, focusing on important techniques and cues, while blocking out negative distractions and influences
what is group cohesion
a model of personal, environmental, leadership and team factors that all contribute to group cohesion
how does the practice of mental skills improve physical skills
Strong mental toughness promotes:
- has the ability to focus and concentrate
- Rebound form failure
- Deal with pressure
- Persist against adversity
what are mental skill strategies
Mental skills strategied used pre during and post performance to manage stress motivation and concentrtion, self confidence and arousal levels
- SCAMS
What are mental skills
Mental skills required for improving performance and achieving the ideal performance state “the zone” are as follows
scams
describe physiological skill training (PST)
Programs are tailored to match the performaer but usually have 3 phases
1. Education- discussion and explanation
2. Acquisition phase- learning how to apply mental skills to performance
3. Practice phase- mental skills are practised till autonomous
Self talk - mental strategies and when should it be used in relation to performance
- Self Talk e.g I will get my next shot in
o Pre: to build confidence and banish self doubt
o During: motivation in the heat of the battle
o Post for reflection
Relaxation - mental strategies and when should it be used in relation to performance
*Relaxation e.g listen to music or meditation
oPre: reduce pressure in build up to competition
oDuring: to lessen likelihood of skill errors, to get back onto ‘automatic pilot’
oPost: to regroup “switch off”, refresh, aid sleep
what is sport psychology
the study of psychological factors that affect our sports performance
what is motivation
the direction and intensity of ones efforts
what is a participant factors (motivation)
personality, needs, interests and goals
what is a situational factors (motivation)
coaching style, win-loss record, other team mates
what are 4 extrinsic motivation
prize money, medals, publicity, peace
What are 3 intrinsic motivation factors
come from within, enjoyment of the game, desire to achieve
What are 2 types of personality factors
high need to achieve = low avoid failure, high avoid failure = low need to achieve
What are 2 types of situational factors
the probability of success is high, the incentive to succeed is low
the probability of success is low the incentive to succeed is higher
give 3 ways to improve motivation
make each team member feel integral to the success of the team
use goal setting as a tool
leaders influence
what is self confidence
the belief that you can successfully perform a desired behaviour
what is the self fulfilling prophecy
believing you will be successful will contribute to successful performance which in turn increases self confidence and expectations of further success
what is the 3 parts of the successful self fulfilling prophecy
expectation of success –> successful performance –> increased self-confidence
what is the 3 parts of the negativel self fulfilling prophecy
expectation of failure –> unsuccessful performance –> decreased self-confidence
how can you improve self confidence
performance success
acting and thinking confidently
imagery
being prepared
what is concentration
the ability to focus on the task at hand, that is, on relevant cues, while at the same time blocking out any irrelevant cues
what are the 3 things concentration can be
selective, shiftable, divisible
performance routines - mental strategies and when they should be used in relation to performance
- Performance routines e.g boncing the ball 3 times before serving
o Pre: to practice so it becomes automatic (muscle memory)
o During: vital to cope under pressure
o Post: To prepare for next match
Goal setting - mental strategies and when they should be used in relation to performance
- Goal setting e.g 6month goal or 5 year plan
o Pre: to plan and provide a means of monitoring progress
o During: occasional re-evaluation during a match if things are not going well
o Post: to re-evaluate and reset if necessary
imagery - mental strategies and when they should be used in relation to performance
- Imagery e.g High jumpers visualising the take off and conquering the bar
o Pre: practice so it becomes routine.
o During: visualising
post - practice
how do arousal levels impact an athletes performance
Optimal arousal = optimal performance
Under aroused = lack of intensity
Over aroused = errors from focusing on wrong cues
how do arousal levels impact an athletes performance
Optimal arousal = optimal performance
Under aroused = lack of intensity
Over aroused = errors from focusing on wrong cues
factors to reduce arousal
Progressive muscle relaxation
Centered breathing
reading your body
biofeedback
define arousal
Is the degree of stimulation present in a performer about to perform a skilled task.
define stress
When there is an imbalance between the demands of the task and the ability of the performer to respond where failure has consequences.
define relaxation
An activity is undertaken that reduces tension and the effects of physical and mental stress.
define imagery
The mental creation of a successful performance of a skill prepares an individual mentally.
define performance routines
sequence of relevant thoughts and actions that an athlete engages in prior, during, or after a performance. They assist with focus, concentration and arousal levels. They decrease the chances of being affected by internal or external distractors.
injury prevention
*Warm up and cool down
*Pre season training programs
*Skill development and training preparation
